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Incurred Cost Submission Adequacy Pre-Check

Check your annual incurred cost submission the way DCAA checks it for adequacy, before you send it. Upload the workbook, in the DCAA ICE model or your own format. You get back every missing schedule, every total that does not foot, every schedule that does not tie to another, the certificate, and the deadline, each with the tab, the cell, and the expected and actual amounts.

Why it matters

  • An inadequate proposal comes back. The auditor sends the contractor and contracting officer a written description of the inadequacies, and unresolved ones go to the contracting office (FAR 42.705-1). GAO describes DCAA finding proposals inadequate when they are not certified or contain math errors, and asking for them to be revised and resubmitted.
  • No certificate, no agreement. A proposal is not accepted without the certificate of final indirect costs, and the contracting officer may set rates unilaterally, low enough that unallowable costs are not reimbursed (FAR 42.703-2).
  • The clock is 6 months. An adequate proposal is due within 6 months after your fiscal year ends, with extensions only in writing for exceptional circumstances (FAR 52.216-7).

Sources: the FAR sections, DCAA's adequacy checklist and GAO-13-131, linked at the bottom of this page.

Adequacy, not allowability. This checks that the submission is complete and that its math and ties are right. It does not decide whether any cost is allowable under FAR Part 31, a PASS is not DCAA acceptance, and the costs you claim remain your responsibility.

Pre-check a submissionDownload a sample workbook

What it checks

  • All 15 schedules. A through O, the content FAR 52.216-7(d)(2)(iii) requires, found by tab name, sheet title or content. A schedule marked "None" or "Not applicable" counts as present.
  • Every total. Recomputed from the rows above it, including subtotals by pool, contract type or contract, and claimed amounts as books plus adjustments.
  • Schedule A rates. Each rate is the pool divided by the base, at the precision shown.
  • The ties. A to B, C, D, E and F; G and L to H; I to H and K; H to K; I to O. A tie that fails is reported on both tabs.
  • Rates applied. Indirect expense on Schedule H at the Schedule A rates, and T&M labor on Schedule K as rate times hours.
  • The certificate. Present, completed, and signed at vice president or CFO level or higher (FAR 52.242-4).
  • Explanatory notes beside every adjustment on Schedules B, C, D and G.
  • The deadline. Fiscal year end plus 6 months.

Every report ends with DCAA's 47-item adequacy checklist, each item Pass, Fail, Review or Not applicable.

Who it's for

  • Contractors with cost-type, T&M or other flexibly priced contracts: find the inadequacies before the auditor does.
  • Government contracts accountants and consultants: a consistent first pass on every client's workbook.
  • Finance teams that build their own schedules: no need to rebuild them in the DCAA model.

Not checked

  • Whether any cost is allowable, allocable or reasonable under FAR Part 31.
  • Whether the workbook matches your books, payroll and billing system.
  • Checklist items that need documents outside the workbook, marked Review by hand.
  • The signature itself, which lives on the signed copy you submit.
  • .xls files (save as .xlsx) and workbooks over 4 MB.

Input and output

  1. Send

    The .xlsx workbook as the request body, up to 4 MB, with fiscalYearEnd and optionally asOf (both YYYY-MM-DD) in the query string.

  2. Check

    Every rule on this page, on the values Excel saved. No network calls, nothing stored.

  3. Report

    JSON with status, deadline, checks, schedules (where each was found), findings (tab, range, expected, actual, message, source) and checklist (all 47 DCAA items).

Every field and rule ID is in the API docs.

Try it now

The sample workbooks run free. Your own workbook runs as a paid pre-check at $250.00 from your credit.

Free demo, no account: the three sample workbooks, 10 runs a day. For full validations from this form, sign in and buy credits: $250.00 per completed report, packs from $250.

Any layout: the DCAA ICE model or your own workbook, as long as each schedule A to O is on its own tab. Name tabs A to O (or "Schedule B" and so on), or give each sheet a title that says which schedule it is.
The submission is due within 6 months after the fiscal year end. Leave the second date blank to measure from today.

Processed in memory and not stored. The report names tabs and cells and shows amounts; it never repeats names, addresses or contract numbers from the workbook.

