48 CFR · Federal Acquisition Regulation and Defense supplement

FAR and DFARS navigator

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.

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5 sections with “sponsoring agreements”

  • FAR 35.017-1 Sponsoring agreements.
    …between the Government and the FFRDC shall be prepared when the FFRDC is established. The sponsoring agreement may take various forms; it may be included in a contract between the Government and the FFRDC, or in another legal instrument und…
  • DFARS 235.017-1 Sponsoring agreements.
    (c)(4) DoD-sponsoring FFRDCs that function primarily as research laboratories (C3I Laboratory operated by the Institute for Defense Analysis, Lincoln Laboratory operated by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Software Engineering Ins…
  • FAR 35.017 Federally Funded Research and Development Centers.
    …nd termination of Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC's) and related sponsoring agreements. (2) An FFRDC meets some special long-term research or development need which cannot be met as effectively by existing in-house…
  • FAR 17.503 Ordering procedures.
    …agencies by part 31), and that adequate contract administration will be provided. (e) Nonsponsoring Federal agencies may use a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) only if the terms of the FFRDC's sponsoring agreement p…
  • FAR 35.017-6 Master list of FFRDC's.
    …nment list of FFRDC's. Primary sponsors will provide information on each FFRDC, including sponsoring agreements, mission statements, funding data, and type of R&D being performed, to the NSF upon its request for such information.

FAR (chapter 1)

DFARS (chapter 2, Defense)

Source: eCFR, 48 CFR chapters 1 and 2 (GPO GovInfo bulk data) ↗. Rule changes in progress: FAR, DFARS. Terms: glossary.