What do the DFARS covered-materials rules require of a supplier?

The clause defines five covered materials: samarium-cobalt magnets; neodymium-iron-boron magnets; tungsten metal powder; tungsten heavy alloy or any finished or semi-finished component containing tungsten heavy alloy; and tantalum metals and alloys.

The statute now lists a sixth. Molybdenum became a covered material under 10 U.S.C. 4872 on December 18, 2025, when Pub. L. 119-60 was enacted. As of September 29, 2026, DFARS 225.7018-1 and clause 252.225-7052 list the same five and do not list molybdenum. The deviation clause, read September 2, 2026, does not list it either. The DFARS clause implementation is pending. Gallium and germanium join the statutory list on December 18, 2027.

Source: 10 U.S.C. 4872(f)(1); Pub. L. 119-60, § 844, December 18, 2025; DFARS 225.7018-1; DFARS 252.225-7052(a); DFARS 252.225-7961(a).

The restriction is 10 U.S.C. 4872, implemented in DFARS subpart 225.7018 and carried into contracts by the clause at DFARS 252.225-7052, Restriction on Acquisition of Certain Magnets, Tantalum, and Tungsten.

Class Deviation 2026-O0041, Revision 1, signed July 1, 2026, directs contracting officers to insert deviation clause 252.225-7961 (JUN 2026) in its place. DFARS 252.225-7018 is the photovoltaic devices certificate, a different provision on a different subject.

The clause goes into Department of Defense (DoD) solicitations and contracts above the simplified acquisition threshold, commercial-product acquisitions included, unless the items are acquired outside the United States for use outside the United States or a nonavailability determination has been made. Insertion does not depend on whether the deliverable contains a covered material.

Source: 10 U.S.C. 4872; DFARS 225.7018-5; DFARS 252.225-7052 (MAY 2024); DFARS Class Deviation 2026-O0041, Rev. 1, 252.225-7961 (JUN 2026).

10 U.S.C. 4872 names four covered nations: North Korea, China, Russia and Iran.

The statute bars the Secretary of Defense from procuring any covered material melted or produced in a covered nation, or any end item that contains a covered material manufactured in a covered nation.

Source: 10 U.S.C. 4872(a)(1), (f)(2).

On January 1, 2027 the restriction extends upstream to where a covered material was mined, refined or separated. How it arrives depends on the clause in the contract.

A contract carrying 252.225-7052 (MAY 2024) changes by its own terms. Through December 31, 2026 it bars delivery of a covered material melted or produced in a covered country. From January 1, 2027 it bars delivery under the contract of any covered material mined, refined, separated, melted, or produced in a covered country. Both limbs also bar an end item manufactured in a covered country that contains a covered material.

The deviation clause, 252.225-7961 (JUN 2026), states no end date for its melted-or-produced restriction. It applies the mined, refined, or separated restriction only to deliveries under a contract awarded on or after January 1, 2027. The deviation memo grounds this in section 848 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026, which clarifies that the restriction on covered materials mined, refined, or separated in a covered country applies only to contracts awarded on or after January 1, 2027.

The statute changes on the same date. From January 1, 2027, 10 U.S.C. 4872(a) adds a bar on the Secretary of Defense entering into a contract for any covered material mined, refined, or separated in any covered nation. For contracts signed before that date, see January 1 Is Already in Your Contract.

Source: 10 U.S.C. 4872(a), as amended effective January 1, 2027; Pub. L. 116-283, § 844; Pub. L. 118-31, § 854; Pub. L. 119-60, § 848; DFARS 252.225-7052(b)(1) (MAY 2024); DFARS 252.225-7961(b)(1) (JUN 2026), Class Deviation 2026-O0041, Rev. 1.

Yes. The contractor must insert the substance of the clause in subcontracts and other contractual instruments for items containing a covered material, commercial products included, unless an exception in paragraph (c) of the clause applies.

Paragraph (d) requires the flow-down to include paragraph (d) itself, so the clause carries on to each lower tier. The flow-down has no dollar threshold. The simplified acquisition threshold governs insertion in the prime contract. The paragraph (c) exceptions are available at each tier. The deviation clause adds that the contractor shall not alter the clause other than to identify the appropriate parties.

The statute sets the same depth. 10 U.S.C. 4872(b) applies the restriction to prime contracts and subcontracts at any tier.

Source: 10 U.S.C. 4872(b); DFARS 225.7018-3(a); DFARS 225.7018-5; DFARS 252.225-7052(d); DFARS 252.225-7961(d).

No. Neither 252.225-7052 nor 252.225-7961 carries a representation, a provision or a certificate.

Each clause consists of definitions, the restriction, the exceptions and a subcontracts paragraph. The regime is enforced as a delivery obligation with a flow-down. For the record that proves origin, see Profile DM, defense covered materials.

