Indirect rates that pass DCAA audit. Without the spreadsheet.
FieldLedger's Indirect Rate Engine defines your pools, allocates costs, and tracks provisional vs. actual rates — built for small federal contractors.
Built for SDVOSB · VOSB · 8(a) · HUBZone · WOSB contractors
Why a calculator isn't enough
Pool definition is policy, not math.
DCAA cares howyou separate fringe, overhead, and G&A. Mis-pooling triggers questioned costs. You can't spreadsheet your way out of a policy problem.
Provisional vs. actual is a moving target.
Rates shift mid-year. You bill provisional, reconcile actual, and carry forward variance. Spreadsheets lose this trail by month three.
Audit evidence is the whole point.
Indirect rates aren't defended with numbers. They're defended with documented cost allocation methodology. The engine is the evidence trail.
What the Indirect Rate Engine does
Pool setup wizard
Guided fringe / overhead / G&A definition aligned to FAR 31.2 and DCAA expectations.
Cost allocation engine
Labor, materials, and indirect costs flow through to pools automatically from field ops data.
Provisional + actual rate tracking
Monthly rolling rates with variance flags. You see drift before it costs you.
DCAA-ready exports
Rate schedules, pool detail, and allocation methodology in the format auditors expect.
Built for small federal contractors
FieldLedger is built for contractors doing $1M–$50M in federal revenue. Not built for primes. Not built for commercial. If you're an SDVOSB, VOSB, 8(a), HUBZone, or WOSB small business, this is designed around your constraints — the budget, the team size, the audit exposure.
How it fits with what you already use
- Works alongside QuickBooks, Unanet, or Deltek for accounting.
- Imports labor from common timekeeping tools.
- Exports rates to your billing and proposal workflows.
Pricing
Pricing scales with revenue and contract volume. Most small contractors land in a predictable monthly range — book a 15-minute demo and we'll quote your situation directly.
Book a demo for a quote →Frequently asked
- Do I need this if my accountant already calculates rates?
- Probably, yes. Accountants calculate rates at year-end from the books. The Indirect Rate Engine tracks provisional vs. actual monthly, flags variance, and produces the pool allocation documentation DCAA expects. It's the evidence trail around the number, not the number itself. See FAR 31.203 for the underlying cost principle.
- What is the underlying regulation for indirect rate accounting?
- FAR 31.203 (48 C.F.R. § 31.203) is the federal cost principle that governs indirect-cost pool definition and allocation. CAS 418 layers on top for CAS-covered contractors. The full clause text and applicability tests are on the FAR 31.203 reference page.
- How is this different from the free Wrap Rate Calculator?
- The Wrap Rate Calculator takes rates you already know and produces a loaded labor rate. The Indirect Rate Calculator computes pool rates from base values. The Indirect Rate Engine helps you define the pools, allocate costs correctly under FAR 31.203, and track rates monthly so the numbers you calculate are defensible. The Provisional vs. Actual Rate Variance Calculator handles the year-end true-up under FAR 52.216-7(d).
- Will this replace my accounting software?
- No. The Indirect Rate Engine sits alongside QuickBooks, Unanet, or Deltek. Labor, materials, and indirect costs flow in from field ops and timekeeping; your accounting system stays where it is.
- How long does setup take?
- Typical setup for a small contractor (10–49 FTE) is 2–4 weeks. Most of that time is defining pool structure correctly — the software is fast; the policy decisions are what take thought.
- What size contractor is this built for?
- Small federal contractors doing $1M–$50M in federal revenue. SDVOSB, VOSB, 8(a), HUBZone, and WOSB. Not built for primes. Not built for commercial-only contractors.
- Is my data kept separate from other tenants?
- Yes. FieldLedger is multi-tenant with tenant isolation at every layer — separate data, separate access controls, no shared query surface. Full audit trail on every record, DCAA-compliant soft deletes.
Ready to stop rebuilding your rate spreadsheet every quarter?
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Free calculators
Sizing tools that reduce to documented FAR Part 31 and DCAA methodology. Provisional vs. actual rate true-up, FAR 31 allowability decision tree, USACE EP 1110-1-8 equipment costing, SCA wage and fringe split, and uncompensated overtime exposure.
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