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Clauses · DFARS · Quality and inspection

DFARS 252.246-7003 Notification of Potential Safety Issues

Does the regulation require it to flow down?

Yes

(f)(1): subcontracts for (i) parts identified as critical safety items, (ii) systems and subsystems, assemblies, and subassemblies integral to a system, or (iii) repair, maintenance, logistics support, or overhaul services for those items, with no dollar threshold. (f)(2) reaches those same subcontracts, 'including subcontracts for commercial products or commercial services'

Form
substance — (f)(1): 'the substance of this clause, including this paragraph (f)'
Reaches
all tiers — (f)(2) has the sub notify the prime/higher-tier AND directly the ACO and the PCO if it knows who they are

Checked against acquisition.gov on 2026-08-11 · edition JAN 2023 · base v0.9.3 Read the text ↗

What it makes you produce

2 items for your checklist, slowest first.

  1. Something you write2

    Days to weeks, and nobody outside your company has to agree to it.

    • Notice to both the administrative and the procuring contracting officer, as soon as practicable and inside 72 hours — the fastest clock in this clause

      Owed on discovering or acquiring credible information of a nonconformance in a critical safety item, or of one that may have a safety impact on a system or something integral to one

      DFARS 252.246-7003(c)(1)
    • A written notification to both officers within 5 working days — the defect, a chronology, the items affected and a point of contact

      Owed on the same credible information, 5 working days behind the 72-hour call

      DFARS 252.246-7003(c)(2)

When it is used

Applies in contracts for: (i) repairable or consumable parts identified as critical safety items; (ii) systems, subsystems, assemblies, and subassemblies integral to a system; (iii) repair, maintenance, logistics support, or overhaul services for those items (prescription 246.370). No dollar threshold. The obligation triggers when 'credible information' arises of a nonconformance or deficiency with possible safety impact — death, permanent total or partial disability, hospitalization, loss of a weapon system, or property damage above $1,000,000.

Read closely

(b) sets the two triggers the notices run on. (e) says the notification is neither an admission of responsibility nor a release of liability, which is what makes the 72-hour call safe to make; (d) puts the same duty on you for an item furnished by your own supplier.

The 18 templates that name it, with the line
76CORPDOC 2A — FAR/DFARS Flowdown Provisions for Commercial Products/Services under a DoD Prime ContractLockheed Martinline 163143CORPDOC 3A — FAR/DFARS Flowdown Provisions for Fixed Price Non-Commercial Items under a DoD Prime ContractLockheed Martinline 453155CORPDOC 4A — FAR/DFARS Flowdown Provisions for Cost-Reimbursement/T&M Subcontracts under a DoD Prime ContractLockheed Martinline 488233RTX Flowdown of U.S. Government Contract Clauses Under U.S. Government ContractsRTXline 78451Raytheon TC-001 — General Terms and Conditions of PurchaseRTXline 58160Raytheon TC-003 — Supplement 2: Government Contract Provisions from the DFARSRTXline 170166Northrop Grumman CTM-P-ST-001 — U.S. Government Firm Fixed Price Order (Not for Commercial Products and Services)Northrop Grummanline 253669Northrop Grumman CTM-P-ST-002 — U.S. Government FFP or T&M Order for Commercial Products and ServicesNorthrop Grummanline 2437166Northrop Grumman CTM-P-ST-003 — U.S. Government T&M Order (Not for Commercial Products and Services)Northrop Grummanline 2473168Northrop Grumman CTM-P-ST-004 — U.S. Government Cost Reimbursement Order (Not for Commercial Products and Services)Northrop Grummanline 2562255GD Mission Systems SCM-TMP-005 — General Provisions, Firm Fixed Price PO under U.S. Government Contract (Non-Commercial)General Dynamicsline 1399243GD Mission Systems SCM-TMP-048 — T&M Purchase Orders for Non-Commercial Items in Support of a U.S. Government ContractGeneral Dynamicsline 2370240L3Harris LGL-50.F1 — General T&C and Flowdown Clauses for Other Than Commercial Products/Services under a U.S. Government ContractL3Harrisline 2854106L3Harris LGL-50.F2 — General T&C and Flowdown Clauses for Commercial Products/Services under a U.S. Government ContractL3Harrisline 1905273BAE Systems Inc. USGOVA — FAR/DFARS Flow Down Provisions for Subcontracts/Purchase Orders under a U.S. Government (DoD) Prime ContractBAE Systemsline 1221107Honeywell — Supplemental Provisions Under Fixed Price U.S. Government Contracts for Commercial ItemsHoneywellline 103589AAR Government Services — C40 Purchase Order General Provisions, Non-Commercial Firm Fixed Price Items or ServicesAAR Corpline 3286178AAR Component Services NY — U.S. Government Contract FAR and DFARS Clauses Incorporated by ReferenceAAR Corpline 1642

Source: acquisition.gov, DFARS 252.246-7003. CODIFIED REGIME, read 2026-08-11 on the part-252 page at DFARS Change 5/7/2026: "As prescribed in 246.370(a), use the following clause:" with designation (JAN 2023). DEVIATION REGIME, read 2026-08-11 in acquisition.gov/sites/default/files/page_file_uploads/DoD_RFO_Deviation_Part-46.pdf (569581 bytes, 42 pages, DARS Tracking Number 2026-O0035, "Effective February 1, 2026, contracting officers shall use"): 246.370(a) reads "Insert the clause at 252.246-7003, Notification of Potential Safety Issues, in solicitations and contracts, including solicitations and contracts using FAR part 12 procedures for the acquisition of commercial products and commercial services, for the acquisition of—", and the clause head reads "As prescribed in 246.370(a), use the following clause:" with the same designation (JAN 2023). THE TWO REGIMES AGREE on number, prescription and designation, and the commercial reach is stated in both. TO RE-DERIVE WITHOUT REDOING THE RESEARCH: fetch that PDF, run pdftotext -layout over it, and grep for 252.246-7003 — 3 occurrences on 2026-08-11, poppler pdftotext. (verified 2026-08-11)

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.