Three Things Government Contractors Should Know About Flow Down Clauses

     Government contracts with federal agencies routinely include a bevy of FAR clauses required to be inserted into the contracts by a contracting officer. These clauses often cover not only contract performance but also additional conditions that prime contractors have to meet, such as compliance with labor and employment laws. To ensure compliance all along the contracting chain, the clauses sometimes require prime contractors to turn around and "flow down" these conditions to their subcontracts with subcontractors. In this way, agencies are able to reach down and control the behavior of parties that, as a technical matter, are not in privity with the agency. At times, however, prime contractors should flow down requirements in their prime contracts to their subcontractors even when flow down is not mandatory. In this edition of The GovCon Video Blog,™ we briefly discuss three things that contractors should know about flow down clauses. 

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