G&A expenses include executive management, corporate accounting, legal, HR, business development, corporate rent, and other costs that benefit the business as a whole — not any single contract or project.
FAR 31.203 establishes the rules for indirect cost allocation. G&A must be allocated on a base that represents the total activity of the business. CAS 410 further governs base selection for CAS-covered contracts.
G&A is the "outer layer" of indirect rates. It is applied after overhead and fringe have already been applied. The G&A rate is applied to the broadest base of all indirect pools.
Unlike overhead, which may apply only to contracts with labor, G&A is applied to every contract type — cost-reimbursable, T&M, fixed-price, and commercial work.
All G&A expenses are accumulated on Schedule B of the ICP. This schedule lists every account classified as G&A, showing per-G/L amounts, adjustments, and the claimed total.
Independent Research & Development and Bid & Proposal costs (with their applied overhead and fringe) flow into the G&A pool on Schedule B. This creates a dependency between Schedules A, E, H, and B.
G&A expense accounts
+ IR&D/B&P costs
= G&A Pool (numerator)
G&A allocation base
TCI, Value Added,
or Single Element
Expressed as %
rounded to 4 decimals
(e.g., 8.60%)
Applied to each
contract's share
of the base
All G&A accounts from the chart of accounts, plus IR&D/B&P direct costs and their applied overhead and fringe. Adjustments for unallowable costs are netted here.
The allocation base aggregates costs from Summary Schedule H. The base type (TCI vs. Value Added vs. Single Element) determines which cost elements are included.
The G&A rate is computed to 4 decimal places as a percentage. This rate appears on Schedule A and is applied to every contract on Schedule H.
The G&A pool captures all management and administrative costs that cannot be directly charged to contracts or assigned to a specific overhead pool. These are the costs of running the business itself.
The G&A base is assembled from Schedule H (Summary H) by summing cost elements across all contract sections. The base type determines which elements are included or excluded.
The G&A pool (Schedule B grand total) divided by the G&A base (Schedule E), rounded to 4 decimal places and expressed as a percentage.
The most inclusive base. Sums all direct costs, applied overhead, applied fringe, and intermediate pool allocations across all contracts. The broadest denominator.
Starts with TCI, then removes direct material and subcontract costs. Prevents high-material contracts from absorbing a disproportionate share of G&A. Governed by CAS 410.
Uses only direct labor as the allocation base. The narrowest denominator, producing the highest G&A rate. Only appropriate when labor is the predominant cost driver.
Each contract's share of the allocation base is multiplied by the G&A rate. The result appears as "Applied G&A" on Schedule H for every contract.
IR&D and B&P costs (direct + applied OH + fringe) flow back into the G&A pool on Schedule B. G&A is not applied to IR&D/B&P themselves to avoid circular double-counting.
CAS 410 requires the G&A base to represent the total activity of the business. When material and subcontract costs are a large, variable portion of direct costs, Value Added may better represent the contractor's own productive activity.
Create up to three scenarios and compare them against your baseline. Each scenario can use a different G&A base type, pool adjustments, or cost reclassifications — and instantly see the impact on every rate.
Working backwards from a target G&A rate is a common need during negotiations and rate planning. The target rate calculator reverse-solves the formula to tell you exactly what pool or base is required.
If scenario modeling reveals that a different base type produces a fairer allocation, the dashboard provides the CAS 410-50(d) justification analysis you need to support the change.
Entertainment, alcohol, lobbying, fines, and other FAR 31.205 unallowable costs left in the G&A pool inflate the rate. Every unallowable dollar must be adjusted out.
The G&A base must include costs from all business segments that benefit from G&A. Excluding commercial work from the base while including G&A costs that support it creates an inflated rate.
IR&D/B&P costs flow into the G&A pool — they are part of the pool, not the base. Applying G&A on top of IR&D/B&P double-counts these costs and creates a circular error.
Switching from TCI to Value Added (or vice versa) requires CAS 410-50(d) justification: statistical analysis, distortion testing, and a formal disclosure statement change.
If you use a TCI base, intermediate pool allocations (occupancy, service centers) must be included in the base. Omitting them understates the base and inflates the G&A rate.
G&A rates must be rounded to 4 decimal places (e.g., 8.6023%). Using fewer decimals or full floating-point values creates reconciliation mismatches with DCAA.
All contract types must appear on Schedule H for the G&A base to be complete. Omitting fixed-price or commercial sections understates the base and overstates the rate charged to cost-type contracts.
Schedule B (pool) divided by Schedule E (base) must equal Schedule A (rate). A $1+ variance between these schedules triggers an automatic DCAA adequacy failure.
The ICP Dashboard automates G&A pool accumulation, base computation, rate calculation, and cross-schedule reconciliation — with built-in CAS 410 base analysis and what-if scenario modeling.
GovConDash.ai