Production-grade deltek costpoint data retention for the long-tail federal-contracting regulatory obligations. DCAA ICS lookback, CAS contract-life evidence, FAR records retention, CMMC 2.0 audit evidence, ITAR export-control retention. 10+ year queryable archive with sub-second lookup.
Commercial ERP data retention is one regulatory regime — typically SOX 7 years plus jurisdictional overlays. Federal contractor retention is six overlapping regimes simultaneously, each with its own lookback expectations and evidence-chain requirements.
Federal contractors live under DCAA incurred-cost-submission lookback (7+ years), CAS cost-accounting-practice consistency evidence (contract life plus close-out, often 10+ years for multi-year IDIQs), FAR 4.703 contractor records retention (3 years after final payment with agency supplements typically extending further), DFARS supplements requiring contractor business systems with adequate internal controls for contract life, SOX financial records (7 years), IRS 1099 vendor records (4 years), ITAR/EAR export-control records (5+ years), CMMC 2.0 NIST 800-171 control evidence (6 years). The retention policy must accommodate the longest-obligation jurisdiction in the contract portfolio — typically driving 10+ year retention as the baseline.
Beyond duration, the access pattern matters. DCAA contracting officers do not accept 'we have the data on cold backup somewhere' — they expect queryable evidence retrievable within audit-window timelines. A contracting officer request for FY-N pool calculation reconstruction or for floor-check evidence on a specific employee on a specific date is a 30-second query, not a 30-day reconstruction project. The retention infrastructure has to support that pattern across a 10+ year archive with sub-second lookup performance.
Syntra ETL's deltek costpoint data retention design treats this as a first-class infrastructure problem. Immutable hash-signed archive with metadata indices supporting point queries against multi-year archives. Tiered storage matching access-frequency expectations. Tamper-evident hash chains. Retention policy enforced via cloud-provider lifecycle rules — accidental deletion is structurally prevented. The result is a 10+ year evidence asset that survives the next DCAA business systems review, the next contracting officer rate-reconciliation request and the next CMMC 2.0 recertification.
Each component is engineered for the long-tail federal-contracting regulatory obligations — not the typical 7-year commercial retention pattern.
Costpoint source-system data preserved as immutable hash-signed Parquet. Partitioned by fiscal year, project, business unit, pool. Tamper-evident hash chains. Accidental deletion structurally prevented.
Per-partition indices on fiscal year, project, contract number, CLIN, pool, vendor, employee and DCAA-relevant data class. Sub-second point query across 10+ year archive.
Hot/warm for most recent 2 fiscal years (frequent DCAA access). Cool for years 3–7. Cold/archive for years 8+. Cost-optimized retrieval matching access-frequency expectations.
Vendor invoices on vouchers, signed timesheet backups, contract modification PDFs, approved rate certification PDFs preserved as original binary with hash-signed sidecar JSON.
Encryption at rest with KMS-managed keys. Role-based access on the archive itself. Audit logging of every archive access for SOC 2 and DCAA business-system audit.
Retention policy enforced via cloud-provider lifecycle rules. Deletion requires multi-stakeholder authorization. Audit log captures every retention-policy change with timestamp and approver.
Retention infrastructure is designed and deployed alongside the migration so the archive is operational at cutover instant — not assembled after the fact.
Inventory every retention obligation across DCAA, CAS, FAR/DFARS, SOX, IRS, CMMC 2.0, ITAR/EAR and state regimes. Per-data-class retention duration determined by longest-obligation regime.
Written policy: retention obligation per data class per regulatory regime, retention duration, storage tier, access controls, query interfaces, deletion policy, deletion authorization, audit logging.
Policy reviewed and signed by controller, contract administrators, DCAA liaison, HR, legal counsel, CISO, executive sponsor. Frozen as version-1.0. Subsequent changes require change-control.
Immutable archive deployed to your cloud environment. Metadata indices configured. Tiered storage lifecycle rules set. KMS encryption keys provisioned. Access controls configured. Audit logging integrated with SIEM.
Costpoint source-system data extracted as the migration progresses and populated into the archive with signed manifests. Supporting attachments preserved as binary. Reconciliation pack artifacts archived.
Archive lookup performance validated against representative DCAA query patterns. Sub-second point query confirmed across multi-year archive. Archive operational at cutover instant. Steady-state retention enforcement begins.
The archive is not cold backup. It is a live evidence asset queryable on demand for the full retention window — and that capability is what defends against DCAA scrutiny years after cutover.
Per-data-class evidence for cost accounting practice consistency, indirect rate calculation, contract billing rigor, T&E DCAA timekeeping chain. Single signed evidence pack response.
Pool calculation workpapers per pool per fiscal period queryable for 7+ year lookback. CAS Disclosure Statement cross-references preserved. Approved rate cert PDFs retrievable.
Full contract financial history per active CLIN preserved across system-of-record change. Per-contract continuity certificate plus reconciliation pack supports close-out audit.
Per-employee per-floor-check-date evidence preserved. DCAA chain — daily entry → supervisor approval → labor distribution → project burden → billed labor — traceable per employee per date.
NIST 800-171 control evidence preserved 6+ years. Access control, audit and accountability, configuration management, identification and authentication evidence. Single evidence pack for recertification.
ITAR/EAR export-control records preserved 5+ years. State-specific records preserved per state-contractor obligations. Multi-jurisdiction retention enforced uniformly.
