Skip to content
ClearedStack

Tools · CLIN 0004 Market research & small business

NDC Eligibility Checker

Planned

Check whether you count as a nontraditional defense contractor, and what that opens up.

This tool is planned. There is nothing to open yet. What follows is the plan, and it can change before the tool ships. The guide below covers the same job by hand in the meantime. Jump to the full specification.

What it will do

Answer a short series of questions about your defense contract history. The tool compares the answers with the definition in 10 U.S.C. 3014 and tells you whether you appear to qualify as a nontraditional defense contractor, with the reasoning shown, and what the status is used for.

You bring

  • Whether you have performed a defense contract or subcontract subject to full Cost Accounting Standards coverage, and when

You get

  • Your likely status, and the test that decided it
  • What the status opens up

Built from

Only material the government has officially released to the public. Where the rules live shows how to find and cite each one.

Do it by hand today

True of every tool

Free and open source.
No paid tier, no ads, and the code is public.
Runs in your browser.
What you type or open is not sent anywhere.
No tracking.
No accounts, cookies or analytics.
Shows its sources.
Each result names the rule it rests on, so you can check it.
Says what it does not do.
It is an aid for your own work, not professional advice.

What happens to what you type shows how to confirm this yourself, and Check a tool’s answer is the method for verifying a result.

Want it sooner?

Requests decide what is built first. Say what you would use it for, and what you do by hand today.

Ask by emailOpen an issue on GitHub

Issues are public. Leave out real contract data, real rates and anything controlled. How to write a useful request.

Specification · draft

How it is meant to work, in detail

The inputs, the logic, the checks the tool has to pass and the worked examples it is tested against. It is a draft, and the tool is built from it, so it can change until the tool ships.

4 min readLast revised November 2026Source of this specification

Overview & Role#

ndc-eligibility-checker (CLIN 0004, category: "market", slug: ndc-eligibility-checker) is a static, browser-only decision tool in the ClearedStack catalog. It determines whether a business qualifies as a Nontraditional Defense Contractor (NDC) under federal defense acquisition statute and explains what contracting pathways that status opens up.

No government agency issues a certificate for NDC status. As explained in Codes, registration and small business status, an offeror establishes its status by comparing its own Department of Defense (DoD) contract and subcontract history against the statutory definition and may be asked to represent that status in a solicitation response.

Governing Regulations & Sources#

CitationScopeRule Applied in Tool
10 U.S.C. 3014Definition of Nontraditional Defense ContractorAn entity that is not currently performing and has not performed, for at least the one-year period preceding the DoD solicitation of sources, any DoD contract or subcontract subject to full coverage under the Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) prescribed under 41 U.S.C. 1502.
48 CFR 9903.201-1(b)(3) & 9903.201-2CAS exemptions and full vs. modified coverageContracts and subcontracts with small businesses are exempt from CAS altogether. Full CAS coverage applies only to large non-exempt negotiated awards (such as single awards or net CAS-covered volume reaching the full-CAS threshold).
DFARS 212.102(a)(iii) / 10 U.S.C. 3457Commercial treatment for NDC supplies and servicesAuthorizes (but does not require) DoD contracting officers to treat supplies and services provided by an NDC as commercial products or commercial services, enabling streamlined FAR Part 12 terms.
10 U.S.C. 4022Prototype Other Transaction Agreements (OTAs)Requires at least one of: (1) significant participation by an NDC or nonprofit research institution; (2) all significant non-federal participants are small businesses or NDCs; (3) at least one-third non-federal cost share; or (4) written exceptional-circumstances determination by the senior procurement executive.

Inputs, Processing Logic & Outputs#

Inputs

FieldTypeNotes
is_small_businessEnum (yes | no | unsure)Whether the business (including affiliates under 13 CFR 121.103) is small under the applicable SBA NAICS size standard.
has_dod_awards_past_yearEnum (yes | no)Whether the entity is currently performing or performed any DoD prime contract or subcontract during the 1-year lookback window.
subject_to_full_casEnum (yes | no | unknown)Evaluated when has_dod_awards_past_year === "yes": whether any such award included full CAS coverage (e.g., FAR 52.230-2).
solicitation_dateISO Date (optional)Used to compute and display the exact 1-year statutory lookback window [solicitation_date - 1 year, solicitation_date].

