Clauses · FAR · Insurance and liability
FAR 52.246-25 Limitation of Liability-Services
Does the regulation require it to flow down?
No
No mandate and no subcontract paragraph. Like 52.246-23 it is relief rather than duty, resting on the Government's decision to self-insure (46.803(a)). Primes mirror it into services and T&M packages — GDMS carries it in both its fixed-price (SCM-TMP-005) and T&M (SCM-TMP-048) noncommercial templates dated 2026-07-20 — because they only pass down the shield to the extent they hold it themselves.
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 FEB 1997 · base v0.9.3 Read the text ↗
What it makes you produce
One item for your checklist.
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.
The bill for Government property that a defect in your accepted services, or in the materials furnished with them, damages — the Government carries it, and every deficiency the contract makes you expressly responsible for stays outside that and remains yours
FAR 52.246-25(a)
When it is used
FAR 46.805(a)(4): contracts requiring the performance of services, when the amount is expected to exceed the SAT ($350k) and the contract is subject to subpart 46.8. FAR 46.801 gates it: subpart 46.8 does not apply to commercial products or commercial services, and applies only to contracts other than those for IT (including telecommunications), construction, architect-engineer services, and maintenance or rehabilitation of real property. Where the contract requires BOTH services and end items, 46.805(a)(5) pairs this clause with 52.246-23 or 52.246-24 and requires high-value line items to be identified in the schedule. Below the SAT it is not required, but may be inserted at the contractor's specific request (46.805(b)).
Read closely
The limit is written into the same sentence: the cover stops wherever the contract expressly makes you responsible for deficiencies in the services, so an indemnity or warranty article in the order above takes it straight back. (b) is willful misconduct or lack of good faith by managerial personnel and (c) makes insurance carried or a self-insurance reserve established the measure of what is owed. Whether the work has to be redone for free is decided by the inspection clause on the order — 52.246-4, 52.246-5 or 52.246-6 — not here.
The 2 templates that name it, with the line
Source: acquisition.gov, FAR 52.246-25, FAR 46.805(a)(4), FAR 46.801, FAR 46.803 and FAR 52.212-4(p); 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.