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FAR and DFARS › FAR Part 31: Contract Cost Principles and Procedures › Subpart 31.2

FAR 31.205-43 Trade, business, technical, and professional activity costs.

The codified text (eCFR, as of 2026-10-02). Under the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul ↗, agencies follow class deviations with new text for many parts while the formal rules go through the Federal Register: check the solicitation and your contract's clauses, which rule.

In plain English

This section states that certain trade, business, technical, and professional activity costs are allowable under government contracts. It covers memberships, subscriptions, and costs related to meetings, conventions, and similar events when their main purpose is sharing information or improving productivity. Contractors can be reimbursed for these costs, including travel and attendance by non-employees under specific conditions.

Applies to: Government contractors incurring trade, business, technical, and professional activity costs

What it requires

  • Ensure that costs for non-employee attendance are not also reimbursed by the individual's employing company or organization.
  • Ensure that the individual's attendance is essential to achieve the purpose of the conference, meeting, convention, symposium, etc.

Key terms: allowable · trade, business, technical, and professional organizations · periodicals · meeting, convention, conference, symposium, or seminar · dissemination of trade, business, technical or professional information

Written by AI from this section's text. A guide, not legal advice: the text below rules.

The text

The following types of costs are allowable:

(a) Memberships in trade, business, technical, and professional organizations.

(b) Subscriptions to trade, business, professional, or other technical periodicals.

(c) When the principal purpose of a meeting, convention, conference, symposium, or seminar is the dissemination of trade, business, technical or professional information or the stimulation of production or improved productivity:

(1) Costs of organizing, setting up, and sponsoring the meetings, conventions, symposia, etc., including rental of meeting facilities, transportation, subsistence, and incidental costs;

(2) Costs of attendance by contractor employees, including travel costs (see 31.205-46); and

(3) Costs of attendance by individuals who are not employees of the contractor, provided;

(i) Such costs are not also reimbursed to the individual by the employing company or organization, and

(ii) The individual's attendance is essential to achieve the purpose of the conference, meeting, convention, symposium, etc.

Sections it refers to

← 31.205-42 Termination costs. · 31.205-44 Training and education costs. →

Rule changes for FAR Part 31

Source: eCFR, 48 CFR chapters 1 and 2 (GPO GovInfo bulk data) ↗. Plain words for the terms: glossary.

FAR 31.205-43 Trade, business, technical, and professional activity costs · SpendQuery