A pilot program that allows commissaries to raise or lower grocery prices could kick off as early as March 1, officials said Monday.

The pilot, known as “variable pricing,” is a key piece of a larger congressional mandate that the commissary system move from relying strictly on $1 billion in annual taxpayer funding to cover all of its operation costs to a model where it turns a profit and pays for some of its own overhead.

Currently, the stores sell goods at cost plus a 5-percent surcharge, which covers store construction and maintenance. The variable pricing system passed by Congress last year instead allows officials to raise and lower prices at will, so long as shoppers continue to see a specific savings of between 17.6 percent and 44.2 percent, depending on region, over off-base grocery stores.