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Cognizant Federal Agency

Cognizant Federal Agency (CFA)

Government Standards Reviewed by forProject Technology - updated Sep 2026
Quick definition: The Cognizant Federal Agency (CFA) is the government agency responsible for determining whether a contractor's Earned Value Management System complies with the EIA-748 guidelines.

A contractor's EVMS is accepted once, by one agency, rather than separately by every customer — and that agency is the CFA. When DoD is the cognizant agency, DCMA performs the compliance determination and the surveillance that follows it. On contracts led by another department, such as NASA or the Department of Energy, that department is the CFA instead. The FAR and DFARS EVMS clauses require a CFA-accepted system on contracts above the applicable dollar threshold.

Why it matters

The CFA answers the question "who decides whether our system is acceptable?" Acceptance is reciprocal — a contractor doesn't re-prove its EVMS to each customer, so a single determination follows the system across its federal work. The same is true in reverse: a disapproval affects the whole portfolio, and can carry payment withholds until the deficiencies are corrected.

Also known as
N/A
Used in
EVMS compliance determination; ongoing oversight of a contractor's EVMS

FAQ

Is the CFA always DCMA?
No. DCMA makes the determination when DoD is the cognizant Federal agency. Where another department has cognizance — NASA or the Department of Energy, for instance — that agency is the CFA.
Does every contract require a CFA-accepted EVMS?
No. The requirement applies above a dollar threshold set in the FAR and DFARS, and those thresholds have changed over time through class deviations. Below the threshold, applying EVM is a risk-based decision.
Definition maintained by forProject Technology.
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