FAR and DFARS › FAR Part 52: Solicitation Provisions and Contract Clauses › Subpart 52.2

FAR 52.216-4 Economic Price Adjustment—Labor and Material.

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 clause lets contract unit prices be adjusted when the rates of pay for labor (including fringe benefits) or the unit prices for material listed in the Schedule change. The contractor must notify the Contracting Officer of such increases or decreases and propose an adjustment, and the parties then negotiate a price change within the clause's limits. It matters because it provides a defined process and caps for recovering or passing through labor and material cost changes.

Applies to: Contractors performing contracts that include this clause, covering labor rates (including fringe benefits) and material unit prices shown in the Schedule

What it requires

  • Notify the Contracting Officer if labor rates (including fringe benefits) or material unit prices shown in the Schedule increase or decrease
  • Furnish the notice within 60 days after the increase or decrease, or within any additional period the Contracting Officer approves in writing, but not later than the date of final payment
  • Include in the notice a proposal for an adjustment in contract unit prices and supporting data explaining the cause, effective date, amount of the change, and the adjustment proposal
  • Continue performance pending agreement on, or determination of, any adjustment and its effective date

Key terms: Economic Price Adjustment · Contracting Officer · fringe benefits · unit prices · final payment

Written by AI from this section's text. A guide, not legal advice: the text below rules.

The text

As prescribed in 16.203-4(c), insert the following clause:

Economic Price Adjustment—Labor and Material (JAN 2017)

(a) The Contractor shall notify the Contracting Officer if, at any time during contract performance, the rates of pay for labor (including fringe benefits) or the unit prices for material shown in the Schedule either increase or decrease. The Contractor shall furnish this notice within 60 days after the increase or decrease, or within any additional period that the Contracting Officer may approve in writing, but not later than the date of final payment under this contract. The notice shall include the Contractor's proposal for an adjustment in the contract unit prices to be negotiated under paragraph (b) below, and shall include, in the form required by the Contracting Officer, supporting data explaining the cause, effective date, and amount of the increase or decrease and the amount of the Contractor's adjustment proposal.

(b) Promptly after the Contracting Officer receives the notice and data under paragraph (a) above, the Contracting Officer and the Contractor shall negotiate a price adjustment in the contract unit prices and its effective date. However, the Contracting Officer may postpone the negotiations until an accumulation of increases and decreases in the labor rates (including fringe benefits) and unit prices of material shown in the Schedule results in an adjustment allowable under subparagraph (c)(3) below. The Contracting Officer shall modify this contract (1) to include the price adjustment and its effective date and (2) to revise the labor rates (including fringe benefits) or unit prices of material as shown in the Schedule to reflect the increases or decreases resulting from the adjustment. The Contractor shall continue performance pending agreement on, or determination of, any adjustment and its effective date.

(c) Any price adjustment under this clause is subject to the following limitations:

(1) Any adjustment shall be limited to the effect on unit prices of the increases or decreases in the rates of pay for labor (including fringe benefits) or unit prices for material shown in the Schedule. There shall be no adjustment for (i) supplies or services for which the production cost is not affected by such changes, (ii) changes in rates or unit prices other than those shown in the Schedule, or (iii) changes in the quantities of labor or material used from those shown in the Schedule for each item.

(2) No upward adjustment shall apply to supplies or services that are required to be delivered or performed before the effective date of the adjustment, unless the Contractor's failure to deliver or perform according to the delivery schedule results from causes beyond the Contractor's control and without its fault or negligence, within the meaning of the Default clause.

(3) There shall be no adjustment for any change in rates of pay for labor (including fringe benefits) or unit prices for material which would not result in a net change of at least 3 percent of the then-current total contract price. This limitation shall not apply, however, if, after final delivery of all line items, either party requests an adjustment under paragraph (b) above.

(4) The aggregate of the increases in any contract unit price made under this clause shall not exceed 10 percent of the original unit price. There is no percentage limitation on the amount of decreases that may be made under this clause.

(d) The Contracting Officer may examine the Contractor's books, records, and other supporting data relevant to the cost of labor (including fringe benefits) and material during all reasonable times until the end of 3 years after the date of final payment under this contract or the time periods specified in subpart 4.7 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), whichever is earlier.

(End of clause)

Sections it refers to

Sections that refer to it

← 52.216-3 Economic Price Adjustment—Semistandard Supplies. · 52.216-5 Price Redetermination—Prospective. →

Rule changes for FAR Part 52

Source: eCFR, 48 CFR chapters 1 and 2 (GPO GovInfo bulk data) ↗. Plain words for the terms: glossary.

FAR 52.216-4 Economic Price Adjustment—Labor and Material · SpendQuery