FAR and DFARS › FAR Part 46: Quality Assurance › Subpart 46.1
FAR 46.102 Policy.
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
FAR 46.102 states the Government's policy that agencies must ensure contracts include necessary inspection and quality requirements to protect the Government's interest. It also requires that Government quality assurance be performed before acceptance, that nonconforming supplies or services be rejected, and that commercial products generally rely on the contractor's existing quality assurance system. This matters to contractors because it sets the framework for how the Government will inspect and accept their work, and it confirms that the Government cannot be prevented from performing inspections.
Applies to: Government agencies and contractors supplying goods or services under Federal contracts
What it requires
- Include inspection and other quality requirements in contracts when necessary to protect the Government's interest
- Ensure supplies or services tendered by contractors meet contract requirements
- Conduct Government contract quality assurance before acceptance, by or under the direction of Government personnel
- Reject nonconforming supplies or services, except as otherwise provided in 46.407
Key terms: inspection · quality requirements · warranty clauses · Government contract quality assurance · nonconforming supplies or services
Written by AI from this section's text. A guide, not legal advice: the text below rules.
The text
Agencies shall ensure that—
(a) Contracts include inspection and other quality requirements, including warranty clauses when appropriate, that are determined necessary to protect the Government's interest.
(b) Supplies or services (including commercial services) tendered by contractors meet contract requirements;
(c) Government contract quality assurance is conducted before acceptance (except as otherwise provided in this part), by or under the direction of Government personnel;
(d) No contract precludes the Government from performing inspection;
(e) Nonconforming supplies or services are rejected, except as otherwise provided in 46.407;
(f) Contracts for commercial products rely on a contractor's existing quality assurance system as a substitute for compliance with Government inspection and testing before tender for acceptance unless customary market practices for the commercial product being acquired permit in-process inspection (41 U.S.C. 3307). Any in-process inspection by the Government shall be conducted in a manner consistent with commercial practice; and
(g) The quality assurance and acceptance services of other agencies are used when this will be effective, economical, or otherwise in the Government's interest (see 42.002 and subpart 42.2).
Sections that refer to it
- 46.407 Nonconforming supplies or services.
← 46.101 Definitions. · 46.103 Contracting office responsibilities. →
Source: eCFR, 48 CFR chapters 1 and 2 (GPO GovInfo bulk data) ↗. Plain words for the terms: glossary.