Clauses · FAR · Pricing and audit
FAR 52.215-21 Requirements for Certified Cost or Pricing Data and Data Other Than Certified Cost or Pricing Data—Modifications
Does the regulation require it to flow down?
No
No flow-down paragraph in the text. Primes paste it into subcontract terms for convenience: it is the contractual mechanism for demanding data when a big change order comes. The regulatory flow-down mandate for sub data is 52.215-12/-13, not this one.
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 2026-08-04 · edition NOV 2021 (clause; Alt I and IV OCT 2010, Alt II and III OCT 1997) · base v0.9.3 Read the text ↗
What it makes you produce
2 items for your checklist, slowest first.
Something you write
Days to weeks, and nobody outside your company has to agree to it.
A written request for exception under paragraph (a), or certified cost or pricing data for the modification prepared on the FAR 15.408 instructions, fed by the performance cost history the proposal is built from
FAR 52.215-21(a) and (b)
Something you fill in and send back
Hours, once you know which one is missing.
A signed Certificate of Current Cost or Pricing Data in the form at FAR 15.406-2, when the modification's price closes
FAR 52.215-21(b)
When it is used
A contract clause (15.408(m)): enters when it is reasonably certain that cost data will be required for MODIFICATIONS. It reaches the sub when the prime incorporates it into the subcontract terms to secure data on future mods. It bites when the modification exceeds the 15.403-4(a)(1) threshold ($2.5M) with no exception.
Read closely
The regulatory route for data from a lower tier is FAR 52.215-12 and 52.215-13; this one is the contractual mechanism for demanding data when a large change order arrives.
Alternates
Alt I · OCT 2010
FAR 15.408(m); 15.403-5(b)(1).
Alt I rewrites paragraph (b)(1) so the parties may agree on a data format other than FAR Table 15-2. The same data is prepared and submitted; only the layout it arrives in moves.
Alt II · OCT 1997
FAR 15.408(m).
Alt II adds a paragraph sending one copy each to the administrative contracting officer and the contract auditor. It changes the distribution list, not the package.
Alt III · OCT 1997
FAR 15.408(m).
Alt III adds a paragraph requiring the cost proposal to travel on electronic media the contracting officer specifies. It moves the delivery channel and leaves the contents alone.
Alt IV · OCT 2010
FAR 15.408(m); 15.403-3.
Alt IV replaces the clause text outright: the certified cost or pricing data requirement is eliminated and only the data other than certified data the contracting officer specifies is required, so the Table 15-2 package and the certificate both go with it.
The 10 templates that name it, with the line
Source: acquisition.gov, FAR 52.215-21 and 15.408(m) (verified 2026-08-04)
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.