DI-MGMT-80368A Status Report: Contents, Format, and Submission

DI-MGMT-80368A is the Department of Defense’s standard Data Item Description for a contractor status report, and it tells you exactly what a periodic progress report has to contain: a summary, a body covering milestones, future plans, labor and costs, deliveries and the preparer, and any supporting appendices.¹ The report shows the government your progress against contract objectives, flags problems, and compares actual work and spending to the plan.² If your Contract Data Requirements List calls it out, delivering it is a binding obligation, not a courtesy.

How to Tell if You Owe This Report

The obligation comes through the Contract Data Requirements List, documented on DD Form 1423.³ Every data requirement on a DoD solicitation or contract, other than data already required by standard FAR or DFARS clauses, has to be listed on that form.⁴ Look at the Data Item Number column on your award documents. If DI-MGMT-80368A appears there, the status report is a deliverable.

Before you write anything, read Block 16 of that CDRL line. Block 16 is where the government tailors the DID for your specific contract, deleting or modifying paragraphs. DoD policy actively encourages tailoring downward through Block 16 to avoid overstating data requirements.⁴ Delivering content the government excluded wastes effort; omitting content the government kept creates a compliance gap.

What the Report Must Contain

The preparation instructions divide the report into three parts. Government reviewers expect information in the place the DID specifies.¹

Summary (Section 3.1)

The summary gives a high-level snapshot: overall project status, technical work accomplished, objectives, key results, and any major problems along with recommended solutions. It is what the Contracting Officer’s Representative reads first to decide whether the project needs closer attention.¹

Body (Section 3.2)

The body carries the weight of the report and breaks into five subsections.

Milestone and task status (3.2.1): whether the program is on schedule, completion percentage of each task, a comparison of actual performance against contract baseline values, effort expended to date, key test dates with significant results, completed designs, outstanding problems from the previous report and their resolution status, new or anticipated problems, results of significant conferences or trips, and anything else that could shift the schedule.
Future plans (3.2.2): a summary of what comes next for the upcoming reporting period and for any longer-term plans or recommendations.
Itemized labor hours and costs (3.2.3): labor and cost expenditures by category and task for the reporting period, total contract expenditures to date, and remaining funds.
Contract deliveries status (3.2.4): the status of every deliverable, including data deliverables, with shipping and transmittal data, acceptance status, security classification, and schedule due dates.
Report preparer (3.2.5): name and telephone number of the person who prepared the report.

Milestone and task status is where most of the substantive work sits, and where vague language causes the most trouble. Writing that a task is “progressing” tells a reviewer nothing. The DID requires an actual comparison of achieved performance against contract baseline values and a statement of whether the program is on schedule, including corrective steps if it is not.¹

Appendices (Section 3.3)

Tables, charts, references, and other supporting material go in appendices rather than in the body. Each appendix must be identified and referenced in the appropriate section of the report.¹

When Paragraph 3.2.3 Gets Deleted

If your contract also requires DI-FNCL-80331, the Funds and Man-Hour Expenditure Report, expect Block 16 to strike paragraph 3.2.3 from the status report. DI-FNCL-80331 already provides detailed visibility into contractor spending for labor, materials, travel, and other charges, with baseline comparisons and completion estimates.⁵ Deleting 3.2.3 avoids reporting the same financial data twice.² Check Block 16 rather than assuming either way.

Format and Page Setup

The DID leaves visual layout flexible. Your internal templates are generally fine as long as the result is legible and logically arranged. Each page should carry headers with the contract number, project title, and CDRL sequence number so any loose page can be traced back to the right contract.

Arrange the data so a reviewer can find the reporting period dates and the status of each deliverable quickly. Charts and tables need to be high-resolution and readable, whether processed by a person or an automated system. Depending on the contract, the final product may be a PDF, an editable electronic file, or a hard copy for archiving.

CUI Marking and Distribution

Status reports often contain Controlled Unclassified Information because they describe technical progress, test results, and expenditure data. When a report contains CUI, mark “CUI” at the top and bottom of every page and include a CUI designation indicator block.⁶

Reports with CUI typically carry Distribution Statement B, C, D, or E, depending on how broadly the government wants the report shared. Distribution Statements A and F cannot be used on CUI material.⁷ The applicable statement is designated by the contract or the Contracting Officer, not chosen by the contractor.

How to Submit It

Deliver the finished report through the channels the contract’s administrative instructions specify. For most DoD contracts that means uploading through the Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment, the department’s primary procure-to-pay platform.⁸ Inside PIEE, the Wide Area Workflow module lets you attach CDRL deliverables by adding a CDRL Exhibit Line Item Number entry and uploading the document.⁹

CDRL attachments can also move through electronic data interchange or SFTP transfer, depending on your PIEE access. If you use the FTP method, upload attachments to the server before the corresponding transaction file.¹⁰ Some contracts still allow direct email to the Contracting Officer or Contracting Officer’s Representative, but PIEE submission is now the norm.

The government’s review window is not standard across contracts. Block 16 of DD Form 1423 sets the number of days the government has to review and comment, and the number of days you have to revise. A 30-day government review is common, but check the block. Once the report meets the DID’s requirements it is accepted as part of the permanent contract record.

What Happens if the Report Falls Short

Missing a required status report, or delivering one that does not meet the DID, creates problems that escalate depending on whether the failure is a one-time miss or a pattern.

The Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System is the government’s official source for past performance information used in future source selections.¹¹ Consistent compliant reports support at least a Satisfactory rating, meaning performance met contractual requirements with only minor problems.¹² Repeated late or nonconforming reports drag ratings down, and CPARS follows you into the next procurement.

Under DFARS 252.242-7005, a Contracting Officer can withhold 5 percent of progress payments and performance-based payments when a contractor has a material weakness in a required business system, dropping to 2 percent if the contractor submits an acceptable corrective action plan within 45 days. Material weaknesses in multiple business systems can push withholding to 10 percent.¹³ The clause targets business system deficiencies rather than individual reports, but chronic reporting failures can be evidence of a systemic management problem.

Deliberately falsifying data in a status report raises potential exposure under the False Claims Act, which imposes civil penalties per violation plus three times the damages the government sustains.¹⁴ Whether a given report qualifies as a “claim for payment” is context-dependent; a report tied directly to a progress payment carries more risk than a standalone narrative update.

Beyond the formal mechanisms, sloppy reporting compounds informally. A Contracting Officer who cannot get reliable status data increases oversight, requests more meetings, and scrutinizes future deliverables more closely. Managing that scrutiny usually costs more than producing the report properly.

1
Defense Logistics Agency. DI-MGMT-80368A Data Item Description
2
EverySpec. Data Item Description DI-MGMT-80368A Status Report
3
Defense Logistics Agency. DD 1423 Contract Data Requirements List
4
Department of Defense. DoDM 5010.12 Acquisition and Management of Contractor Data
5
EverySpec. Data Item Description DI-FNCL-80331A Funds Man-Hours Expenditure Report
6
DoD CUI Program. Controlled Unclassified Information Markings
7
DoD CUI Program. Distribution Statements
8
Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment. Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment
9
Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment. Adding a CDRL Attachment in WAWF
10
Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment. WAWF Training Contract Data Requirement List CDRL Attachments
11
Acquisition.gov. Federal Acquisition Regulation Subpart 42.15 Contractor Performance Information
12
CPARS. Evaluation Areas
13
Acquisition.gov. DFARS 252.242-7005 Contractor Business Systems
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 USC 3729 False Claims