Pre-Award SurveyReady for DCAA
Complete the DCAA pre-award accounting system checklist with guidance grounded in the audit program DCAA performs it under, an AI assistant that drafts your narratives, and the filled DCAA checklist PDF, saved and versioned in your GovConDash account. New on the Max plan.
Included With
NEW ON THE MAX PLAN
SF 1408 Criteria
SECTION II, VERBATIM
Checklist Questions
EACH WITH A NARRATIVE
Guided Steps
SAVED AS YOU GO
Audit Program 17740
DCAA, JUN 2025
CAM 5-200 Revision
PREAWARD GUIDANCE, FROM THE CORPUS
What is the pre-award survey?
Before a contracting officer awards a cost-type contract, the contractor must be found responsible, and part of that determination is whether its accounting system can accumulate costs the way the contract requires. Under FAR 9.106 the contracting officer may request a preaward survey, recorded on Standard Form 1408 (OMB control number 9000-0011).
DCAA performs the accounting system portion and asks the contractor to complete its pre-award survey checklist first: an assertion that the system meets each SF 1408 criterion, with a narrative describing how. It is often the first DCAA audit a small business moving into cost-type work ever sees.
“This audit only evaluates the design effectiveness, not the operating effectiveness, of the accounting system.”DCAA audit program 17740, version 9.3
What the checklist covers
Company Information
Basic company details and contact information
Prerequisites
Required document acknowledgments
DCAA Audit History
Previous audits and compliance status
CAS
Cost Accounting Standards compliance
Accounting System
System capabilities and requirements
Cost-Type Contracts
Cost-type contract planning and performance
Review & Download
Review your responses and download
Grounded, never invented
The guidance cites the audit program steps and Contract Audit Manual paragraphs the assistant actually retrieved, and anything it cannot trace to a source is removed. The readiness score is computed by a stated rule from your answers, not by the model.
Built for compliance
Everything the survey takes, from the first answer to the package you hand the auditor, in the same account as your audit readiness and incurred cost work.
The guided DCAA checklist
Every question on the DCAA Pre-Award Survey checklist, in order, with the follow-up questions shown only when your answer calls for them and a narrative box on every item.
Guidance grounded in the corpus
Each question explains what DCAA will look for, citing the audit program 17740 steps and CAM 5-202 read from the platform's DCAA corpus, and the FAR sections read from the eCFR.
Narrative assistant
Describe how your system works and the assistant drafts the explanatory narrative DCAA asks for, one question at a time. Any reference in its answer that it did not retrieve is flagged for you to check.
The filled DCAA checklist PDF
Your answers and narratives written into the DCAA checklist form itself, plus a narrative Word document that reads cleanly for a contracting officer or auditor.
A submission package
One download with the filled checklist, the narrative document, your supporting documents and a list of the official sources behind every question.
Prefilled from SAM.gov
Company name, CAGE code, address and fiscal year end come from your SAM.gov registration, and the cognizant DCAA office from DCAA's own branch locator.
Saved, versioned, resumable
Every survey autosaves in your account. Keep named versions, restore an earlier one, attach the reports the checklist asks for, and hold a survey per prospective contract.
Filed in your Workspace
Save the narrative to the Workspace beside your other compliance documents, and sync it to your own OneDrive when you connect one.
From registration to submission
Company information
Start from your SAM.gov registration: company details, CAGE code, contacts, and the accounting system you run.
DCAA and CAS history
Answer the questions about prior DCAA audits, Cost Accounting Standards coverage, and your disclosure statement.
System requirements
Document cost segregation, timekeeping, labor distribution, unallowable cost exclusion and the other SF 1408 criteria.
Review and download
Run the readiness review, fix what it finds, and download the filled checklist and the submission package.
DCAA Pre-Award Accounting Survey
Complete the SF 1408 checklist inside GovConDash: guidance grounded in DCAA audit program 17740 and the Contract Audit Manual, an AI assistant that explains every question and drafts your narratives, and the filled DCAA checklist PDF. Every survey is saved and versioned in your account.
