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Clauses · FAR · Quality and inspection

FAR 52.246-2 Inspection of Supplies-Fixed-Price

Does the regulation require it to flow down?

No

There is no mandate to insert the whole clause, but primes flow it down verbatim to mirror the inspection, rejection, and correction rights back-to-back — without it, a Government rejection has no way to be passed on to the sub that caused 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 AUG 1996 (Basic; Alt I and Alt II JUL 1985) · base v0.9.3 Read the text ↗

What it makes you produce

2 items for your checklist, slowest first.

  1. A program you have to be running

    You are either running it or you are not, and what the prime asks for is the date it started.

    • An inspection system acceptable to the Government, covering the supplies under this contract, with only inspected and conforming supplies tendered for acceptance

      FAR 52.246-2(b)

  2. Something you write

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

    • Records evidencing every inspection made under that system and its outcome, kept complete and available to the Government

      FAR 52.246-2(b)

When it is used

Fixed-price supply contracts (or services involving the furnishing of supplies) above the SAT ($350k); below it, at the CO's discretion (46.302). Alt I in fixed-price incentive; Alt II in fixed-ceiling-price with retroactive redetermination. Commercial follows the 52.212-4 regime, not this one. No mandate to insert it in subs, but (d) requires the prime to obtain from subcontractors facilities and assistance for Government inspection — which can take place at the sub's plant.

Read closely

How far the system reaches is decided in (a), not in (b): supplies there is defined to include raw materials, components, intermediate assemblies, end products and lots, so bought-in material sits inside the same system as what you make. Elsewhere in the clause: rejected supplies are corrected or removed at your expense, resubmission has to disclose the earlier rejection, and return freight is yours.

Alternates

  • Alt I · JUL 1985

    FAR 46.302 — fixed-price incentive contract contemplated.

    Alternate I is the fixed-price-incentive version, substituting paragraphs (g), (h) and (l) so the cost of removing, replacing or correcting rejected supplies runs through the target-price and incentive adjustment instead of arriving as a separate charge. The inspection system and the records are the basic clause's, unchanged.

  • Alt II · JUL 1985

    FAR 46.302 — fixed-ceiling-price contract with retroactive price redetermination.

    Alternate II is the fixed-ceiling-price-with-retroactive-redetermination version, moving the same paragraphs so defect-correction costs line up with the price redetermination mechanics. It changes how correction is paid for, not what the clause asks you to produce.

The 10 templates that name it, with the line
143CORPDOC 3A — FAR/DFARS Flowdown Provisions for Fixed Price Non-Commercial Items under a DoD Prime ContractLockheed Martinline 289233RTX Flowdown of U.S. Government Contract Clauses Under U.S. Government ContractsRTXline 945105Raytheon TC-002 — Supplement 1: Government Contract Provisions from the FARRTXline 130166Northrop Grumman CTM-P-ST-001 — U.S. Government Firm Fixed Price Order (Not for Commercial Products and Services)Northrop Grummanline 7569Northrop Grumman CTM-P-ST-002 — U.S. Government FFP or T&M Order for Commercial Products and ServicesNorthrop Grummanline 80166Northrop Grumman CTM-P-ST-003 — U.S. Government T&M Order (Not for Commercial Products and Services)Northrop Grummanline 74168Northrop Grumman CTM-P-ST-004 — U.S. Government Cost Reimbursement Order (Not for Commercial Products and Services)Northrop Grummanline 75255GD Mission Systems SCM-TMP-005 — General Provisions, Firm Fixed Price PO under U.S. Government Contract (Non-Commercial)General Dynamicsline 204240L3Harris LGL-50.F1 — General T&C and Flowdown Clauses for Other Than Commercial Products/Services under a U.S. Government ContractL3Harrisline 2075273BAE Systems Inc. USGOVA — FAR/DFARS Flow Down Provisions for Subcontracts/Purchase Orders under a U.S. Government (DoD) Prime ContractBAE Systemsline 808

Source: acquisition.gov, FAR 52.246-2 and 46.302 (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.