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Clauses · FAR · Data rights

FAR 52.227-14 Rights in Data-General

Does the regulation require it to flow down?

No

(h) requires the prime to 'obtain from its subcontractors all data and rights therein necessary to fulfill the Contractor's obligations to the Government', without prescribing insertion of the clause — the prime flows it down because that's the standard way to obtain those rights; if the sub refuses, the prime must notify the CO and not proceed without written authorization

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 MAY 2014 (Basic; Alt I–V DEC 2007) · base v0.9.3 Read the text ↗

What it makes you produce

3 items for your checklist, slowest first.

  1. Something you write3

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

    • Form, fit and function data delivered in place of what you withhold

      Owed when you withhold limited rights data or restricted computer software from delivery

      52.227-14(g)
    • A written request for permission to assert copyright in data first produced under the order

      Owed when the data is not a scientific or technical article — those can be copyrighted without asking first

      52.227-14(c)
    • A written request to place a notice on data that went out without one, at your own expense

      Owed when a delivery left your building unmarked — the request has to be made inside the window the paragraph allows

      52.227-14(f)

When it is used

Goes into civilian contracts where data will be produced, delivered, or used (prescription 27.409(b), which dictates Alternates I–V). It has no paragraph requiring insertion of the clause in subs — but (h) obligates the prime to obtain from its subs the necessary data and rights, and that's why it shows up in nearly half the corpus.

Read closely

Data delivered without a notice reaches the Government with unlimited rights, and it can then go to anyone, competitors included — marking is delivery discipline rather than formality. The legends themselves arrive with Alternates II and III. Paragraph (h) is what makes a buyer collect the same rights from you rather than insert this clause into your order.

Alternates

  • Alt I · DEC 2007

    FAR 27.409(b)(2).

    Alternate I rewrites the limited rights data definition, dropping the tie to items, components or processes developed at private expense, so more of what you deliver can be restricted. What you produce and how it is marked stay the parent's.

  • Alt IV · DEC 2007

    FAR 27.409(b)(5).

    Alternate IV substitutes the copyright paragraph so copyright can be asserted in data first produced under the order without asking first, which removes the written permission request the basic clause needs.

  • Alt V · DEC 2007

    FAR 27.409(b)(6).

    Alternate V adds an inspection right: withheld data can be examined at your own facility for three years after acceptance to test the markings claimed. It puts your records in front of someone rather than adding anything new to deliver.

The 16 templates that name it, with the line
76CORPDOC 2A — FAR/DFARS Flowdown Provisions for Commercial Products/Services under a DoD Prime ContractLockheed Martinline 291143CORPDOC 3A — FAR/DFARS Flowdown Provisions for Fixed Price Non-Commercial Items under a DoD Prime ContractLockheed Martinline 231155CORPDOC 4A — FAR/DFARS Flowdown Provisions for Cost-Reimbursement/T&M Subcontracts under a DoD Prime ContractLockheed Martinline 252233RTX Flowdown of U.S. Government Contract Clauses Under U.S. Government ContractsRTXline 11105Raytheon TC-002 — Supplement 1: Government Contract Provisions from the FARRTXline 97166Northrop Grumman CTM-P-ST-001 — U.S. Government Firm Fixed Price Order (Not for Commercial Products and Services)Northrop Grummanline 66069Northrop Grumman CTM-P-ST-002 — U.S. Government FFP or T&M Order for Commercial Products and ServicesNorthrop Grummanline 769166Northrop Grumman CTM-P-ST-003 — U.S. Government T&M Order (Not for Commercial Products and Services)Northrop Grummanline 642168Northrop Grumman CTM-P-ST-004 — U.S. Government Cost Reimbursement Order (Not for Commercial Products and Services)Northrop Grummanline 773255GD Mission Systems SCM-TMP-005 — General Provisions, Firm Fixed Price PO under U.S. Government Contract (Non-Commercial)General Dynamicsline 1060243GD Mission Systems SCM-TMP-048 — T&M Purchase Orders for Non-Commercial Items in Support of a U.S. Government ContractGeneral Dynamicsline 1982122GD Mission Systems SCM-TMP-095 — FFP Purchase Orders for Commercial/COTS Products or Services in Support of a U.S. Government ContractGeneral Dynamicsline 1023240L3Harris LGL-50.F1 — General T&C and Flowdown Clauses for Other Than Commercial Products/Services under a U.S. Government ContractL3Harrisline 2050273BAE Systems Inc. USGOVA — FAR/DFARS Flow Down Provisions for Subcontracts/Purchase Orders under a U.S. Government (DoD) Prime ContractBAE Systemsline 60489AAR Government Services — C40 Purchase Order General Provisions, Non-Commercial Firm Fixed Price Items or ServicesAAR Corpline 515178AAR Component Services NY — U.S. Government Contract FAR and DFARS Clauses Incorporated by ReferenceAAR Corpline 1141

Source: acquisition.gov, FAR 52.227-14 and 27.409(b) (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.