Incurred Cost Submission Adequacy Pre-Check API Reference

Beta. Pre-checks one annual incurred cost submission workbook for adequacy: the schedules in FAR 52.216-7(d)(2)(iii), the math, the ties between schedules, the certificate in FAR 42.703-2 and 52.242-4, and the deadline in FAR 52.216-7(d)(2)(i), reported against DCAA's adequacy checklist (Version 3.4). Adequacy only: it does not judge allowability. Product page and free test form.

Endpoint

Parameters

Any other parameter is refused, so a typo never changes the result quietly.

Finding the schedules

The DCAA ICE model is not required. Each schedule is found, in this order:

1. Tab name: A, Schedule B, Sch C, Sch. D, E - Bases. Sub-schedules such as F-1, H-1 and H (Summary) are read with their schedule.
2. Sheet title: "Schedule G" in the first rows of the sheet.
3. Content: a title that describes it, such as "Occupancy expenses" or "Certificate of Final Indirect Costs", if exactly one sheet matches.

A schedule that does not apply should still be there, saying "None" or "Not applicable". Columns are read by their headings, so name them plainly (pool, base, rate; per books, adjustments, claimed; contract number, order number).

The math

• Values are the ones Excel saved; formulas are never trusted, every total is recomputed. A formula with no saved value is reported.
• A total row is a row labeled Total, Subtotal or Grand total (or numbers under a row of Total labels). It is accepted when it equals any reading of what it totals: the rows since the previous total, the rows sharing its pool, contract or category, the rows its label names, everything above it, the subtotals above it, or the rows those subtotals cover. Differences up to $1 are rounding.
• Rate, factor, percentage, date, number and ranking columns are not footed.

Report

Each finding

Rule IDs

Source keys, as returned in every report:

• FAR 52.216-7(d)(2): the 6-month deadline and the content of an adequate proposal, items (A) to (O)
• FAR 42.703-2: certificate of indirect costs, and unilateral rates without it
• FAR 52.242-4: Certification of Final Indirect Costs (signing level and format)
• FAR 42.705-1(b)(1): the adequacy review and written description of inadequacies
• DCAA Checklist for Determining Adequacy of Contractor Incurred Cost Proposal, Version 3.4 (December 2021)
• DCAA ICE Model: Power Query version 1.08 (July 2026) and Visual Basic version 2.0.1h
• GAO-13-131: DOD initiative to address the audit backlog (December 2012)

Not checked

• Whether any claimed cost is allowable, allocable or reasonable under FAR Part 31. That is judgment, not math, and DCAA audits it after adequacy.
• Whether the numbers match your books, payroll records and billing system. Only the workbook is checked.
• Checklist items marked Review, which need documents or judgment outside the workbook.
• Whether the certificate is actually signed: a signature normally lives on the signed copy you submit.
• Classified contracts, compensation cap blending agreements and anything else DCAA coordinates separately.

Example responses

A paid pre-check of the clean sample (report shortened), and the findings from a demo run of the sample with errors. Both generated by running the real endpoint code.

