Explainer
What Is a CDRL?
The Short Answer
One List, One Line per Deliverable
When a Department of Defense contract requires data to be delivered, the DFARS says the solicitation includes DD Form 1423, the Contract Data Requirements List (DFARS 215.470(b)). Reports, plans, test data, technical manuals, and the technical data package are all deliverables, and the CDRL is where each one is written down as a line.
The DFARS is specific about the form's status: it is always an exhibit to the contract, never an attachment (DFARS 204.7101). An exhibit establishes requirements for deliverables, so the list is part of what the contractor is obligated to produce, not background reading.
Anatomy
What a CDRL Line Says
On DD Form 1423-1, each line carries a data item number (Block 1), a title and subtitle (Blocks 2 and 3), the authority, which is the DID number (Block 4), the contract reference and requiring office (Blocks 5 and 6), the distribution statement required (Block 9), frequency and submission dates (Blocks 10 to 13), and the distribution list (Block 14), with tailoring in the remarks (Block 16). The form's own instructions, and DoDM 5010.12, govern how to complete them.
- The data item and its title
- What is being delivered: a report, a plan, a technical manual, a data package. Each deliverable gets its own line.
- The Data Item Description
- The DID number is the line's authority. It points to the document that says what the deliverable must contain and how it is organized.
- Timing and frequency
- When the first submission is due and how often it recurs: once, monthly, as changes occur, or tied to a program event.
- Distribution
- Who receives copies, in what form, and how many. Distribution and marking can carry their own rules, which is where data rights meet the list.
- Remarks
- Where the contract tailors the DID: paragraphs deleted, formats imposed, standards named, review cycles added. The remarks are read together with the DID, and they are where scope most often hides.
The DID
How Each Line Calls a Data Item Description
A Data Item Description is a standard description of the content and format of one kind of deliverable. DIDs are kept in the ASSIST database, the same place the DFARS sends contracting officers for specifications and standards (DFARS 211.201). A CDRL line does not repeat the DID; it cites it, and then tailors it in the remarks.
Technical manuals have their own DID family, the DI-TMSS series. Examples: DI-TMSS-81805A, the Data Module Requirements List (S1000D), which we explain in what a DMRL is; DI-TMSS-80527C for commercial off-the-shelf manuals and supplemental data; and DI-TMSS-81820 for the record that dispositions technical manual verification discrepancies. Which ones your contract cites, and at what version, is a fact about your contract. Read the current text in ASSIST, not a copy.
Manual DIDs
DIDs for Technical Manuals
Twelve DIDs, DI-TMSS-81810 through DI-TMSS-81821, cover the plans, reports, and certificates a technical manual contract usually asks for. All twelve show as Active in ASSIST, with the DID dates below. The preparing activity on the records we read is Naval Sea Systems Command (Ship Systems), so the family is Navy-originated, though a contract from any service can cite it. Dates change when a DID is revised, so confirm the current record in ASSIST before you rely on a date or on the exact text.
- DI-TMSS-81810: Technical Manual Organization Plan (TMOP)
- The overall plan for developing the manuals for a ship or major system acquisition, submitted for Government review and acceptance before manual development starts. DID dated 26 Feb 2026.
- DI-TMSS-81811: Technical Manual Cost Report
- Budget information the program manager uses for planning, evaluation, and future manual cost estimating. DID dated 13 May 2022.
- DI-TMSS-81812: Technical Manual Schedule and Status Report
- Lets the program manager see whether manuals are being prepared and delivered on the approved contract schedule, and act early when they are not. DID dated 13 May 2022.
- DI-TMSS-81813: Technical Manual Book Plan
- A detailed overview of the proposed scope of each manual against the contract and the TMCR, accepted before the manual is written. DID dated 16 Nov 2018.
- DI-TMSS-81814: Interactive Electronic Technical Manual (IETM) Content Plan
- The same overview for an IETM, covering proposed scope and functionality, accepted before development. DID dated 16 Nov 2018.
- DI-TMSS-81815: Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Manuals
- Sample COTS manuals delivered for the Government to evaluate and use. DID dated 13 May 2022.
- DI-TMSS-81816: Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Manual Supplemental Data
- Supplemental data that makes an existing COTS manual fully suitable for Government use. DID dated 13 May 2022.
- DI-TMSS-81817: Technical Manual Quality Assurance (TMQA) Program Plan
- The contractor's quality assurance program for the manuals: organization, planning, and data control. DID dated 13 May 2022.
- DI-TMSS-81818: Technical Manual Validation Plan
- The methods, procedures, controls, and resources the contractor will use to validate the manuals. DID dated 13 May 2022.
- DI-TMSS-81819: Technical Manual Validation Certificate
- The contractor's certification that the manual is accurate and complete, noting any part of validation that could not be done. DID dated 18 Mar 2026.
- DI-TMSS-81820: Technical Manual Verification Discrepancy/Disposition Record
- The contractor's resolution of each documented verification discrepancy and finding. DID dated 13 May 2022.
- DI-TMSS-81821: Technical Manual Verification Incorporation Certificate
- Assurance that the corrections from verification findings were incorporated into the final manual. DID dated 18 Mar 2026.
