27.406-1 General
Source: FAR 27.406-1 on acquisition.gov
FAR 27.406-1 requires contracting officers to clearly specify and minimize contract data requirements, respecting contractor data rights unless greater rights are justified and compensated.
Overview
FAR 27.406-1 outlines the general principles for determining, specifying, and managing data requirements in government contracts. The regulation emphasizes minimizing data requirements to reduce costs for both the Government and contractors, while ensuring that necessary data is available for contract performance. Contracting officers are responsible for specifying all known data requirements in the contract, including delivery details and any restrictions. For major system acquisitions, data requirements should be listed as separate line items when feasible. The section also addresses the handling of data rights, stating that contractors should not be required to provide unlimited rights to data that qualifies as limited rights data or restricted computer software unless necessary, and that any need for greater rights must be clearly stated and compensated.
Key Rules
- Minimize Data Requirements
- Only require data necessary for contract performance to avoid unnecessary costs.
- Specify Data Requirements in Contracts
- All known data requirements, delivery details, and restrictions must be included in the contract.
- Separate Line Items for Major Systems
- For major system acquisitions, data requirements should be set out as separate contract line items when feasible.
- Respect Data Rights
- Do not require unlimited rights in limited rights data or restricted software unless justified and compensated.
Responsibilities
- Contracting Officers: Must determine, specify, and document all data requirements, delivery details, and rights in the contract; ensure compliance with agency procedures.
- Contractors: Must comply with specified data requirements and delivery terms; negotiate rights in data as required.
- Agencies: May develop procedures for listing, specifying, and handling contract data requirements.
Practical Implications
- Ensures data requirements are clear, justified, and cost-effective.
- Protects contractor intellectual property rights unless greater rights are necessary and compensated.
- Reduces disputes over data rights and delivery by clarifying expectations in the contract.
(a) It is the Government’s practice to determine, to the extent feasible, its data requirements in time for inclusion in solicitations. The data requirements may be subject to revision during contract negotiations. Since the preparation, reformatting, maintenance and updating, cataloging, and storage of data represents an expense to both the Government and the contractor, efforts should be made to keep the contract data requirements to a minimum, consistent with the purposes of the contract.
(b) The contracting officer shall specify in the contract all known data requirements, including the time and place for delivery and any limitations and restrictions to be imposed on the contractor in the handling of the data. Further, and to the extent feasible, in major system acquisitions, the contracting officer shall set out data requirements as separate line items. In establishing the contract data requirements and in specifying data items to be delivered by a contractor, agencies may, consistent with paragraph (a) of this subsection, develop their own contract schedule provisions. Agency procedures may, among other things, provide for listing, specifying, identifying source, assuring delivery, and handling any data required to be delivered, first produced, or specifically used in the performance of the contract.
(c) Data delivery requirements should normally not require that a contractor provide the Government, as a condition of the procurement, unlimited rights in data that qualify as limited rights data or restricted computer software. Rather, form, fit, and function data may be furnished with unlimited rights instead of the qualifying data, or the qualifying data may be furnished with limited rights or restricted rights if needed (see 27.404-2(c) and (d)). If greater rights are needed, they should be clearly set forth in the solicitation and the contractor fairly compensated for the greater rights.