Guided SF 1408 Survey Checklist
A step-by-step guided process through every section of the DCAA Pre-Award Accounting System Survey, ensuring nothing is missed before your auditor arrives.
- 1Company information, CAGE code, and accounting system basics
- 2DCAA audit history, CAS compliance, and cost-type contract experience
- 3Cost segregation, timekeeping, labor distribution, and FAR 31 compliance
- 4Mirrors DCAA Checklist, SF 1408, and DCAAM 7641.90 requirements
What SF 1408 asks of your system
Section II of the form, verbatim. Every one of these is a question in the checklist, with guidance on what DCAA will examine to test it.
Except as stated in Section I narrative, is the accounting system in accord with generally accepted accounting principles applicable in the circumstances?
Proper segregation of direct costs from indirect costs.
Identification and accumulation of direct costs by contract.
A logical and consistent method for the allocation of indirect costs to intermediate and final cost objectives. (A contract is final cost objective.)
Accumulation of costs under general ledger control.
A timekeeping system that identifies employees' labor by intermediate or final cost objectives.
A labor distribution system that charges direct and indirect labor to the appropriate cost objectives.
Interim (at least monthly) determination of costs charged to a contract through routine posting of books of account.
Exclusion from costs charged to government contracts of amounts which are not allowable in terms of FAR 31, Contract Cost Principles and Procedures, or other contract provisions.
Identification of costs by contract line item and by units (as if each unit or line item were a separate contract) if required by the proposed contract.
Segregation of preproduction costs from production costs.
Financial information required by contract clauses concerning limitation of cost (FAR 52.232-20 and 21) or limitation on payments (FAR 52.216-16).
Financial information required to support requests for progress payments.
Is the accounting system designed, and are the records maintained in such a manner that adequate, reliable data are developed for use in pricing follow-on acquisitions?
Is the accounting system currently in full operation? (If not, describe in Section I Narrative which portions are (1) in operation, (2) set up, but not yet in operation, (3) anticipated, or (4) nonexistent.)
Authoritative sources
Standard Form 1408, Preaward Survey of Prospective Contractor (Accounting System)
Official source
DCAAM 7641.90, Information for Contractors
Official source
DCAA Contract Audit Manual, chapter 5
Official source
DCAA Directory of Audit Programs (activity code 17740)
Official source
FAR 9.106, Preaward surveys
Official source
FAR Part 31, Contract Cost Principles and Procedures
Official source
FAR Subpart 16.3, Cost-Reimbursement Contracts
Official source
48 CFR Chapter 99, Cost Accounting Standards
Official source
Audit program 17740, version 9.3
The DCAA audit program the survey is performed under
Questions
What is the DCAA pre-award accounting system survey?
It is the review of a prospective contractor's accounting system that a contracting officer requests before awarding a cost-type contract, recorded on Standard Form 1408. DCAA performs it under audit program 17740 and evaluates whether the design of the system meets the SF 1408 criteria.
What does the GovConDash tool produce?
A completed DCAA pre-award survey checklist with an explanatory narrative for every question, the filled DCAA checklist PDF, a narrative Word document, and a submission package with your supporting documents.
Where does the AI guidance come from?
From DCAA audit program 17740 and Contract Audit Manual paragraph 5-202 held in the platform's DCAA corpus, the FAR sections in the eCFR, and DCAAM 7641.90 Information for Contractors. The assistant cites only what it retrieved.
Which plan includes it?
The Pre-Award Survey tool is new and included with the Max plan ($199 / month): creating, saving, versioning and exporting surveys, SAM.gov prefill, and the AI assistant and readiness review. Assistant and review runs count toward Max's 250 AI agent runs per month. It is not part of Pro. On any plan you can open the tool's overview, the DCAA references and the official sources in the dashboard.
I am on Pro. How do I get it?
Upgrade to Max from the billing page in your dashboard or from the pricing page. Your plan changes as soon as checkout completes, and everything else you use on Pro carries over, since Max includes everything in Pro.