Several of these are explained further in technical manual validation and verification.
Clauses
What the DFARS Actually Says
Three places carry most of the weight. DFARS 215.470 requires the form in the solicitation, asks for estimated prices of data so the government can weigh each item's value, and says the contract must not require data the contractor has already delivered, or owes, under another contract. Where duplicate data are wanted, the price covers duplication, not preparation.
DFARS 227.7103-2(c) covers technical data specifically. Solicitations and contracts should identify the type and quantity of data, the format and medium, give each deliverable item its own line (an exhibit listing satisfies that), price each item on a fixed-price contract, state the delivery schedule and acceptance criteria, and name the place of delivery. That is a good description of a well-built CDRL.
One correction to a common template: DFARS 252.227-7031 is reserved, so it does not govern anything. The data rights clauses are elsewhere, and our guide to technical data rights sets them out. The CDRL also appears inside other clauses, for example the warranty of data clause (252.246-7001), which runs its warranty period from delivery of the line item identified in DD Form 1423.
How They Fit
CDRL, SOW, DID, and TMCR
- Statement of work (SOW)
- Describes the work: the tasks the contractor performs. The CDRL lists what is handed over as a result. A task in the SOW usually produces one or more CDRL items, and a mismatch between the two is a classic source of disputes.
- Data Item Description (DID)
- A standard description of one kind of deliverable, reused across contracts. The CDRL line cites it and may tailor it.
- Technical Manual Contract Requirements (TMCR)
- The attachment that names the manual specifications, their revisions, and their tailoring for a program. The CDRL says that a manual is owed and when; the TMCR says how it must be prepared. Our guide to the TMCR covers the document itself.
- Specification or standard
- Binds only when something cites it. A CDRL line, its DID, or a TMCR does the citing, at a particular revision.
For a technical manual deliverable, the chain runs CDRL line, then DID, then the TMCR or the cited standard. Our guides to what a TMCR requires, the TM contract review checklist, and which MIL-STD applies to a technical manual each pick up where the list leaves off. If the line calls for illustrations, see technical illustration.
Reviewing One
What a Contractor Should Check
- Every line you can price traces to a task in the statement of work, and every task that produces data traces to a line.
- Each DID is read in full, at the version the line cites, and the remarks are read against it. Tailoring in the remarks wins over what you assumed from the DID title.
- Cited standards are pinned to a revision, and any TMCR is reconciled to the list (see the TM contract review checklist).
- Format, medium, and delivery method are stated, including whether the data must be delivered in a structured format or as a document.
- Review cycles, comment periods, and the acceptance criteria are written down, because a reject loop is schedule and labor.
- Distribution, markings, and any data-rights assertions are consistent with the contract's data rights clauses.
- Anything you must pass to a subcontractor is flowed down, with your own due dates earlier than the government's.
- No item duplicates data you already owe under another contract; DFARS 215.470(c) tells contracting officers not to require data already delivered or owed.
For a technical data package line, check which level, type, and elements the contract selects; the MIL-STD-31000 page explains what those choices commit you to.
FAQ
Questions We Hear
What does CDRL stand for?
Contract Data Requirements List. It is the list of data deliverables a contract requires, issued on DD Form 1423.
What is a CDRL in government contracting?
The contract exhibit that lists each data deliverable the government is buying, with the Data Item Description that defines its content, the delivery timing, and the distribution. Under DFARS 215.470, when data are required to be delivered under a contract, the solicitation includes DD Form 1423.
What is DD Form 1423?
The form on which the CDRL is written. The DFARS treats it as an exhibit to the contract, not an attachment, which matters because exhibits establish requirements for deliverables and carry their own line items. Continuation sheets list further items.
What is the difference between a CDRL and a DID?
The CDRL is the contract's list of what to deliver and when. A DID is the reusable description of what one kind of deliverable contains. Each CDRL line cites a DID, and the remarks can tailor it.
Does a CDRL set the standard a technical manual must follow?
Often only indirectly. A manual line points to a DID, and the DID, the remarks, or a TMCR name the specification, such as MIL-STD-40051 or S1000D. Our guide to which MIL-STD applies explains how a manual standard binds a contract, and the TMCR guide covers the attachment that most often carries the tailoring.
Which DFARS clause governs the CDRL?
DFARS 215.470(b) requires DD Form 1423 in the solicitation when data are to be delivered, and 227.7103-2 sets how technical data are identified, priced, and scheduled. Be careful with 252.227-7031: it is reserved, so a template that cites it for CDRLs is out of date. Data rights are governed by other clauses, covered in our guide to technical data rights.
Are CDRL items priced separately?
Where practicable, yes. DFARS 227.7103-2(c) tells contracting officers to make each deliverable technical data item a separate line item, which an exhibit listing each item can satisfy, and to identify the prices of each item on a fixed-price contract.
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Read the List Before You Price It
We review CDRLs, DIDs, and TMCRs for technical manual deliverables before pricing locks. Send us the exhibit and we will map each line to what it really requires.