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Tools

X12 839 — Project Cost Reporting

The 839 transmits a federal contractor project cost report — incurred costs, EVM metrics, milestones — to the contracting agency and DCMA.

Purpose

The 839 documents a Cost Performance Report (CPR) or Integrated Program Management Report (IPMR): Earned Value Management metrics (BCWS, BCWP, ACWP, CPI, SPI), Variance at Completion (VAC), milestone status. It is required for major defense / NASA contracts.

It feeds the DCMA Earned Value Management Center and the program office. Acknowledged by 997. Typically monthly, contractual.

Envelope structure

The 839 travels within the three X12 envelope levels (ISA/IEA, GS/GE with functional group PJ, and ST/SE). Didactic example in release 004010:

x12 example-839.x12 
ISA*00*          *00*          *ZZ*CONTRACTOR    *ZZ*USAGENCY      *260515*1330*U*00401*000000839*0*P*>~
GS*PJ*CONTRACTOR*USAGENCY*20260515*1330*1*X*004010~
ST*839*0001~
BGN*00*CPR-2026-04*20260515~
N1*SE*ACME DEFENSE LLC*24*EIN-ACME~
N1*BY*USAF*24*EIN-USAF~
REF*ZZ*CONTRACT-F8650226C0099~
DTM*090*20260401~
DTM*036*20260430~
AMT*BS*8500000.00~
AMT*BP*8200000.00~
AMT*AP*8350000.00~
SE*10*0001~
GE*1*1~
IEA*1*000000839~

Common segments

  • Header — ST, BGN.
  • Contractor / Agency — N1*SE, N1*BY.
  • Contract — REF*ZZ.
  • Period — DTM*090 / DTM*036.
  • EVM — AMT*BS (BCWS Budgeted Cost Work Scheduled), AMT*BP (BCWP Earned Value), AMT*AP (ACWP Actuals).
  • Summary — SE.

Common pitfalls

  • ANSI 748 compliance: an EVMS must be ANSI 748 certified; a 839 from a non-certified system is rejected by DCMA.
  • Replan vs rebaseline: a replan respects the baseline, a rebaseline changes it — a 839 silent on the type biases comparisons.
  • Subcontractor flow-down: if subcontracts > $20M, they must flow-down EVMS; a prime 839 without sub EVMS is non-compliant.

Documentation

The code 839 and the name Project Cost 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.