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Clauses · FAR · Quality and inspection

FAR 52.246-3 Inspection of Supplies—Cost-Reimbursement

Does the regulation require it to flow down?

No

No paragraph mandates inserting the clause in a subcontract. But (d) says the prime 'shall require subcontractors to furnish all reasonable facilities and assistance' for Government inspection — and the prime can only demand that of the sub with a mirror clause in the subcontract. That is why it shows up in cost-type templates.

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 2001 · 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, the fabricating methods and the special tooling

      FAR 52.246-3(b)

  2. Something you write

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

    • Complete records of every inspection performed, available to the Government during performance and for as long afterwards as the contract requires

      FAR 52.246-3(b)

When it is used

Prescribed by 46.303 for cost-reimbursement supply contracts. It reaches the sub because the cost-type prime mirrors the inspection package — and because (c) gives the Government the right to inspect 'the plant or plants... of any subcontractor' and (d) obligates the prime to secure that cooperation.

Read closely

The cost-reimbursement sibling of 52.246-2. Inspection reaches the plant during manufacture and, under (c), the plant of any supplier engaged in performance. Correction or replacement of a defect can be demanded up to six months after acceptance, so the records are what answers a claim raised long after the line ran.

The 6 templates that name it, with the line
155CORPDOC 4A — FAR/DFARS Flowdown Provisions for Cost-Reimbursement/T&M Subcontracts under a DoD Prime ContractLockheed Martinline 320233RTX Flowdown of U.S. Government Contract Clauses Under U.S. Government ContractsRTXline 1174105Raytheon TC-002 — Supplement 1: Government Contract Provisions from the FARRTXline 25712Boeing GP4 — General Provisions, Cost Reimbursement Contract under U.S. Government Prime ContractBoeingline 90240L3Harris LGL-50.F1 — General T&C and Flowdown Clauses for Other Than Commercial Products/Services under a U.S. Government ContractL3Harrisline 2087273BAE Systems Inc. USGOVA — FAR/DFARS Flow Down Provisions for Subcontracts/Purchase Orders under a U.S. Government (DoD) Prime ContractBAE Systemsline 912

Source: acquisition.gov, FAR 52.246-3 and 46.303 (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.