GovCon Glossary

The internal funding a contractor sets aside to pursue new business, covering capture activities, proposal writing, orals prep, and related labor and travel, for a specific opportunity or across a fiscal year. B&P costs are typically booked to an indirect cost pool rather than billed to a contract, so many companies track them closely against win rate and profitability.

A structured comparison of the total expected costs of a course of action against its expected benefits, expressed in comparable terms, used to decide whether an investment, program, or approach is worth pursuing. In federal acquisitions, a CBA commonly supports business case analyses, make-or-buy decisions, and justifications for alternatives to a stated requirement.

The forecasted cost required to finish the remaining work on a contract or task, measured from the current point forward and excluding costs already incurred. It's a core Earned Value Management metric used alongside Estimate at Completion (EAC = actual cost to date + ETC) to flag whether a program is trending over or under budget.

The government's own estimate of what an effort should reasonably cost, developed by the program office before an acquisition to help size the budget, shape the acquisition strategy, and benchmark offerors' proposed costs during evaluation. It typically breaks out direct labor, materials, ODCs, indirect rates, and profit/fee, and is generally required for actions above the simplified acquisition threshold.

A defined role on a contract (such as Program Manager, Systems Engineer, or Junior Analyst) tied to specific qualifications, responsibilities, and usually a negotiated labor rate or rate ceiling. LCATs are central to labor-hour and T&M contracts and IDIQ vehicles like GSA schedules, where each category's rate and minimum qualifications are spelled out in the contract.

The total cost of an asset or system across its entire existence (research and development, acquisition, operations and support, and disposal), not just the purchase price. Program offices use LCC estimates to compare alternatives and justify budgets, since sustainment and O&S costs typically dwarf the initial acquisition cost over a program's life.

A direct cost billable to a specific contract that isn't labor or materials: think travel, shipping, equipment rental, subcontractor costs, or special tooling. Unlike indirect/overhead costs, ODCs are charged straight to the contract that incurred them and are typically itemized separately in cost proposals and invoices.

A quick, low-precision cost or effort estimate given early in an opportunity, before requirements are firm, to gauge whether a solution is roughly affordable or feasible. A ROM is meant to bound a wide range rather than serve as a reliable basis for pricing a formal proposal.