Clauses · FAR · Supply chain and sourcing
FAR 52.208-8 Required Sources for Helium and Helium Usage Data — removed; 52.208-8 now reads "[Reserved]"
Does the regulation require it to flow down?
No
There is nothing left to flow down. It survives in templates because clause tables are maintained by deletion-by-exception: 52.208-8 sits in a numeric run between 52.204-30 and 52.209-6 and no one deleted the row. All three appearances are General Dynamics Mission Systems templates dated 2026-07-20 — SCM-TMP-005 (fixed-price noncommercial), SCM-TMP-048 (T&M noncommercial), and SCM-TMP-095, which is the COMMERCIAL template. Its presence there is a second-order tell: a commercial flow-down list is the one place a required-source clause was never going to belong.
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 [Reserved]. Removed effective 2023-05-26 by FAC 2023-03 (FAR Case 2022-007, 88 FR 25474, 2023-04-26). Its last live date designation is not recoverable from acquisition.gov because the text is gone (unconfirmed). · base v0.9.3 Read the text ↗
What it makes you produce
One item for your checklist.
There is no clause at this number
The number points at a section with no text in it, so there is nothing to follow and nothing to send.
A line on the order's clause list pointing at a section with no text in it — the requirement to buy helium from a federal source and report usage to the Bureau of Land Management was removed by FAR Case 2022-007
FAR 52.208-8
When it is used
There is no trigger. FAR Subpart 8.5, Acquisition of Helium (sections 8.500 through 8.505), and the clause at 52.208-8 were removed effective 2023-05-26 by FAC 2023-03 (FAR Case 2022-007, 88 FR 25474): the Helium Stewardship Act of 2013 required disposal of the Federal Helium System, the Federal Helium Reserve stopped operating, and agencies now buy helium on the open market like any other commodity. The amendatory instruction reads 'Remove and reserve section 52.208-8.' Both 52.208-8 and Subpart 8.5 read '[Reserved]' under FAC 2026-01 (effective 2026-03-13), and FAR 8.505 returns 404. When it was live the subpart reached only contracts with major helium requirements; the exact quantity definition cannot be closed against acquisition.gov because the removed text is no longer published there (unconfirmed).
Read closely
there is no source restriction to honor, no usage data to report, and no records to keep. The number sits in a numeric run between 52.204-30 and 52.209-6, which is how it survives on lists maintained by deletion-by-exception — including one commercial list, where a required-source clause was never going to belong.
The 3 templates that name it, with the line
Source: acquisition.gov, FAR 52.208-8 ([Reserved]) and FAR Subpart 8.5 ([Reserved]); FAR Case 2022-007 / FAC 2023-03 final rule, 88 FR 25474 (2023-04-26), effective 2023-05-26, read on govinfo (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.