DFARS 252.225-7010, a specialty metals compliance certificate for commercial derivative military articles, belongs to the specialty metals regime. It is a solicitation provision inserted only where the solicitation contains 252.225-7009 and the contracting officer anticipates offers of commercial derivative military articles.

Source: DFARS 252.225-7052 (MAY 2024); DFARS 252.225-7961 (JUN 2026); DFARS 225.7003-5(b); DFARS 252.225-7010.

Executive Order 14415 does not itself require one. Section 3 is an instruction to the Secretary of War.

Section 3(a) gives the Secretary 180 days to develop policy and implementation guidance requiring prime contractors and subcontractors at any tier to map critical supply chains from raw materials to the end products they deliver, and 90 days from completion to promulgate implementing regulations. Section 3(b)(i) lists, among the requirements those proposed regulations shall include, that contractors submit a complete indentured bill of materials tracing all components, parts, equipment, software and materials back to the origin of raw materials.

Source: Executive Order 14415, § 3(a), (b)(i), July 20, 2026, 91 FR 46693, July 23, 2026.

DFARS 225.7018-3 lists four: an acquisition at or below the simplified acquisition threshold; an acquisition outside the United States of an item for use outside the United States; an end item containing a covered material that is a commercially available off-the-shelf item, an electronic device, or a neodymium-iron-boron magnet manufactured from recycled material under the conditions of 225.7018-3(c)(3); and a nonavailability determination under 225.7018-4.

In the codified text, the electronic-device exception does not apply where the Secretary of Defense, on the recommendation of the Strategic and Critical Materials Board of Directors under 50 U.S.C. 98h-1, determines that domestic availability of a particular electronic device is critical to national security. The deviation clause states it as “An electronic device, unless otherwise specified in the contract.”

Executive Order 14415 § 2(f) directs the Secretary to review the present application of the electronic-device exemption under 10 U.S.C. 4872(c)(3)(B) and ensure its continued application meets current national security needs.

Source: DFARS 225.7018-3; DFARS 252.225-7961(c)(1)(iii) (JUN 2026); 50 U.S.C. 98h-1; Executive Order 14415, § 2(f), 91 FR 46693, July 23, 2026.

The commercially available off-the-shelf exception does not reach a COTS item that is 50 percent or more tungsten by weight. From January 1, 2027 that carve-back becomes a COTS item that is 50 percent or more covered material by weight.

Mill products fall outside the exception as well. Through December 31, 2026 the carve-back covers a tantalum, tantalum alloy or tungsten heavy alloy mill product not yet incorporated into an end item, subsystem, assembly or component. From January 1, 2027 it covers a covered material that is a mill product.

Commercially available off-the-shelf samarium-cobalt magnets remain subject to the specialty metals restriction of 10 U.S.C. 4863 unless incorporated into commercially available off-the-shelf end items or subsystems.

Source: DFARS 225.7018-3(c)(1); DFARS PGI 225.7018-3(c)(1); 10 U.S.C. 4872(c)(3)(A)(i), as amended effective January 1, 2027.

A samarium-cobalt magnet exempt from 10 U.S.C. 4872 because it is incorporated in an electronic device is still subject to the specialty metals restriction of 10 U.S.C. 4863.

The exemption under 10 U.S.C. 4863 applies to an electronic component, and the DFARS definition of electronic component excludes high performance magnets used within electronic components. A high performance magnet is a permanent magnet that obtains a majority of its magnetic properties from rare earth metals, such as samarium.

Source: DFARS PGI 225.7018-3(c)(2); DFARS 225.7003-1.

DFARS 225.7018-3(c)(3) excepts a neodymium-iron-boron magnet manufactured from recycled material if the milling of the recycled material and sintering of the final magnet take place in the United States.

The statute’s recycled-magnet exception, 10 U.S.C. 4872(c)(3)(C), as amended by Pub. L. 119-60 § 844(a)(2)(B)(i), now reads “a neodymium-iron-boron magnet or samarium-cobalt magnet.” As of September 2, 2026, the DFARS exception still names only the neodymium-iron-boron magnet.

The statute also excepts tantalum, tungsten or molybdenum produced from recycled material. The contractor must demonstrate to the Secretary that the recycled material was produced outside a covered nation, and that the melting and any further processing and manufacturing take place in the United States or in the country of a qualifying foreign government. Gallium and germanium join that exception on December 18, 2027.

From January 1, 2027, the May 2024 clause’s restriction for samarium-cobalt magnets reaches “the entire supply chain from mining or production of a cobalt and samarium ore or feedstock, including recycled material, through production of finished magnets.”

Source: DFARS 225.7018-3(c)(3); 10 U.S.C. 4872(c)(3)(C) and (c)(3)(D); Pub. L. 119-60, § 844(a)(2) and (b)(2); DFARS 252.225-7052(b)(2)(i)(B) (MAY 2024).