Deltek costpoint data retention is the policy and infrastructure for keeping Costpoint source-system data accessible for the regulatory obligations specific to US federal contracting. Retention obligations span multiple regimes: DCAA incurred-cost-submission lookback is typically 7+ years (some auditors look back further on cost-questioned items); CAS (Cost Accounting Standards) cost-accounting-practice consistency evidence is the duration of the contract plus contract close-out — often 10+ years for multi-year IDIQs; FAR 4.703 contractor records retention is 3 years after final payment under the contract (often longer per agency supplement); SOX financial records 7 years; IRS 1099 vendor records 4 years; ITAR/EAR export-control records 5+ years. Costpoint customers commonly retain core data 10+ years and audit-evidence data for the longer of contract-life-plus-3 or 10 years.
Material differences. DoD prime contracts: typically governed by DFARS supplement requiring contractor business systems with adequate internal controls — DCAA can reach back into business systems for the life of the contract. NASA and civilian agency primes: similar FAR-based retention but with agency-specific supplements (FAA, DOE, DHS each have variations). DCAA-cognizant subcontracts: prime's retention obligation flows down per DFARS 252.215-7009. ITAR export-controlled work: 5+ year retention of all records related to controlled items. CMMC 2.0 audit evidence: 6-year retention of NIST 800-171 control evidence. State-specific overlays for state contractors. The retention policy designed for a federal contractor must accommodate the longest-obligation jurisdiction in the contract portfolio — typically driving 10+ year retention as the baseline.
ICS lookback is the highest-stakes retention obligation. DCAA contracting officers routinely request rate-reconciliation evidence for incurred-cost submissions filed up to 7 years prior. The supporting evidence chain — pool calculation workpapers, allocation base detail, approved provisional and forward-pricing rate certifications, supporting cost objects, signed timesheets, vendor invoices, contract modifications — must remain queryable across that window. DCAA business systems reviews can reach into the full contract life plus close-out for cost accounting practice consistency evidence. The Syntra retention design preserves the full ICS evidence chain as immutable hash-signed archive with metadata indexed for sub-second lookup — a contracting officer request for FY-N pool calculation reconstruction is a 30-second query, not a 30-day reconstruction project.
After Costpoint to Fusion cutover, the Costpoint source-system data moves to a read-only immutable archive in your cloud environment. Archive contents: full Costpoint extract at cutover instant partitioned by fiscal year, project, business unit and pool; signed manifest per partition with record counts, sum totals and hash signatures; supporting attachments (vendor invoices on vouchers, signed timesheet backups, contract modification PDFs) preserved as original binary; reconciliation pack artifacts from the migration cutover. Storage tier: typically hot/warm for the most recent 2 fiscal years (frequent DCAA access), cool for years 3–7, cold/archive for years 8+. Encryption at rest with KMS-managed keys. Tamper-evident hash chains. Retention policy enforced via cloud-provider lifecycle rules — accidental deletion is structurally prevented.
Yes. The archive is structured for sub-second contracting-officer-response lookup, not as cold backup. Per-partition metadata indices on fiscal year, project, contract number, CLIN, pool, vendor, employee and DCAA-relevant data class enable point queries against multi-year archives. Common DCAA-driven query patterns: pool calculation lookup per pool per fiscal period; contract billing history per CLIN; vendor 1099 history per tax year; signed timesheet retrieval per employee per pay period; floor check evidence per employee per check-date; CAS Disclosure Statement cross-reference per cost-accounting-practice entry. Query interfaces: SQL via Athena/BigQuery/Snowflake/Databricks against the Parquet archive; native cloud-storage browser for attachment retrieval; or Syntra Portal UI for non-technical users.
WAWF iRAPT submissions to DoD payment systems must remain queryable for DCMA dispute lookback — typically 7+ years matching ICS retention. Retention design preserves the full submission history per CLIN per fiscal period: every iRAPT submission with timestamp, acceptance status, rejection reason if any, DCMA correspondence, DFAS payment receipt, payment exception handling. Stored as immutable archive with hash-signed integrity. Queryable per contract per CLIN per period for dispute response. Post-Fusion-migration, future iRAPT submissions flow through whichever pattern was decided in the migration architecture (Costpoint stays as iRAPT submission point; dedicated middleware; or Fusion direct WAWF integration) — but the historical archive remains queryable for the full retention window regardless of future-state pattern.
CMMC 2.0 Level 2 certification requires 6-year retention of NIST 800-171 control evidence — including the artifacts that prove the Costpoint environment satisfied controlled-unclassified-information handling controls. Retention design preserves: access control evidence (Costpoint application user audit logs, role assignment history, access reviews); audit and accountability evidence (Costpoint audit log retention, log integrity proofs); configuration management evidence (change management records for Costpoint patches, upgrades, customizations); identification and authentication evidence (credential rotation history, MFA configuration). All preserved as immutable archive with retention policy enforcing 6+ years. Recertification audit response is single signed evidence pack, not forensic reconstruction.
Retention design is documented as a written policy: retention obligation per data class per regulatory regime, retention duration per data class, storage tier per data class, access controls, query interfaces, deletion policy, deletion authorization, audit logging of access. Reviewed and signed by: controller (financial records retention), contract administrators (contract-specific retention requirements), DCAA liaison (audit-evidence retention), HR (employee records retention), legal counsel (e-discovery and litigation hold), CISO (security and CMMC retention), executive sponsor. Frozen as version-1.0 before any data is moved to the post-migration archive. Subsequent changes require change-control approval and stakeholder re-sign-off.
30-minute discovery call. We'll walk through your federal contract portfolio, DCAA audit posture, CMMC 2.0 certification timeline and state-specific retention overlays — and produce a sized retention design with multi-regime policy and 10+ year queryable archive plan.