Clauses · FAR · Environment and safety
FAR 52.226-8 Encouraging Contractor Policies to Ban Text Messaging While Driving
Does the regulation require it to flow down?
Yes
Paragraph (d): 'The Contractor shall insert the substance of this clause, including this paragraph (d), in all subcontracts that exceed the micro-purchase threshold.' This mandate is in the clause itself and runs independently of the commercial flow-down lists
- Form
- substance, including paragraph (d) itself — self-perpetuating
- Reaches
- all tiers, above the micro-purchase threshold
Checked against acquisition.gov on 2026-08-05 · edition May 2024 · base v0.9.3 Read the text ↗
What it makes you produce
One item for your checklist.
Something you write
Days to weeks, and nobody outside your company has to agree to it.
A written policy banning text messaging while driving on company, rented or Government vehicles, and in a personal vehicle on official business
FAR 52.226-8(c)(1)
When it is used
FAR 26.605: 'The contracting officer shall insert the clause at 52.226-8 ... in all solicitations and contracts.' No dollar threshold at the prime level, no commercial or COTS exception, no work-type limit — it is one of the few genuinely universal clauses. The flow-down, by contrast, has a floor: subcontracts exceeding the micro-purchase threshold ($15k since 2025-10-01). This is the successor number to 52.223-18, which reads [Reserved] on acquisition.gov as of 2026-08-05; the base's existing 52.223-18 entry should resolve to this one.
Read closely
(c) is written as encouragement rather than a command, and (c)(2) asks for the effort to be sized to the business — new or reevaluated rules, plus education and outreach to employees. A paragraph in the handbook and an annual reminder is what that describes for a small shop. The flow-down floor in (d) is the micro-purchase threshold, not the value of the whole order.
The 3 templates that name it, with the line
Source: acquisition.gov, FAR 52.226-8, FAR 26.605, FAR 52.223-18 [Reserved] and FAR 52.212-5(b)(55) (verified 2026-08-05); RFO Part 26 treatment via the VA class deviation adopting the FAR Council model text for Part 26
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.