FAR and DFARS › FAR Part 44: Subcontracting Policies and Procedures › Subpart 44.2
FAR 44.203 Consent limitations.
The codified text (eCFR, as of 2026-10-02). Under the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul ↗, agencies follow class deviations with new text for many parts while the formal rules go through the Federal Register: check the solicitation and your contract's clauses, which rule.
In plain English
This section explains what a contracting officer's consent to a subcontract or approval of a purchasing system does and does not mean, and lists subcontract types the contracting officer must not consent to. It matters because consent or approval does not automatically make subcontract terms, prices, or costs acceptable or allowable, and certain subcontract arrangements are off-limits.
Applies to: Contracting officers consenting to subcontracts or approving contractor purchasing systems
What it requires
- Do not treat consent to a subcontract or approval of a purchasing system as a determination of acceptability of subcontract terms or price, or of cost allowability, unless the consent or approval says otherwise
- Do not consent to cost-reimbursement subcontracts if the fee exceeds the fee limitations of 15.404-4(c)(4)(i)
- Do not consent to subcontracts providing for payment on a cost-plus-a-percentage-of-cost basis
- Do not consent to subcontracts obligating the contracting officer to deal directly with the subcontractor
Key terms: consent · purchasing system · cost-reimbursement subcontract · cost-plus-a-percentage-of-cost · indirect appeal
Written by AI from this section's text. A guide, not legal advice: the text below rules.
The text
(a) The contracting officer's consent to a subcontract or approval of the contractor's purchasing system does not constitute a determination of the acceptability of the subcontract terms or price, or of the allowability of costs, unless the consent or approval specifies otherwise.
(b) Contracting officers shall not consent to—
(1) Cost-reimbursement subcontracts if the fee exceeds the fee limitations of 15.404-4(c)(4)(i);
(2) Subcontracts providing for payment on a cost-plus-a-percentage-of-cost basis;
(3) Subcontracts obligating the contracting officer to deal directly with the subcontractor;
(4) Subcontracts that make the results of arbitration, judicial determination, or voluntary settlement between the prime contractor and subcontractor binding on the Government; or
(5) Repetitive or unduly protracted use of cost-reimbursement, time-and-materials, or labor-hour subcontracts (contracting officers should follow the principles of 16.103(c)).
(c) Contracting officers should not refuse consent to a subcontract merely because it contains a clause giving the subcontractor the right of indirect appeal to an agency board of contract appeals if the subcontractor is affected by a dispute between the Government and the prime contractor. Indirect appeal means assertion by the subcontractor of the prime contractor's right to appeal or the prosecution of an appeal by the prime contractor on the subcontractor's behalf. The clause may also provide that the prime contractor and subcontractor shall be equally bound by the contracting officer's or board's decision. The clause may not attempt to obligate the contracting officer or the appeals board to decide questions that do not arise between the Government and the prime contractor or that are not cognizable under the clause at 52.233-1, Disputes.
← 44.202-2 Considerations. · 44.204 Contract clauses. →
Rule changes for FAR Part 44
- Federal Acquisition Regulation: Revolutionary FAR Overhaul Parts 8, 12, 13, 15, 38, 44, and 51 ↗ · proposed 2026-09-18 · comments due 2026-10-19
Source: eCFR, 48 CFR chapters 1 and 2 (GPO GovInfo bulk data) ↗. Plain words for the terms: glossary.