{
  "requestId": "7f3c2a1e-5b8d-4c6f-9e0a-1d2b3c4d5e6f",
  "api": "ice-adequacy-precheck",
  "mode": "paid",
  "charged": true,
  "priceCents": 25000,
  "balanceCents": 25000,
  "report": {
    "schemaVersion": 1,
    "status": "PASS",
    "summary": "Every required schedule is there, the math foots, the schedules tie and the certificate is in place.",
    "fiscalYearEnd": "2026-06-30",
    "deadline": {
      "due": "2026-12-31",
      "asOf": "2026-10-07",
      "daysLeft": 85,
      "status": "on-time",
      "rule": "Fiscal year end plus 6 months (FAR 52.216-7(d)(2)(i)). Extensions only in writing."
    },
    "checks": {
      "schedules": "pass",
      "math": "pass",
      "crossTies": "pass",
      "certificate": "pass",
      "deadline": "pass"
    },
    "schedules": [
      {
        "schedule": "A",
        "name": "Summary of claimed indirect rates",
        "status": "found",
        "tab": "A",
        "foundBy": "tab name",
        "subSchedules": []
      },
      {
        "schedule": "B",
        "name": "General and administrative expenses",
        "status": "found",
        "tab": "B",
        "foundBy": "tab name",
        "subSchedules": []
      },
      {
        "schedule": "C",
        "name": "Overhead expenses",
        "status": "found",
        "tab": "C",
        "foundBy": "tab name",
        "subSchedules": []
      },
      {
        "schedule": "D",
        "name": "Occupancy or intermediate pool expenses",
        "status": "found",
        "tab": "D",
        "foundBy": "tab name",
        "subSchedules": []
      },
      {
        "schedule": "E",
        "name": "Claimed allocation bases",
        "status": "found",
        "tab": "E",
        "foundBy": "tab name",
        "subSchedules": []
      },
      {
        "schedule": "F",
        "name": "Facilities capital cost of money",
        "status": "found",
        "tab": "F",
        "foundBy": "tab name",
        "subSchedules": []
      },
      {
        "schedule": "G",
        "name": "Reconciliation of books of account to claimed direct costs",
        "status": "found",
        "tab": "G",
        "foundBy": "tab name",
        "subSchedules": []
      },
      {
        "schedule": "H",
        "name": "Direct costs by contract with indirect expense applied",
        "status": "found",
        "tab": "H",
        "foundBy": "tab name",
        "subSchedules": []
      },
      {
        "schedule": "I",
        "name": "Cumulative costs claimed and billed",
        "status": "found",
        "tab": "I",
        "foundBy": "tab name",
        "subSchedules": []
      },
      {
        "schedule": "J",
        "name": "Subcontract information",
        "status": "found",
        "tab": "J",
        "foundBy": "tab name",
        "subSchedules": []
      },
      {
        "schedule": "K",
        "name": "Time-and-materials and labor-hour contracts",
        "status": "found",
        "tab": "K",
        "foundBy": "tab name",
        "subSchedules": []
      },
      {
        "schedule": "L",
        "name": "Reconciliation of IRS Form 941 payroll to labor distribution",
        "status": "found",
        "tab": "L",
        "foundBy": "tab name",
        "subSchedules": []
      },
      {
        "schedule": "M",
        "name": "Decisions, agreements, approvals and accounting changes",
        "status": "not-applicable",
        "tab": "M",
        "foundBy": "tab name",
        "subSchedules": []
      },
      {
        "schedule": "N",
        "name": "Certificate of final indirect costs",
        "status": "found",
        "tab": "N",
        "foundBy": "tab name",
        "subSchedules": []
      },
      {
        "schedule": "O",
        "name": "Contract closing information",
        "status": "found",
        "tab": "O",
        "foundBy": "tab name",
        "subSchedules": []
      }
    ],
    "schedulesMissing": [],
    "checklistVersion": "DCAA Checklist for Determining Adequacy of Contractor Incurred Cost Proposal, Version 3.4, December 2021",
    "checklistCounts": {
      "pass": 26,
      "warn": 0,
      "fail": 0,
      "review": 21,
      "na": 0
    },
    "ratesClaimed": [
      {
        "tab": "A",
        "cells": {
          "pool": "D9",
          "base": "E9",
          "rate": "F9"
        },
        "kind": "oh"
      },
      {
        "tab": "A",
        "cells": {
          "pool": "D10",
          "base": "E10",
          "rate": "F10"
        },
        "kind": "ga"
      },
      {
        "tab": "A",
        "cells": {
          "pool": "D11",
          "base": "E11",
          "rate": "F11"
        },
        "kind": "com"
      },
      {
        "tab": "A",
        "cells": {
          "pool": "D12",
          "base": "E12",
          "rate": "F12"
        },
        "kind": "com"
      },
      {
        "tab": "A",
        "cells": {
          "pool": "D13",
          "base": "E13",
          "rate": "F13"
        },
        "kind": "inter"
      }
    ],
    "findingCount": 0,
    "findingCounts": {
      "error": 0,
      "warning": 0
    },
    "ruleCounts": {},
    "findings": [],
    "findingsTruncated": false,
    "scope": "An adequacy pre-check: are the required schedules there, does the math foot, do the schedules tie, is the certificate there, and is the submission on time. Adequacy is not allowability, and a PASS is not DCAA acceptance. DCAA makes its own adequacy determination, and the costs claimed remain your responsibility.",
    "input": {
      "format": "xlsx",
      "bytes": 19265,
      "tabs": 15
    },
    "inputSha256": "93ecdc8d21583cb74ea8f252c25b1aca949710c2728392a051df27b3845a9931",
    "checklist": "47 items"
  }
}

[
  {
    "severity": "error",
    "ruleId": "ICE-FOOT",
    "tab": "G",
    "range": "C15",
    "message": "This total does not foot. The amounts above it in C10:C14 add up to a different figure.",
    "source": "dcaa-checklist",
    "expected": 905000,
    "actual": 880000,
    "sumRange": "C10:C14"
  },
  {
    "severity": "error",
    "ruleId": "ICE-FOOT",
    "tab": "G",
    "range": "E15",
    "message": "This total does not foot. The amounts above it in E10:E14 add up to a different figure.",
    "source": "dcaa-checklist",
    "expected": 905000,
    "actual": 880000,
    "sumRange": "E10:E14"
  },
  {
    "severity": "error",
    "ruleId": "ICE-TIE",
    "tab": "A",
    "range": "D10",
    "message": "The pool amount does not tie: B K14 shows a different amount.",
    "source": "dcaa-checklist",
    "expected": 398000,
    "actual": 394000,
    "checklistItem": 4
  },
  {
    "severity": "error",
    "ruleId": "ICE-TIE",
    "tab": "B",
    "range": "K14",
    "message": "The pool amount does not tie: A D10 shows a different amount.",
    "source": "dcaa-checklist",
    "expected": 394000,
    "actual": 398000,
    "checklistItem": 4
  },
  {
    "severity": "warning",
    "ruleId": "ICE-CERT-UNSIGNED",
    "tab": "N",
    "range": "B14, B15, B16, B17",
    "message": "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).",
    "source": "far42.703-2",
    "checklistItem": 45
  },
  {
    "severity": "warning",
    "ruleId": "ICE-NOTES",
    "tab": "C",
    "range": "J12",
    "message": "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.",
    "source": "dcaa-checklist",
    "checklistItem": 12
  }
]

Errors

See the shared error table. Rejected and not charged: an .xls file, a file that is not an .xlsx workbook, a file over 4 MB (HTTP 413), a missing or malformed fiscalYearEnd, an unknown parameter, a workbook too large to finish in time, and on the demo endpoint anything other than a sample workbook. Example, an .xls upload (HTTP 400):

{
  "error": {
    "code": "input_error",
    "message": "This is an .xls file (Excel 97 to 2003 format). This version checks .xlsx only: open it in Excel, choose Save As, pick Excel Workbook (.xlsx), and upload that.",
    "requestId": "7f3c2a1e-5b8d-4c6f-9e0a-1d2b3c4d5e6f",
    "charged": false
  }
}

Code samples

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