FAR 31.205-43—Trade, business, technical and professional activity costs.
Plain-English Summary
FAR 31.205-43 addresses a narrow but important set of allowable costs tied to trade, business, technical, and professional activity. It covers three main subject areas: memberships in trade, business, technical, and professional organizations; subscriptions to trade, business, professional, or technical periodicals; and costs associated with meetings, conventions, conferences, symposia, and seminars when the principal purpose is to disseminate trade, business, technical, or professional information or to stimulate production or improved productivity. For qualifying events, the rule also covers the contractor’s costs of organizing, setting up, and sponsoring the event, including facility rental, transportation, subsistence, and incidental costs, as well as attendance costs for contractor employees and, in limited cases, nonemployees. In practice, this section matters because it tells contractors when these professional-development and industry-engagement expenses may be charged to government contracts and when they are not allowable. It also creates specific conditions for nonemployee attendance and requires contractors to apply the travel-cost rules in FAR 31.205-46 when attendance involves travel. The section is designed to support legitimate industry participation and knowledge-sharing while preventing reimbursement of personal, duplicative, or unrelated entertainment-type costs.
Key Rules
Memberships are allowable
Costs of memberships in trade, business, technical, and professional organizations are allowable. The membership must be in an organization of the covered type; the rule does not authorize unrelated civic, social, or personal memberships.
Relevant subscriptions are allowable
Subscriptions to trade, business, professional, or other technical periodicals are allowable. The publication must be tied to the contractor’s business, technical, or professional needs.
Event purpose must qualify
Meeting, convention, conference, symposium, or seminar costs are allowable only when the principal purpose is to disseminate trade, business, technical, or professional information or to stimulate production or improved productivity. If the event’s main purpose is entertainment, marketing, or general social activity, this section does not apply.
Event sponsorship costs allowed
For qualifying events, the contractor may charge costs of organizing, setting up, and sponsoring the event, including rental of meeting facilities, transportation, subsistence, and incidental costs. These costs must be reasonable and connected to the qualifying purpose of the event.
Employee attendance costs allowed
Costs of attendance by contractor employees are allowable, including travel costs, but travel must also comply with FAR 31.205-46. This means the contractor must separately satisfy the travel-cost rules, not just the event-purpose rule.
Nonemployee attendance is limited
Costs of attendance by individuals who are not contractor employees are allowable only if two conditions are met: the costs are not also reimbursed by the individual’s employer or organization, and the individual’s attendance is essential to achieve the event’s purpose. Both conditions must be satisfied.
Responsibilities
Contractor
Determine whether memberships, subscriptions, and event-related costs fit within the allowable categories; document the business purpose of the membership, publication, or event; ensure event costs are reasonable and properly allocated; apply FAR 31.205-46 to employee travel; and verify that any nonemployee attendance meets both required conditions.
Contracting Officer
Review claimed costs for allowability, reasonableness, and allocability; ensure the contractor has adequate support for the event’s principal purpose and for any nonemployee attendance; and disallow costs that do not meet the specific conditions of this section or related travel rules.
Agency/Cost Reviewer
Evaluate whether the claimed costs are tied to legitimate trade, business, technical, or professional activity; check for duplicate reimbursement, unsupported attendance claims, or events that are primarily social or promotional; and confirm compliance with applicable travel and cost principles.
Employees/Attendees
Attend qualifying events for legitimate business purposes, provide accurate travel and attendance information, and avoid seeking duplicate reimbursement for attendance costs that are already paid by another employer or organization.
Practical Implications
This section is often used for professional development, industry conferences, and technical association participation, but the contractor must be able to show the business connection. A vague description like "conference attendance" is usually not enough without evidence of the event’s qualifying purpose.
The biggest pitfall is assuming all conference-related costs are automatically allowable. Contractors must separate allowable event costs from unallowable entertainment, marketing, or purely social expenses, and they must apply the travel rules whenever travel is involved.
Nonemployee attendance is especially sensitive because the rule requires both no duplicate reimbursement and a showing that attendance is essential to the event’s purpose. If either condition is missing, the cost is not allowable under this section.
Memberships and subscriptions are generally straightforward, but contractors should still confirm that the organization or publication is actually trade, business, technical, or professional in nature and that the cost is not personal in character.
Good documentation matters: agendas, invitations, attendee lists, purpose statements, invoices, and travel records help support allowability and reduce audit risk when these costs are charged to government contracts.
Official Regulatory 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 individuals attendance is essential to achieve the purpose of the conference, meeting, convention, symposium, etc.