Sample report
Invented contractor with planted errors
FAIL
Adequacy pre-check, fiscal year ended June 30, 20264 problems to fix before you submit, and 2 to review.Due December 31, 2026: 85 days left.
15 of 15 schedules4 errors2 to review23 checklist items pass
  • PassRequired schedules
  • FailMath foots
  • FailSchedules tie
  • ReviewCertificate
  • PassDeadline
A
FoundB
FoundC
FoundD
FoundE
FoundF
FoundG
FoundH
FoundI
FoundJ
FoundK
FoundL
FoundM
NoneN
FoundO
Found
  • ErrorG C15ICE-FOOT
    Expected 905,000Actual 880,000
    This total does not foot. The amounts above it in C10:C14 add up to a different figure.
  • ErrorG E15ICE-FOOT
    Expected 905,000Actual 880,000
    This total does not foot. The amounts above it in E10:E14 add up to a different figure.
  • ErrorA D10ICE-TIE
    Expected 398,000Actual 394,000
    The pool amount does not tie: B K14 shows a different amount.
  • ErrorB K14ICE-TIE
    Expected 394,000Actual 398,000
    The pool amount does not tie: A D10 shows a different amount.
  • WarningN B14, B15, B16, B17ICE-CERT-UNSIGNED
    The certificate is there but its date, name, signature, title lines are blank. Complete and sign it before you submit: it must be signed at vice president or CFO level or higher (FAR 52.242-4).
  • WarningC J12ICE-NOTES
    1 adjustment has no explanatory note next to it. DCAA asks for a note on every adjustment and on any amount left out of the claim.
DCAA adequacy checklist, item by item (47)
  • Pass1. Schedule A: All claimed pools, bases and rates identified, with cost of money where it applies
  • Pass2. Schedule A: A cost schedule for each final pool on Schedule A (Schedules B and C)
  • Pass3. Schedule A: A cost schedule for each intermediate pool on Schedule A (Schedule D)
  • Fail4. Schedule A: Pool amounts on Schedule A tie to the claimed totals on Schedules B and C
  • Pass5. Schedule A: Intermediate pool bases on Schedule A tie to Schedule D
  • Pass6. Schedule A: Final pool bases on Schedule A tie to Schedule E
  • Review by hand7. Schedule B: G&A pool costs tie to Schedule H
  • Pass8. Schedule B: Explanatory notes for adjustments and omitted amounts
  • Review by hand9. Schedule B: Intermediate allocations appear on the source schedules
  • Review by hand10. Schedule B: Fringe and overhead applied to IR&D and B&P
  • Review by hand11. Schedule C: Overhead pool costs tie to Schedule H
  • Review12. Schedule C: Explanatory notes for adjustments and omitted amounts
  • Review by hand13. Schedule C: Intermediate allocations appear on the source schedules
  • Pass14. Schedule D: Explanatory notes for adjustments and omitted amounts
  • Review by hand15. Schedule D: Intermediate allocations appear on the receiving schedules
  • Pass16. Schedule D: Allocation base by recipient, percentage of the base, and dollars allocated
  • Review by hand17. Schedule E: An explanation of each base
  • Review by hand18. Schedule E: Base cost elements tie to the referenced schedules, with notes
  • Pass19. Schedule F: Cost of money allocation bases match the bases on Schedule A
  • Review by hand20. Schedule F: A separate cost of money rate for each final pool
  • Pass21. Schedule G: Direct costs per the general ledger tie to Schedule H
  • Pass22. Schedule G: Explanatory notes for adjustments and omitted amounts
  • Pass23. Schedule H: Flexibly priced contracts listed by contract and subtotaled by contract type
  • Review by hand24. Schedule H: Subcontract costs by contract tie to Schedule J
  • Review by hand25. Schedule H: Cost detail at the level each contract bills at
  • Pass26. Schedule H: Indirect expenses applied at the claimed rates from Schedule A
  • Review by hand27. Schedule H: Government participation calculated for each indirect pool
  • Review by hand28. Schedule H: Bases used for Government participation tie to Schedules E and H
  • Review by hand29. Schedule I: Cost detail at the level used for billing
  • Pass30. Schedule I: Fiscal year claimed amounts tie to Schedule H for cost-type contracts
  • Pass31. Schedule I: Fiscal year claimed amounts tie to Schedule K for T&M contracts
  • Review by hand32. Schedule I: Prior years settled costs match the prior Cumulative Allowable Cost Worksheet
  • Pass33. Schedule I: Contracts marked physically complete appear on Schedule O
  • Review by hand34. Schedule J: All types of subcontracts and intercompany costs included
  • Pass35. Schedule J: Full detail for each subcontract
  • Review by hand36. Schedule K: Cost detail at the level used for billing
  • Pass37. Schedule K: Every T&M or labor-hour contract on Schedule H appears on Schedule K
  • Pass38. Schedule K: Labor by category at contract rates, with hours
  • Review by hand39. Schedule K: Claimed indirect rate ties to Schedule A
  • Review by hand40. Schedule K: Direct material and ODC tie to Schedule H
  • Pass41. Schedule L: Direct labor totals tie to Schedule H
  • Review by hand42. Schedule L: G&A labor totals tie to Schedule B
  • Review by hand43. Schedule L: Other indirect pool labor totals tie to their pool schedules
  • Pass44. Schedule M: A negative statement if there is nothing to report
  • Review45. Schedule N: Certificate signed at vice president or CFO level or higher
  • Pass46. Schedule O: Contracts listed here are shown as physically complete on Schedule I
  • Pass47. Schedule O: Level of effort, fee, period of performance and ceiling for each contract

Pricing

$250.00 per completed pre-check. One workbook, every schedule, one full report.