Deterministic Decision Logic

  1. Small Business CAS-Exemption Fast-Path:
    • If is_small_business === "yes": small businesses are exempt from CAS under 48 CFR 9903.201-1(b)(3) -> Qualifies as Nontraditional Defense Contractor (with a reminder to verify SBA affiliation if the company has parent/sister entities).
  2. 1-Year Full-CAS Lookback:
    • If has_dod_awards_past_year === "no" -> Qualifies as Nontraditional Defense Contractor.
    • If has_dod_awards_past_year === "yes" and subject_to_full_cas === "no" (e.g., firm-fixed-price commercial awards, CAS-exempt contracts, or modified CAS only) -> Qualifies as Nontraditional Defense Contractor.
    • If has_dod_awards_past_year === "yes" and subject_to_full_cas === "yes" -> Traditional Defense Contractor (Does Not Qualify as NDC).
    • If has_dod_awards_past_year === "yes" and subject_to_full_cas === "unknown" -> Indeterminate — Inspect Contract Clauses (prompts user to check past DoD contracts/subcontracts for FAR 52.230-2 full CAS coverage).
  3. Pathway Mapping:
    • NDC Qualified: Unlocks eligibility as a significant NDC participant under 10 U.S.C. 4022 prototype OTAs and makes the offeror eligible for permissive commercial treatment under DFARS 212.102(a)(iii) / 10 U.S.C. 3457.
    • Traditional Defense Contractor: Cannot satisfy 10 U.S.C. 4022 on its own; outputs the statutory alternatives (teaming with an NDC or nonprofit research institution participating to a significant extent, or providing at least one-third non-federal cost share).

Outputs

  • Eligibility determination: Qualifies as NDC, Traditional Defense Contractor, or Indeterminate — Verification Required.
  • Statutory rationale & lookback window: Exact rule branch triggered and [start_date, solicitation_date] window if a date was entered.
  • Unlocked authorities breakdown: Structured summary of 10 U.S.C. 4022 OTA options and DFARS 212.102(a)(iii) commercial treatment.
  • Self-attestation checklist: Printable/exportable (Markdown or JSON) verification notes for proposal records.

Clean-Room & 5-Condition QA Requirements#

To pass Shakedown and ship to live:

  1. Browser-only & offline execution: Executes 100% in the browser with all statutory rules and CAS exemption logic bundled locally; works completely offline.
  2. Strict Content Security Policy: Enforces default-src 'self', connect-src 'self', and form-action 'none'. No contract history or company answers ever leave the browser.
  3. Zero tracking or accounts: No login, analytics, cookies, or telemetry. Any optional local reset/save state is disclosed with a clear-data control.
  4. Worked-example assertions: Automated tests verify all decision branches (small business fast-path, commercial/modified-CAS NDC, full-CAS traditional, unknown CAS indeterminate) and date-window arithmetic.
  5. Citations, scope limits & MIT license: Cites 10 U.S.C. 3014, 10 U.S.C. 4022, DFARS 212.102(a)(iii), and 48 CFR 9903.201-1; includes a clear non-legal-advice disclaimer and MIT LICENSE. Built clean-room without proprietary vendor data or user CUI.

Worked Example & Verification#

Worked Examples

  1. Small Business (CAS-Exempt):
    • Inputs: is_small_business = "yes", has_dod_awards_past_year = "yes" ($2M DoD SBIR Phase II).
    • Output: Qualifies as Nontraditional Defense Contractor (small businesses are CAS-exempt under 48 CFR 9903.201-1(b)(3)). Eligible for 10 U.S.C. 4022 prototype OTAs and DFARS 212.102(a)(iii) commercial treatment.
  2. Non-Small Commercial Vendor (No Full CAS):
    • Inputs: is_small_business = "no", has_dod_awards_past_year = "yes" ($12M DoD FFP commercial software contract), subject_to_full_cas = "no".
    • Output: Qualifies as Nontraditional Defense Contractor (10 U.S.C. 3014 requires full CAS coverage to disqualify).
  3. Large Defense Prime (Full CAS):
    • Inputs: is_small_business = "no", has_dod_awards_past_year = "yes", subject_to_full_cas = "yes" (active cost-type DoD contract with FAR 52.230-2), solicitation_date = "2026-11-15".
    • Output: Traditional Defense Contractor (lookback window 2025-11-15 to 2026-11-15). Must team with an NDC/nonprofit research institution for significant participation or contribute >= 1/3 cost share under 10 U.S.C. 4022.

Boundary & Verification Cases

Test CaseInputExpected Deterministic Output
Unknown CAS clauseis_small_business = "no", has_dod_awards_past_year = "yes", subject_to_full_cas = "unknown"Indeterminate — Verification Required with FAR 52.230-2 inspection prompt.
Zero prior DoD awardsis_small_business = "no", has_dod_awards_past_year = "no"Qualifies as Nontraditional Defense Contractor.
Leap-year lookbacksolicitation_date = "2028-02-29"Lookback start 2027-02-28 (deterministic 1-year calendar offset without invalid date).