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X12 196 — Contractor Cost Data Reporting

The 196 documents contractor cost data for federal programs (DoD CSDR, DOE, NASA): labor effort, material, overheads per WBS task element.

Purpose

The 196 is the EDI instrument of the DoD Contractor Cost Data Reporting (CCDR) program and its DOE / NASA equivalents. It carries the contract, the WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) number, the cost element broken down (labor hours, labor dollars, material, ODC, overhead), the period, and the responsible organisational unit. It is the structured EDI replacement of the legacy CCDR forms 1921, 1921-1 and 1921-2.

It feeds the DoD Cost Assessment Data Enterprise (CADE) database used for cost analysis and updated estimates. The 196 is acknowledged by 997 and can trigger an 824 if values break program WBS rules. It is mandatory on every Major Defense Acquisition Program (MDAP) above the DoD threshold.

Envelope structure

The 196 travels within the three X12 envelope levels (ISA/IEA, GS/GE with functional group CD, and ST/SE). Didactic example in release 004010:

x12 example-196.x12 
ISA*00*          *00*          *ZZ*ACMEDEFCONT   *ZZ*DODOSDCAPE    *260514*1100*U*00401*000000196*0*P*>~
GS*CD*ACMEDEFCONT*DODOSDCAPE*20260514*1100*1*X*004010~
ST*196*0001~
BGN*00*CCDR-2026-Q1*20260514~
N1*CN*ACME DEFENSE SYSTEMS*24*CAGE-1A2B3~
REF*CT*N00019-24-C-0001~
DTM*RT*20260101~
DTM*RT*20260331~
LX*1~
REF*WB*1.1.2.3 PROPULSION SUBSYSTEM~
QTY*HR*48200~
AMT*LD*7250000.00~
AMT*MA*3120000.00~
AMT*OD*210000.00~
AMT*OH*4530000.00~
SE*13*0001~
GE*1*1~
IEA*1*000000196~

Common segments

  • Header — ST, BGN (Beginning Segment), DTM (period start / end).
  • Contractor — N1*CN (Contractor) with CAGE code, REF*CT (contract number).
  • WBS rows — repeated LX loop: REF*WB (WBS), QTY*HR (hours), AMT*LD (labor dollars), AMT*MA (material), AMT*OD (ODC), AMT*OH (overhead).
  • Variants — SAC for specific indirect allocations, MSG for methodology notes.
  • Summary — SE.

Common pitfalls

  • Program WBS vs contractor WBS: the 196 must use the DoD-provided program WBS, not the contractor internal WBS. Wrong reference = CADE 824 rejection.
  • Cumulative vs incremental: the DTM code list distinguishes to-date (DT) and period (RT). Mixing cumulative-to-date and period cost breaks CADE trend analysis.
  • ITAR / classified data: if the contract is classified, the 196 does not transit standard EDI — route through SIPRNet, not public AS2.

Documentation

The code 196 and the name Contractor Cost Data Reporting are public and listed on x12.org/products/transaction-sets. The complete structure of loops, qualifiers and code lists is distributed by DISA via the proprietary Implementation Guides (TR3). ediverse.io covers only public concepts, the envelope and didactic examples.