Compliance center
FEC rules: why our pricing is what it is, and why a discount could be a problem
Under 11 CFR 100.52(d), services must be billed at the usual and normal charge — a commercially reasonable rate prevailing at the time. Discounts outside the ordinary course of business can become in-kind contributions.
Last updated 2026-08-28
Why a software company has a page about this
Because campaigns ask us for discounts, and because saying yes to the wrong one would create a reportable in-kind contribution for the campaign and a potential prohibited contribution for us — particularly for federal committees. It is cheaper for everyone if the rule is written down.
The usual and normal charge
Under 11 CFR 100.52(d)(2), the usual and normal charge for services means the hourly or piecework charge for those services at a commercially reasonable rate prevailing at the time the services were rendered. If a vendor charges a political committee less than that, the difference can be an in-kind contribution.
The practical safe harbor is that the pricing is part of the vendor’s ordinary course of business and offered on the same terms to similarly-situated clients, political and non-political alike. The FEC’s advisory opinion line on offering security and technology services to campaigns — for example Advisory Opinion 2019-12 (Area 1 Security), and the related Defending Digital Campaigns matters — is the precedent worth reading with your counsel.
A correction worth noting, because it circulates in campaign-tech briefs: AO 2021-09 is Certified Voter, LLC, which concerns sponsored advertisement services. It is not the free-or-discounted-technology-services precedent, and citing it for that proposition is an error.
How we price, and why
- One rate card by level of office.
- The same terms offered to every similarly-situated campaign, regardless of party.
- Discounts, when they exist, are structural — volume, annual term, multi-entity — and available to anyone who meets the same criteria.
- No party-specific pricing, in either direction.
- Every quote is written, so it can live in your compliance file.
If you ask us for a special rate that is not on the rate card, the answer will be no, and this page is why.
What to keep in your file
Your written quote, the invoice, and a note of which tier you qualified for and why. If anyone ever asks whether you received a below-market rate, the documentation should answer it without a phone call.
This is not legal advice
We are a software company summarizing rules that apply to you, not to us, and applying them to your facts is your counsel’s job. Federal committees especially should have this reviewed rather than relying on a vendor’s web page.
Related
Elsewhere in the compliance center
TCPA & texting
Prior express written consent, A2P 10DLC registration with a political authorization token, and a consent record that carries the language, the timestamp, the source URL and the version.
State privacy laws
Only Texas and Virginia expressly exempt political organizations. Colorado and New Jersey exempt no nonprofits. Oregon, Maryland, Delaware and Minnesota have only narrow exemptions.
CIPA & website tracking
Trackers that fire before consent are the core exposure. The Ninth Circuit held in Javier v. Assurance IQ that prior consent is required and retroactive consent is not enough.
Voter file rules
Resolution is limited to your own consented first-party data plus a commercial identity graph. Deep voter-file matching requires a data partnership we have not signed.
See what your own website already knows.
Book a 20-minute walkthrough. We will look at your site's current consent posture first — that part is useful whether or not you buy anything.