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Clauses · FAR · Supply chain and sourcing

FAR 52.247-64 Preference for Privately Owned U.S.-Flag Commercial Vessels

Does the regulation require it to flow down?

Yes

(d): insert the substance of the clause, including paragraph (d) itself, 'in all subcontracts or purchase orders under this contract', except those described in (e)(4). (e)(4) exempts subcontracts and purchase orders for commercial products or services, but only when NONE of three legs holds: the prime contract is for ocean transportation services or for construction; the items are resold without added value (typically f.o.b. destination); or the shipment directly supports US military contingency operations or exercises, or forces deployed on UN/NATO humanitarian or peacekeeping operations. (Third leg — the ocean-transportation-services-or-construction prime — verified against acquisition.gov, FAR 52.247-64(e)(4), on 2026-08-05.)

Form
substance — 'the substance of this clause, including this paragraph (d)' ((d))
Reaches
all tiers — (d) carries itself down and re-propagates

Checked against acquisition.gov on 2026-08-04 · edition NOV 2021 (Basic; Alt I APR 2003; Alt II NOV 2021) · base v0.9.3 Read the text ↗

What it makes you produce

One item for your checklist.

  1. Something somebody else has to issue you

    The same day if the issuer is one of your own suppliers, months if it is an assessor or an underwriter.

    • A legible copy of the carrier's rated on-board ocean bill of lading, to the contracting officer and to the Maritime Administration

      Owed when contract cargo has moved by sea — 20 working days from the date of loading in the United States, 30 working days from a foreign port

      FAR 52.247-64(c)

When it is used

Prescribed by 47.507(a) for solicitations and contracts that may involve ocean transportation of supplies subject to the Cargo Preference Act of 1954 — no dollar threshold, no contract-type gate and no commercial exception in the prescription itself. Flows down via (d) to all subcontracts and purchase orders except those described in (e)(4). (Trigger corrected 2026-08-05, backlog item 12: both legs were rules and both were wrong in the excluding direction. `workType == supplies` is not the prescription — a services subcontract that moves supplies by sea is in scope, and 47.507(a) tests whether the contract MAY INVOLVE ocean transportation, which is a fact about the scope of work. And `commercial == false` made a commercial sub exempt outright, when (e)(4) is a conditional exception with three routes back in — so the engine ruled the clause out with no route back, on a condition whose own note said 'except'. Both legs are structural now. Verified against acquisition.gov, FAR 47.507 and 52.247-64(d)/(e).)

Read closely

(b) is the substantive rule: at least half the gross tonnage on privately owned US-flag commercial vessels, counted separately by vessel type. On a DoD order this usually arrives beside DFARS 252.247-7023, which is stricter — US-flag for everything rather than half. With no ocean shipment the obligation lies dormant, and (d) carries the clause down anyway except where the commercial exception at (e)(4) reaches.

Alternates

  • Alt I · APR 2003

    FAR 47.507(a)(2).

    Alt I substitutes (a) and (b) to require all of the cargo on US-flag commercial vessels instead of half, with a contracting officer authorization before a foreign-flag vessel may be used at all. It raises the bar the shipment has to clear; the bill of lading copies, their addressees and their deadlines are the parent's.

The 18 templates that name it, with the line
76CORPDOC 2A — FAR/DFARS Flowdown Provisions for Commercial Products/Services under a DoD Prime ContractLockheed Martinline 129143CORPDOC 3A — FAR/DFARS Flowdown Provisions for Fixed Price Non-Commercial Items under a DoD Prime ContractLockheed Martinline 298155CORPDOC 4A — FAR/DFARS Flowdown Provisions for Cost-Reimbursement/T&M Subcontracts under a DoD Prime ContractLockheed Martinline 333233RTX Flowdown of U.S. Government Contract Clauses Under U.S. Government ContractsRTXline 63551Raytheon TC-001 — General Terms and Conditions of PurchaseRTXline 508105Raytheon TC-002 — Supplement 1: Government Contract Provisions from the FARRTXline 133166Northrop Grumman CTM-P-ST-001 — U.S. Government Firm Fixed Price Order (Not for Commercial Products and Services)Northrop Grummanline 237069Northrop Grumman CTM-P-ST-002 — U.S. Government FFP or T&M Order for Commercial Products and ServicesNorthrop Grummanline 2375166Northrop Grumman CTM-P-ST-003 — U.S. Government T&M Order (Not for Commercial Products and Services)Northrop Grummanline 2310168Northrop Grumman CTM-P-ST-004 — U.S. Government Cost Reimbursement Order (Not for Commercial Products and Services)Northrop Grummanline 2402255GD Mission Systems SCM-TMP-005 — General Provisions, Firm Fixed Price PO under U.S. Government Contract (Non-Commercial)General Dynamicsline 1171243GD Mission Systems SCM-TMP-048 — T&M Purchase Orders for Non-Commercial Items in Support of a U.S. Government ContractGeneral Dynamicsline 2128122GD Mission Systems SCM-TMP-095 — FFP Purchase Orders for Commercial/COTS Products or Services in Support of a U.S. Government ContractGeneral Dynamicsline 1034240L3Harris LGL-50.F1 — General T&C and Flowdown Clauses for Other Than Commercial Products/Services under a U.S. Government ContractL3Harrisline 2248106L3Harris LGL-50.F2 — General T&C and Flowdown Clauses for Commercial Products/Services under a U.S. Government ContractL3Harrisline 1660273BAE Systems Inc. USGOVA — FAR/DFARS Flow Down Provisions for Subcontracts/Purchase Orders under a U.S. Government (DoD) Prime ContractBAE Systemsline 432107Honeywell — Supplemental Provisions Under Fixed Price U.S. Government Contracts for Commercial ItemsHoneywellline 468178AAR Component Services NY — U.S. Government Contract FAR and DFARS Clauses Incorporated by ReferenceAAR Corpline 1769

Source: acquisition.gov, FAR 52.247-64, 47.507(a), 52.244-6(c)(1) and 52.212-5(e) (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.