Clauses · DFARS · Pricing and audit
DFARS 252.234-7004 Cost and Software Data Reporting System
Does the regulation require it to flow down?
Yes
Basic paragraph (b): 'The Contractor shall require CSDR reporting from subcontractors at any tier with a subcontract that exceeds $50 million. If, for subcontracts that exceed $50 million, the Contractor changes subcontractors or makes new subcontract awards, the Contractor shall notify the Government.' Alternate I paragraph (b): 'The Contractor shall require CSDR reporting from selected subcontractors identified in the CSDR contract plan as requiring such reporting. If the Contractor changes subcontractors or makes new awards for selected subcontract effort, the Contractor shall notify the Government.'
- Form
- substance — the Contractor shall REQUIRE CSDR reporting from the covered subcontractors; the clause commands the reporting outcome, not verbatim insertion of the clause
- Reaches
- Basic: subcontractors at any tier with a subcontract exceeding $50 million. Alternate I: only the subcontractors identified in the CSDR contract plan as requiring reporting.
Checked against acquisition.gov on 2026-08-05 · edition NOV 2014 (Basic; Alternate I NOV 2014) · base v0.9.3 Read the text ↗
What it makes you produce
2 items for your checklist, slowest first.
A program you have to be running
You are either running it or you are not, and what the prime asks for is the date it started.
- DFARS 252.234-7004(a)
A documented cost and software data reporting process, with management procedures able to produce the reports on the approved plan's schedule out of your job-cost books
Owed under the basic clause where the subcontract exceeds $50 million, which paragraph (b) states as a figure rather than a judgement
Something you write
Days to weeks, and nobody outside your company has to agree to it.
- DFARS 252.234-7004(a)
Contractor cost data reports and, for software effort, software resources data reports, in the DoD 5000.04-M-1 formats and mapped to the program's work breakdown structure
Owed on the same $50 million test under the basic clause, and on the schedule in the approved plan
When it is used
DFARS 234.7100: the Cost and Software Data Reporting system applies to major defense acquisition programs (as defined in 10 U.S.C. 4201) in accordance with DoDI 5000.02 and DoD 5000.04-M-1, and before award the contracting officer verifies with the Defense Cost and Resource Center that the selected offeror's proposed CSDR system complies. DFARS 234.7101(b): use the BASIC clause for major defense acquisition programs valued in excess of $50 million; use ALTERNATE I for programs valued between $20 million and $50 million, and then only with program manager approval and authorization from the OSD Deputy Director, Cost Assessment. The matching solicitation provision is 252.234-7003, Basic or Alternate I, tracking whichever clause version is used.
Read closely
The work here is accounting rather than paperwork: the reporting breakdown almost never matches how cost is already booked, and making the job-cost system produce it is the project. The approved plan is a DD Form 2794 with a resource distribution table, and the prime holds it.
Alternates
Alternate I · NOV 2014
DFARS 234.7101(b)(2) — major defense acquisition program valued between $20 million and $50 million, with program manager approval and authorization from the OSD Deputy Director, Cost Assessment. The matching provision is 252.234-7003 Alternate I.
Alternate I rewrites paragraph (b) so that reporting turns on being named in the approved cost and software data reporting plan rather than on the $50 million figure. It moves who is caught, not what the reports contain or which format they arrive in.
The 2 templates that name it, with the line
Source: acquisition.gov, DFARS 252.234-7004 (Basic and Alternate I), DFARS 234.7100, DFARS 234.7101(b) and DFARS 212.301 (verified 2026-08-05)
This is research, not legal advice. It states what the regulation says about this clause and cites the paragraph behind it. It does not rule on your order, and it does not rule on whether a prime's markings are correct.