The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) is the primary set of rules for use by all US government military and civilian agencies in their acquisition of supplies and services. Government contracts must include certain clauses, listed in FAR Part 52 of the US Code of Federal Regulations. Some of the clauses included in your prime contract must also be included in your subcontracts under certain circumstance. These “flow-down” or “flow-through” clauses bind the subcontractor to the terms of the prime contract. The DoD has issued the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS), which includes a list of clauses required for DoD contracts in addition to FAR clauses.

The version you are testing is a prototype and costs nothing for a select group of test users. When the commercial product is ready, it will be available for license to individual users.

This version of the tool is designed specifically to include FAR and DFARS clauses that apply to DoD SBIRs. Further, we have selected test users that have been awarded fixed price contracts. Future versions of the product will enable users to select other types of contracts.

Lampyrid is a privately owned company providing self-help services for DoD contractors. We are not affiliated with or endorsed by the DoD.

We can’t give you subjective recommendations on how to interpret the clauses, just guidance on whether a specific clause should flow down to your subcontracts based on the information you provide. Each clause is only included by reference in your SBIR contract, but you can review the specific language within each of the clauses at the links below. FAR clauses: https://www.acquisition.gov/far/part-52 DFARS clauses: https://www.acquisition.gov/dfars/part-252-solicitation-provisions-and-contract-clauses

Make your best guess as you’re completing the form, and make a note of any questions so we can discuss them during our feedback call.

Not all clauses included in your prime contract are required to flow down to your subcontracts. Some prime clauses will never include flow-down provisions, some will be required in every subcontract, and some are dependent on factors like the amount of the subcontract or the type of work performed.

After reviewing the list of flow-down clauses generated by the Flow-Down Generator tool, you can incorporate it into your subcontract.

The language included in government clauses can be confusing or intimidating out of context. You may find it helpful to explain to your subcontractors that the US government requires you to include certain clauses in your subcontracts. All of the flow-down clauses will have been included in your prime contract, and they can find the original language of the FAR and DFARS clauses on the acquisition.gov site.

We request that you not share any technical details or confidential information about your project at this stage. The only identifying information we request is your email address, company name, and the name of your subcontractor. That information will be used to generate a list of contract clauses (marked with your company name and your subcontractor’s name) that will be emailed directly to you. We will not share or publish any identifying information, but at this stage of development, we have not implemented any special security measures that would be required for safeguarding confidential information.