Contract Data Requirements List (CDRL)

A Contract Data Requirements List (CDRL) is the Department of Defense's standardized DD Form 1423 that enumerates every data item a contractor must deliver under a contract, specifying the title, format, frequency, and approval requirements for each deliverable.

What is a CDRL?

The CDRL (pronounced "see-drill") is used primarily in DoD contracts to manage the administrative and technical data that contractors must produce and submit. Each line on the CDRL, called a data item, represents a specific deliverable, specified using a corresponding Data Item Description (DID) that defines the format and content requirements.

A CDRL entry (DD Form 1423) for each data item specifies:

• Block 1: Data item number (A001, A002, etc.)
• Block 2: Title of the data item (e.g., "Software Design Document")
• Block 3: Subtitle or additional description
• Block 4: Authority, the applicable DID number (e.g., DI-IPSC-81441A for a Software Design Document)
• Block 5: Contract reference, the SOW paragraph requiring this item
• Block 6: Technical office, which government office receives and approves the item
• Block 7: DD 250 data, whether a DD Form 250 (Material Inspection and Receiving Report) is required for acceptance
• Block 9: Frequency, when the item is due (monthly, quarterly, at program milestone, once)
• Block 10: Distribution, how many copies and to whom
• Block 12: Date of first submission
• Block 14: Remarks, additional instructions specific to this item

CDRLs can range from a few items for a simple contract to hundreds of items for a major defense program, covering everything from engineering drawings and test reports to software code and financial status reports.

Why CDRLs matter for government contractors

Underestimating CDRL burden is one of the most common proposal pricing mistakes in DoD contracting. Each CDRL item requires labor hours, a Software Development Plan CDRL might require three weeks of senior engineering time to draft, review, and finalize. A contract with 50 CDRL items imposes continuous documentation overhead throughout performance. Experienced contractors cost out each CDRL item individually when building their price proposal, ensuring that data deliverable labor is explicitly priced rather than absorbed into task hours. Missing a CDRL delivery date is a contract performance issue that appears in CPARS, the government tracks each deliverable separately.

Example

A DoD software development contract includes CDRL A001 (Software Development Plan, due 30 days after contract award), A002 (Monthly Status Report, due 5th of each month), A003 (Software Design Document, due at PDR), and A004 (Software Test Report, due 30 days after each test event). The contractor's proposal priced $45,000 in technical writing labor for all four CDRLs, but after award, preparing the Software Development Plan alone requires 120 hours of senior engineering time due to the DID's 47-section outline requirement. The CDRL pricing was insufficient, and the contractor must absorb the overrun.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a CDRL used in civilian agency contracts?

CDRLs and the DD Form 1423 are DoD-specific. Civilian agencies use SOW deliverable tables or attachment lists to specify data deliverables. The concept is similar, specifying what data must be delivered, when, and in what format, but the standardized DD 1423 format is a DoD convention.

What is a Data Item Description (DID)?

A DID is a government-issued document that specifies the format, content, and preparation instructions for a specific type of deliverable. When a CDRL references DID-IPSC-81441A, it means the Software Design Document must follow the exact format and content requirements in that DID. DIDs are available in the ASSIST database maintained by DoD.

Can a contractor negotiate to reduce the CDRL burden?

Yes, during the negotiation phase before contract award and sometimes during contract performance through bilateral modification. Contractors who find CDRL requirements overly burdensome can propose combining data items, reducing frequency, or accepting reports in simpler formats. Agencies are often receptive if the contractor can demonstrate that reduced CDRL burden preserves program funding for actual development work.

What happens if a contractor misses a CDRL delivery date?

Missing a CDRL delivery date is recorded as a schedule performance issue and documented in CPARS. Repeated missed CDRL dates can trigger a cure notice. For critical path data items, like test plans needed before a test event, delays cascade to program schedule and can result in schedule breach damages.