  • Billed when a report is produced, PASS, WARN or FAIL. Invalid input is never billed.
  • Paid from the same prepaid credits as every SpreadRun API, in $5, $20, $50, $100, $250 or $500 packs. A $250 pack covers 1 pre-check and a $500 pack covers 2. Credits never expire. All pricing
  • Preparing submissions for many clients? Talk to us first so we can tell you honestly whether this fits.
Pre-check a submissionGet API access

Call it from code

Parameters, report fields, rule IDs, error codes and limits are in the API docs.

curl -X POST "https://www.spreadrun.com/api/v1/ice-adequacy-precheck?fiscalYearEnd=2025-12-31" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SPREADRUN_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet" \
  --data-binary @incurred_cost_fy2025.xlsx

Questions

Does a PASS mean DCAA will find the submission adequate, or that the costs are allowable?

No to both. A PASS means every required schedule was found, the math foots, the schedules tie and the certificate is there. Adequacy is not allowability: whether a cost is allowable under FAR Part 31 is judgment, and DCAA audits it after adequacy. DCAA makes its own adequacy determination, and the costs you claim remain your responsibility.

Do we have to use the DCAA ICE model?

No. DCAA's own checklist allows your internal reports in place of its example schedules. This check reads any .xlsx workbook: it finds each schedule by tab name (A, "Schedule B", "Sch C"), by a sheet title such as "Schedule D", or by what the title describes, and reads the columns by their headings. A schedule it cannot identify is reported as missing, with what it looked for.

What does it recompute?

Every total row on every schedule, from the rows above it, including subtotals by pool, contract type or contract; claimed amounts as books plus adjustments; each rate on Schedule A as pool divided by base; indirect expense on Schedule H at the Schedule A rates; and labor on Schedule K as rate times hours. It reads the values Excel saved, never the formulas, and recomputes them. A formula with no saved value is flagged, because its result cannot be checked.

Which ties does it check?

Schedule A pools to the totals on Schedules B, C and D; Schedule A bases to Schedules D and E; the cost of money bases on Schedule F to Schedule A; claimed direct costs on Schedule G to Schedule H; direct labor on Schedule L to Schedule H; current-year claimed costs on Schedule I to Schedule H (cost-type) and Schedule K (T&M); T&M contracts on Schedule H to Schedule K; and contracts marked physically complete on Schedule I to Schedule O. A tie that fails is reported on both tabs.

What about the DCAA checklist items it cannot check?

Each of the 47 items in DCAA's checklist (Version 3.4) is listed in the report as Pass, Fail, Review or Not applicable. About half need documents or judgment outside the workbook, such as the billing detail each contract requires or prior-year settled costs, and are marked Review by hand.

When is it due?

Within 6 months after the end of your fiscal year (FAR 52.216-7(d)(2)(i)). A December 31 year end is due June 30. Extensions are for exceptional circumstances, requested and granted in writing. Past the date, the report warns and still checks the rest.

Is my workbook stored?

No. It is processed in memory for the length of the request and is not stored or shared. The report names tabs and cells and shows amounts, and never repeats names, addresses, contract numbers or other text from the workbook. For billing and usage we log the time, endpoint, result status, size and duration, never the contents.

When is a run charged?

When the pre-check finishes and returns a report, whether it says PASS, WARN or FAIL: $250.00 per completed pre-check. Requests rejected before a report exists are free, such as an .xls file, a file over 4 MB, a missing fiscal year end, or a workbook too large to finish in time.

Can I try it for free?

Yes, on the three sample workbooks on this page: a complete submission in the DCAA layout, the same submission in a contractor's own format, and one with planted errors. They run free, up to 10 times a day. Your own workbook is the paid pre-check: sign in with enough credit and run it from the same form, or call the API.

Sources

SpreadRun is not affiliated with or endorsed by DCAA, DCMA or the Department of Defense. Where this check and the FAR or DCAA guidance differ, they control.

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