A waiver under 10 U.S.C. 4872(c)(1) names a specific end item and a specific covered material and runs for a period not exceeding 36 months. Under Executive Order 14415, from January 1, 2027 a waiver under 10 U.S.C. 4872(c)(1) requires a formal mitigation plan that the Secretary of War or his designee accepts. The order refers to the Secretary of War, and 10 U.S.C. 4872 to the Secretary of Defense. The order directs that on that date the Secretary and the Secretaries of the military departments cease to issue those waivers, except where the prime contractor or subcontractor submits such a plan. Waivers under 10 U.S.C. 4872(e) issue only on the same route or following a request from the Secretary or the Secretary of the military department to the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.

The plan must clearly identify the source of the noncompliant covered material, document evidence of exhaustive efforts to acquire compliant material or show that compliant material was not available when the noncompliant material was acquired, describe the steps to remove the noncompliant material from the contractor’s supply chains, and establish a strict projected timeline for complete implementation.

Under the order, a failure to qualify a domestic source does not count as non-availability for a waiver under 10 U.S.C. 4872(c)(1), unless the contractor demonstrates active, adequately funded, and ongoing efforts to qualify one. The order requires the Secretary to account for identified vulnerabilities, bottlenecks, and single points of failure before issuing any waiver under 10 U.S.C. 4872(c)(1) or (e).

Source: Executive Order 14415, §§ 2(a), 2(b), 2(c), 3(d), July 20, 2026, 91 FR 46693, July 23, 2026; 10 U.S.C. 4872(c)(1), (e).

The government makes it. Under DFARS 225.7018-4, the head of the contracting activity makes an individual determination, and a class determination requires approval by the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment.

The contractor supplies the market-research record that supports the determination. The template in the deviation’s Procedures, Guidance and Information (PGI) lists what that package contains, including detailed information on current or proposed noncompliant DFARS 225.7018 sources and detailed market research on alternative compliant sources.

Source: DFARS 225.7018-4; DFARS PGI 225.7018-4, Class Deviation 2026-O0041, Rev. 1.

The specialty metals restriction is a separate regime, set by 10 U.S.C. 4863, implemented in DFARS subpart 225.7003 and carried into contracts by DFARS 252.225-7009, with 252.225-7008 prescribed for specialty metals delivered as end items.

The specialty metals clause requires specialty metals incorporated in items delivered under the contract to be melted or produced in the United States, its outlying areas, or a qualifying country. As of September 18, 2026, DFARS 225.003 lists 28 qualifying countries. Specialty metals are steel beyond stated alloy limits, nickel, iron-nickel and cobalt alloys containing more than 10 percent of other alloying metals, titanium and titanium alloys, and zirconium and zirconium alloys. In that clause, produce means atomization, sputtering or final consolidation of non-melt derived metal powders.

DFARS 225.7003-5 prescribes 252.225-7009 for contracts above the simplified acquisition threshold that require delivery of aircraft, missile or space systems, ships, tank or automotive items, weapon systems or ammunition, or components of them, where those items or components contain specialty metal.

The PGI states that only samarium-cobalt magnets contain specialty metals. It places samarium-cobalt magnets under both restrictions and neodymium-iron-boron magnets under 10 U.S.C. 4872 alone. The 2 percent minimal-content exception in the specialty metals clause does not apply to high performance magnets containing specialty metals.

Source: 10 U.S.C. 4863; DFARS 225.003; DFARS 225.7003-1; DFARS 225.7003-5(a); DFARS 252.225-7009(a), (b), (c)(6) (JAN 2023); DFARS PGI 225.7003(b)(6)(A), Class Deviation 2026-O0041, Rev. 1.

Batteries answer to FY24 NDAA § 154, which from October 1, 2027 bars the use of DoD funds to procure a battery produced by six named entities, and to 10 U.S.C. 4865, an advanced-battery prohibition keyed to foreign entities of concern and phased in from 2028 to 2031 (see Profile DB, defense batteries).

Drones answer to FY20 NDAA § 848, which binds the Secretary of Defense, and to the American Security Drone Act of 2023, whose §§ 1823 to 1826 turn on whether an entity on the Federal Acquisition Security Council list published in the System for Award Management manufactured or assembled the drone (see Profile DU, defense and federal UAS).

Source: Pub. L. 118-31, § 154; 10 U.S.C. 4865; Pub. L. 116-92, § 848; Pub. L. 118-31, §§ 1823-1826.

The Covered-materials exposure diagnostic starts at $7,500 and takes two weeks. It screens the bill of materials against the six covered materials and the exceptions that apply. Half of it credits against the engagement that follows, and the diagnostic sets that engagement’s fixed fee.

A Mine-to-magnet origin evidence file costs $15,000 to $35,000 per line, priced by depth, and is maintained at $8,000 to $15,000 per line each year. Mitigation plans & waiver renewal files start at $65,000. Recycled-feedstock demonstration files start at $20,000. Standing watch & demand signals starts at $15,000 a year.

Source: Gatewell Group published fees, /defense, September 29, 2026.