Clauses · FAR · Quality and inspection
FAR 52.246-1 Contractor Inspection Requirements
Does the regulation require it to flow down?
No
No mandate and no subcontract language: the clause is one sentence and never mentions subcontractors. Primes carry it because it is the cheapest possible way to write 'all inspection and testing is the seller's job' into a flow-down matrix — it makes the sub responsible for substantiating conformance, including for specified manufacturers' parts, and gives that responsibility precedence over Government inspection called for in the specifications.
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
One item for your checklist.
Nothing to send, ever
There is no paperwork here. It is a rule you follow while you perform the work.
Nothing to send — the clause puts every inspection and test needed to substantiate conformance on you, including the technical requirements of specified manufacturers' parts
FAR 52.246-1
When it is used
FAR 46.301: inserted in solicitations and contracts for supplies or services when the contract amount is expected to be AT OR BELOW the simplified acquisition threshold ($350k since 2025-10-01) and either (a) it is needed for an explicit understanding of the contractor's inspection responsibilities or (b) agency procedures require it. It must NOT be used if the CO made the 46.202-2(b) determination — that the Government needs to test before tender or to judge the contractor's internal work processes. It is the contract expression of the 46.202-2(a) policy of relying on the contractor below the SAT, and is therefore the ALTERNATIVE to 52.246-2/52.246-4, which 46.302/46.304 prescribe above the SAT. Commercial buys run on 52.212-4(a) instead.
Read closely
The clause is a single paragraph with no lettered subdivisions and no submission in it. Unlike 52.246-2 and 52.246-4 it names no inspection system and no records, so on an order carrying only this clause the evidence obligations come from the specification and your quality system. It also takes precedence over Government inspection and testing called for in the specifications, except for tests reserved solely to the Government.
The 3 templates that name it, with the line
Source: acquisition.gov, FAR 52.246-1, FAR 46.301 and FAR 46.202-2; RFO Part 46 model text (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.