When reviewing a contractor’s allocation process for indirect costs, one quality of the indirect cost grouping that we expect a contractor to be able to demonstrate is the homogeneity of indirect cost pools.  The concept of “homogeneity” requires that the contractor’s indirect costs be grouped into logical and homogeneous indirect cost pools. This means that the cost of functions or activities which are to be pooled must have the same or similar beneficial or causal relationship to cost objectives. Homogeneity is achieved if:

·         the activities or functions in the pool are the same or similar, or

·         the activities or functions are unlike, but the relationship to benefiting cost objectives are the same or similar, or

·         if the final output of goods and services is the same or similar.

 An example of an indirect cost pool that would be considered to be homogeneous would be if a contractor accumulates costs relating to the activities of building ownership, maintenance, and utilities into one indirect cost pool, designated as “Occupancy Cost”, for allocation to contracts. Although the costs of these activities represent unlike costs, each of these activities has the same or a similar relationship to all contract work that is occupying space in the contractor’s facility.

On the other hand, assume that a contractor includes the indirect costs of machining and assembling activities in a single manufacturing overhead pool. The machining activity may not have the same or similar beneficial or causal relationship to contracts or cost objectives as does the assembling activity. In this case, the contractor’s single manufacturing overhead pool is not homogeneous and separate pools would be required.

Contractors are given latitude in how they accumulate indirect costs in to pools for allocation; they are, however, responsible for demonstrating that the results of their process satisfy the principle of homogeneity.