FAR 27.406-2—Additional data requirements.
Plain-English Summary
FAR 27.406-2 explains when and how the Government may use the clause at 52.227-16, Additional Data Requirements, to obtain data that cannot be fully identified at contract award. It is aimed mainly at experimental, developmental, research, and demonstration contracts, where the need for specific data may emerge later as the work progresses. The section covers when the clause should normally be included, the special treatment for basic or applied research performed solely by a university or college, the time period during which the Government may order data, contractor compensation for preparing and delivering the data, the contracting officer’s ability to relieve retention obligations to reduce storage costs, the ability to identify data that will not be ordered, the option to delete the phrase “or specifically used” in some cases, the relationship to the Rights in Data-General clause at 52.227-14, and the limits on ordering computer software for public dissemination. In practice, this section gives the Government flexibility to obtain needed data later without over-specifying every data requirement up front, while also protecting contractors from unnecessary retention and delivery burdens. It also helps balance data access with data-rights protections and recognizes that software dissemination raises special policy concerns.
Key Rules
Use for uncertain data needs
The clause at 52.227-16 may be used when it is not feasible at award to know all required data, especially in experimental, developmental, research, or demonstration work. It allows the contracting officer to order additional data later as actual needs become clear.
Normally include in R&D contracts
The clause should normally be included in solicitations and contracts for experimental, developmental, research, or demonstration work unless all data requirements are already known and stated in the contract. This is the default approach for these types of efforts.
University research exception
For basic or applied research performed solely by a university or college, the clause is normally not used when the contract amount is $500,000 or less. If the contracting officer expects the effort may later exceed $500,000, the clause may still be included in the initial award.
Ordering window and payment
Additional data may be ordered during performance or within 3 years after acceptance of all deliverables. The contractor must be paid for converting the data to the required form, reproducing it, and delivering it.
Retention relief to reduce costs
To minimize storage costs, the contracting officer may release the contractor from retaining specified data items before the full retention period ends. This gives the Government flexibility to reduce unnecessary recordkeeping burdens.
Limit data not needed
The contracting officer may let the contractor identify data that will not be ordered if those data are not needed to meet Government requirements. The officer may also delete the phrase 'or specifically used' when delivery of such data is unnecessary.
Rights in data still apply
Any data ordered under 52.227-16 remains subject to the contract’s rights-in-data clause, usually 52.227-14 or an equivalent clause. Data the contractor is authorized to withhold under that clause generally cannot be required for delivery under 52.227-16, except where Alternate II or III applies.
Software ordering limits
Agencies should not use this clause to order additional computer software solely to disseminate or market it to the public unless there is an established dissemination program. When ordering software for internal use, the contracting officer should avoid requiring source code or similar sensitive elements if doing so would help the contractor market or disseminate the software and the Government’s needs can still be met.
Responsibilities
Contracting Officer
Decide whether the clause should be included based on the type of work and whether data requirements are known. Order additional data only within the allowed time period, pay the contractor for conversion, reproduction, and delivery, and consider relieving retention requirements or narrowing data demands when Government needs do not justify broader coverage.
Contractor
Retain and provide additional data when properly ordered under the clause, convert the data into the prescribed form, reproduce it, and deliver it as required. The contractor should also identify data that need not be ordered when permitted and may show why excluding certain software elements would support dissemination or marketing efforts.
Agency
Use the clause consistently with policy for research and development contracts and avoid ordering software solely for public dissemination unless an established program exists. Agencies should support contracting officers in balancing data needs, storage costs, and data-rights limitations.
University or College Contractor
For basic or applied research contracts, understand that the clause is generally not used when the award is $500,000 or less, but may still be included if future funding is expected to exceed that amount. Comply with any ordered data requirements if the clause is included.
Practical Implications
This section is most important on R&D-type contracts where the Government cannot fully predict data needs at award. If the clause is omitted when it should have been included, the Government may lose a useful mechanism for later obtaining needed data.
Contracting officers should be careful not to over-order data or software. The rule is meant to capture data actually needed for the Government’s purposes, not to create a broad right to everything the contractor generates.
The 3-year post-acceptance ordering window matters operationally because data requests can continue after final delivery. Contractors should keep track of retention obligations and the possibility that the Government may later request specific data.
Rights-in-data clauses still control ownership and use rights, so ordering data under 52.227-16 does not automatically give the Government unlimited rights. A common pitfall is assuming that later ordering overrides data-rights restrictions; it generally does not.
Software requires special caution. Agencies should not use this clause as a backdoor way to obtain source code or software for public marketing, and contracting officers should consider whether narrower software deliverables will satisfy the Government’s needs while preserving the contractor’s ability to commercialize the product.
Official Regulatory Text
(a) In some contracting situations, such as experimental, developmental, research, or demonstration contracts, it may not be feasible to ascertain all the data requirements at contract award. The clause at 52.227-16 , Additional Data Requirements, may be used to enable the subsequent ordering by the contracting officer of additional data first produced or specifically used in the performance of these contracts as the actual requirements become known. The clause shall normally be used in solicitations and contracts involving experimental, developmental, research or demonstration work (other than basic or applied research to be performed under a contract solely by a university or college when the contract amount will be $500,000 or less) unless all the requirements for data are believed to be known at the time of contracting and specified in the contract. If the contract is for basic or applied research to be performed by a university or college, and the contracting officer believes the contract effort will in the future exceed $500,000, even though the initial award does not, the contracting officer may include the clause in the initial award. (b) Data may be ordered under the clause at 52.227-16 at any time during contract performance or within a period of 3 years after acceptance of all items to be delivered under the contract. The contractor is to be compensated for converting the data into the prescribed form, for reproduction, and for delivery. In order to minimize storage costs for the retention of data, the contracting officer may relieve the contractor of the retention requirements for specified data items at any time during the retention period required by the clause. The contracting officer may permit the contractor to identify and specify in the contract data not to be ordered for delivery under the clause if the data is not necessary to meet the Government’s requirements for data. Also, the contracting officer may alter the clause by deleting the term "or specifically used" in paragraph (a) of the clause if delivery of the data is not necessary to meet the Government’s requirements for data. Any data ordered under this clause will be subject to the clause at 52.227-14 , Rights in Data-General, (or other equivalent clause setting forth the respective rights of the Government and the contractor) in the contract. Data authorized to be withheld under such clause will not be required to be delivered under the clause at 52.227-16 , except as provided in Alternate II or Alternate III, if included (see 27.404-2 (c) and (d)). (c) Absent an established program for dissemination of computer software, agencies should not order additional computer software under the clause at 52.227-16 , for the sole purpose of disseminating or marketing the software to the public. In ordering software for internal purposes, the contracting officer shall consider, consistent with the Government’s needs, not ordering particular source codes, algorithms, processes, formulas, or flow charts of the software if the contractor shows that this aids its efforts to disseminate or market the software.