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Clauses · FAR · Payment and financing

FAR 52.232-17 Interest

Does the regulation require it to flow down?

No

The prime includes it for convenience: it gives a contractual basis to charge the sub interest at the same rate and mechanics the government charges it

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 · base v0.9.3 Read the text ↗

What it makes you produce

One item for your checklist.

  1. Nothing to send now

    It does not hold the order. It decides what money moves later — what you can claim, what can be claimed from you, and what can be held back — and none of that changes after signature.

    • Nothing goes out now — under paragraph (a) an amount payable by you to the buyer bears simple interest from the date due until paid, unless paid within 30 days of becoming due, at the Treasury rate set under 41 U.S.C. 7109 for the period in which it becomes due

      FAR 52.232-17(a) and (e)

When it is used

General clause: every contractor debt to the government (refund of an improper payment, price adjustment, penalty) accrues simple interest from the due date until payment, unless settled within 30 days. There is no flowdown mandate; primes mirror it in the subcontract so the sub's debts to the prime (chargebacks, advance-payment refunds) accrue interest by the same yardstick.

Read closely

Paragraph (e) fixes the earliest date an amount becomes due, which is where the interest period starts — so the date on the demand letter is what defines the size of the tab, and that letter is worth keeping.

The 7 templates that name it, with the line
233RTX Flowdown of U.S. Government Contract Clauses Under U.S. Government ContractsRTXline 934166Northrop Grumman CTM-P-ST-001 — U.S. Government Firm Fixed Price Order (Not for Commercial Products and Services)Northrop Grummanline 2327166Northrop Grumman CTM-P-ST-003 — U.S. Government T&M Order (Not for Commercial Products and Services)Northrop Grummanline 2269168Northrop Grumman CTM-P-ST-004 — U.S. Government Cost Reimbursement Order (Not for Commercial Products and Services)Northrop Grummanline 2359255GD Mission Systems SCM-TMP-005 — General Provisions, Firm Fixed Price PO under U.S. Government Contract (Non-Commercial)General Dynamicsline 1071243GD Mission Systems SCM-TMP-048 — T&M Purchase Orders for Non-Commercial Items in Support of a U.S. Government ContractGeneral Dynamicsline 2108178AAR Component Services NY — U.S. Government Contract FAR and DFARS Clauses Incorporated by ReferenceAAR Corpline 1535

Source: acquisition.gov, FAR 52.232-17 (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.