Clauses · DFARS · Banned sources and products
DFARS 252.225-7051 Prohibition on Acquisition of Certain Foreign Commercial Satellite Services
Does the regulation require it to flow down?
No
The clause contains no subcontract paragraph — it runs definitions, limitation, exception, and ends. There is no regulatory mandate to insert it in subcontracts, and DFARS 225.772 does not supply one. Primes flow it down because the prohibition attaches to what the prime PROVIDES to DoD, and a prime that resells capacity it buys from a sub can only satisfy the limitation by binding that sub to the same origin test. Reading the whole prohibition onto a subcontractor is nonetheless an over-flow when the sub supplies no satellite service at all — the trigger stays the subject-matter test in 225.772-5(b).
A clause can reach your subcontract without a mandate. Once it is in your document, it is a contract term all the same. The missing mandate is a fact about the regulation. It is not a ruling on your order.
Checked against acquisition.gov on 2026-08-05 · edition DEC 2022 · base v0.9.3 Read the text ↗
What it makes you produce
One item for your checklist.
Nothing to send, ever
There is no paperwork here. It is a rule you follow while you perform the work.
Satellite service that does not originate from China, North Korea, Russia or a state sponsor of terrorism, does not ride a satellite designed or manufactured in one, and does not ride one launched from one or on a covered foreign launch vehicle outside the United States
DFARS 252.225-7051(b)
When it is used
DFARS 225.772-5(b) prescribes the clause 'in solicitations and contracts for the acquisition of commercial satellite services, including solicitations and contracts using FAR part 12 procedures for the acquisition of commercial products and commercial services.' Statutory base is 10 U.S.C. 2279. No dollar threshold. The subject-matter test is what does the work: the acquisition must be of commercial satellite services — communications capability provided from on-orbit satellites — so a subcontract for ground equipment, terminals, or launch hardware alone is outside it. Covered foreign countries are China, North Korea, Russia, and any country designated a state sponsor of terrorism. Paragraph (c) carries two carve-outs: the limitations do not reach a launch that occurred before 2022-12-31, or services under a binding commitment paid before 2018-06-10. The paired representation is provision 252.225-7049, prescribed by 225.772-5(a) for solicitations that include this clause; 225.772-5(c) separately points to 252.239-7018 (Supply Chain Risk) where applicable.
Read closely
The clause runs definitions, limitation and exception, and ends: no report, no certificate, no notice and no insertion paragraph. Paragraph (c) holds two carve-outs — a launch completed before 2022-12-31, and services under a binding commitment paid for before 2018-06-10 — and the foreign-entity definition in paragraph (a) has a carve-out where United States nationals hold majority ownership. Three facts decide it per satellite: the operator's ownership and effective control, the bus and payload manufacturer, and the launch. A subcontract for terminals, antennas, ground segment or launch hardware alone is a different subject matter. Despite where some templates file it, this is a clause and its obligations run through performance.
The 3 templates that name it, with the line
Source: acquisition.gov, DFARS 252.225-7051, DFARS 225.772-5 and DFARS 212.301(f) (verified 2026-08-05)
This is research, not legal advice. It states what the regulation says about this clause and cites the paragraph behind it. It does not rule on your order, and it does not rule on whether a prime's markings are correct.