As a prime, you are responsible for the whole job, including what your subcontractors do. Flow-down clauses push required terms down the chain, and the prime often answers to the government for a sub's compliance failure.

On federal and federally funded construction, the Davis-Bacon Act sets the prevailing wages and fringe benefits you must pay, and requires certified payrolls. Underpay or falsify the records, and you face withheld funds, debarment, and False Claims Act exposure.

The biggest risk to your sensitive government information is often not an outside hacker but a trusted insider. For contractors, an insider-threat program is both a compliance duty and the difference between a bad day and a catastrophe.

Under the Christian Doctrine, a mandatory contract clause can be read into your contract by operation of law even if the government forgot to include it. You can be bound by terms you never saw on the page.