Indirect Cost

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 DoD report, part of the Cost and Software Data Reporting (CSDR) system, in which contractors on major defense programs report actual costs broken out by work breakdown structure element, along with labor hours and recurring versus nonrecurring cost. The government uses CCDR data to build cost estimates for future programs and to check the realism of proposed pricing, and the reporting requirement is typically placed on contract as a CDRL.

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 federal government's budget year, which runs from October 1 through September 30 and is named for the calendar year it ends in, so FY2027 starts on October 1, 2026. The fiscal calendar drives contracting activity. The fourth quarter, July through September, brings a surge of awards as agencies obligate expiring funds. The start of a new fiscal year often begins under a continuing resolution that limits new starts.