Clauses · DFARS · Data rights
DFARS 252.227-7018 Rights in Other Than Commercial Technical Data and Computer Software—Small Business Innovation Research Program and Small Business Technology Transfer Program
Does the regulation require it to flow down?
Yes
(l)(2): 'Whenever any other than commercial technical data or computer software is to be obtained from a subcontractor or supplier for delivery to the Government under this contract, the Contractor shall use the following clause(s) in the subcontract or other contractual instrument, and require its subcontractors or suppliers to do so, without alteration, except to identify the parties:'; (l)(2)(i) then directs 'use this clause to govern SBIR/STTR data', with (l)(2)(ii) routing non-SBIR/STTR data to 252.227-7013/-7014/-7015. (l)(1) obliges the prime to assure that the rights afforded its subcontractors and suppliers under 10 U.S.C. 3771–3775, 10 U.S.C. 3781–3786 and 15 U.S.C. 638(j)(1)(B)(iii) and (v) are recognized and protected. (l)(3) lets a sub deliver restricted technical data DIRECTLY to the Government rather than through the next tier. (l)(4) — the clause a sub should memorize — forbids the prime and higher-tier subs from using 'their power to award contracts as economic leverage to obtain rights in technical data or computer software from their subcontractors or suppliers'.
- Form
- verbatim ('without alteration, except to identify the parties') — paragraph (l)(2)
- Reaches
- all tiers — (l)(2) requires the Contractor to use the clause AND to 'require its subcontractors or suppliers to do so'
Checked against acquisition.gov on 2026-08-05 · edition AUG 2025 (no alternates); reissued as 252.227-7993 (DEVIATION 2026-O0036) (FEB 2026) for DoD solicitations from 2026-02-01 · base v0.9.3 Read the text ↗
What it makes you produce
5 items for your checklist, slowest first.
Something somebody else has to issue you
The same day if the issuer is one of your own suppliers, months if it is an assessor or an underwriter.
- 252.227-7018(e)
A license from the owner of any third-party copyrighted data or software you are building in, obtained for the Government before delivery
Owed when copyrighted material you do not own is going into a deliverable
Something you write2
Days to weeks, and nobody outside your company has to agree to it.
- 252.227-7018(g)
Every delivery carrying the small business research program data rights legend, applied before it goes
Owed when the data or software was developed or generated under a phase I, II or III award and is not in the unlimited rights list at (c)(1)
- 252.227-7018(h)
Written procedures that keep restrictive markings to what the order allows
Owed when you or one of your suppliers will deliver with other than unlimited rights
Something you fill in and send back
Hours, once you know which one is missing.
- 252.227-7018(f)
The attachment identifying what will be delivered with restrictions on use, release or disclosure
Owed when you intend to deliver with a restrictive marking — nothing carries a marking it is not listed for
Nothing to send now
It does not hold the order. It decides what money moves later — what you can claim, what can be claimed from you, and what can be held back — and none of that changes after signature.
- 252.227-7018(h)
Nothing to send now: the records showing what was developed with which money are what a later challenge to a marking is decided on
Owed when you or one of your suppliers will deliver with other than unlimited rights
When it is used
DFARS 227.7104-4(a)(1): insert in solicitations and contracts, 'including solicitations and contracts using FAR part 12 procedures for the acquisition of commercial products and commercial services', when SBIR/STTR data are delivered, developed, or generated during contract performance AND any portion of contract performance is governed by SBIR or STTR policies — expressly including the case where performance of one or more SUBCONTRACTS qualifies as a phase III SBIR or STTR award. No dollar threshold and no commercial carve-out. For everything on the order that is not SBIR/STTR data, 227.7104-4(a)(2) routes to 252.227-7013, -7014 or -7015. The clause's own paragraph (b) says it governs all SBIR/STTR data and sends non-SBIR/STTR data to the other clauses.
Read closely
The date to put in a calendar is the award date: the protection period runs twenty years from it (DFARS 227.7104-2(a)(2)(i)), and when it ends the Government holds government purpose rights that never expire. Data first generated under a pre-2018 edition keeps the older period instead. Paragraph (l)(3) lets a supplier deliver restricted data straight to the Government rather than through the tier above, and (l)(4) bars the tiers above from using award power to take rights.
Alternates
Alt I · —
—
There is no Alternate I for this clause: the official page lists none and the deviation successor ends at paragraph (l). A February 2026 prime template appends an Alternate I note anyway, copied from the row above it in the same table, so nothing about what you produce moves.
The 4 templates that name it, with the line
Source: acquisition.gov, DFARS 252.227-7018, DFARS 227.7104-4(a)(1), DFARS 227.7104-2 and DFARS 212.301(f) (verified 2026-08-05); DoD class deviation 2026-O0036 attachments A1 (DFARS Part 227/252) and A2 (PGI 227), acquisition.gov file DoD_RFO_Deviation_Part-27.pdf (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.