---
title: Preparing Government Contract Cost Proposals
description: "It's DoD SBIR season again! Be sure to get your copy of ReliAscent's White Paper - \"Preparing a Government Contract Cost Proposal\""
image: https://www.reliascent.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Cost%20proposal%20screenshot.jpg
---

![](https://www.reliascent.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Cost%20proposal%20screenshot.jpg?width=1000&name=Cost%20proposal%20screenshot.jpg)

# Preparing Government Contract Cost Proposals

[ Tyler Link ](https://www.reliascent.com/blog/author/tyler-link)  September 19, 2017

As we mentioned last week, this is a busy time of year for contractors.  The end of the Federal Government's FY is rapidly approaching, the DoD SBIR 2017.2 Solicitation opens one week from today, and September & October are some of the busiest procurement months in the aerospace and research communities.  With this is mind, ReliAscent would like to remind all defense contractors and small businesses to download a copy (if you haven't already), of our helpful white paper:

"[Preparing a Government Contract Cost Proposal](https://www.reliascent.com/whitepapers-preparing-a-government-contract-cost-proposal)"

[![Contract Cost Proposal White Paper](https://www.reliascent.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Cost%20proposal%20screenshot.jpg?width=211&name=Cost%20proposal%20screenshot.jpg "Contract Cost Proposal White Paper")](https://www.reliascent.com/whitepapers-preparing-a-government-contract-cost-proposal)

One of the most difficult things to see at ReliAscent is when a client or small business is awarded a contract or grant that has "losing" features built in to their proposal.  Minor errors and oversights can turn the excitement of an award into a stressful, money-losing nightmare.

The problem is that cost proposals are often viewed as one of the simplest sections of a proposal. How hard could it be to pull together a list of expenses after all?  

So, why then, do we find so many mistakes? First of all, rules on cost proposals for the government aren’t intuitive. They introduce the concept of indirect rates, pools, bases and allocations of intermediate rates...this can quickly complicate matters, and get contractors into trouble.

We hope you find this white paper useful, and be sure to check out our [library of free white papers](https://www.reliascent.com/whitepapers-and-checklists) on helpful topics for defense contractors and SBIR/STTR contractors/grantees, including: [indirect rates](https://www.reliascent.com/whitepapers-introduction-to-indirect-rates), [uncompensated overtime](https://www.reliascent.com/whitepapers-uncompensated-overtime-dcaa-a-trap-for-contractors), the [SF1408 Preaward Surve](https://www.reliascent.com/whitepapers-complete-guide-to-sf-1408)y, [contract reviews](https://www.reliascent.com/whitepapers-government-contract-reviews), and many more!

If you have any questions about DCAA compliant accounting or any of our contract management services, please feel free to [contact us](https://www.reliascent.com/contact-us-0) at any time.

#### Topics:

[Pricing Proposal](https://www.reliascent.com/blog/tag/pricing-proposal) , [Cost Proposal](https://www.reliascent.com/blog/tag/cost-proposal) , [government contract cost proposal](https://www.reliascent.com/blog/tag/government-contract-cost-proposal)

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