Clauses · FAR · Administration and definitions
FAR 52.242-17 Government Delay of Work
Does the regulation require it to flow down?
No
No mandate: the clause has two paragraphs and neither mentions subcontracts; FAR 42.1305(c) directs the contracting officer only. Primes flow it down back-to-back with the delay and suspension family (52.242-14/-15, 52.243-1) so that a delay the prime causes has a defined, bounded price rather than an open breach claim. For the sub this is the rare flow-down worth having: with 'Contracting Officer' read as the prime's buyer, it converts a prime-caused stall into a contractual equitable adjustment. It also bounds the prime's exposure, which is why the prime includes it — the 20-day look-back and the excluded profit are the prime's protection, not yours.
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 APR 1984 · base v0.9.3 Read the text ↗
What it makes you produce
2 items for your checklist, slowest first.
Nothing to send now2
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.
Dated written notice of the act or failure to act that stalled you — nothing incurred more than 20 days before that notice is recoverable
FAR 52.242-17(b)(1)The claim itself in a stated dollar amount, asserted as soon as practicable after the delay ends and no later than the day of final payment
FAR 52.242-17(b)(2)
When it is used
FAR 42.1305(c): the CO SHALL insert 52.242-17 when a fixed-price contract is contemplated for supplies OTHER than commercial or modified-commercial products; its use is OPTIONAL for fixed-price services and for commercial or modified-commercial supplies. So the mandate is narrow — fixed-price, supplies, noncommercial — and everything else is discretionary. Not a cost-reimbursement clause (a cost-type contractor is already reimbursed for the delay's costs). No dollar threshold. Note the neighbors in the same section: 42.1305(a) puts 52.242-14 Suspension of Work in fixed-price construction and A-E; 42.1305(b) puts 52.242-15 Stop-Work Order in negotiated supply, service and R&D contracts. The three cover different facts and 52.242-17(a) expressly stands down where another clause already provides or excludes the adjustment.
Read closely
The adjustment covers increased cost of performance and excludes profit, so the best outcome is break-even. It also stands down where another clause already provides or excludes the adjustment, which is why 52.242-15 and 52.243-1 are read first. What carries a claim is contemporaneous detail: idle labor hours by person, extended overhead, storage, equipment standby, and the date and content of every notice.
The 1 template that name it, with the line
Source: acquisition.gov, FAR 52.242-17 and FAR 42.1305(c) (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.