Current system status: Live
The statutory requirements for contract and supplier reporting were introduced by the Defence Reform Act 2014 (the Act) and defined in the Single Source Contract Regulations 2014 (the Regulations). The Defence Contract Analysis and Reporting System (DefCARS, the system) is an online, web-enabled system which facilitates submission of statutory reports to the SSRO and MOD.
When preparing reports, contractors must have regard to guidance issued by the SSRO. These guidance documents can be accessed at the links below:
- reporting guidance on contract reports: DefCARS – contract report guidance – Version 13.3 published June 2026
- reporting guidance on supplier reports: DefCARS – supplier report guidance – Version 11.3 published June 2026
- reporting guidance on DefCARS functionality: Guidance on DefCARS functionality – Version 13.2 published November 2025
Contractors may also require access to previous reporting templates and user guides.
If you have any questions about how to access DefCARS or the guidance please contact the SSRO at helpdesk@ssro.gov.uk.
Updates to the guidance applicable from 10 June 2026
The SSRO has made minor updates to both the reporting guidance on contract reports and the reporting guidance on supplier reports in response to the Single Source Contract (Amendment) Regulations 2026, issues raised by stakeholders or improvements identified by SSRO staff. The changes to the contract reporting guidance are:
- Guidance added to Table 14 regarding the outcome that the Secretary of State has specified must be achieved in order for the Incentive Adjustment to be payable;
- Deletion of references to CEO details and general comments on the Report Submission Administration page to align with DefCARS;
- Deletion of references to Last Day of Most Recent Completed Financial Period in Table 9 to align with DefCARS;
- Further clarity on paragraphs 9.7 and 9.8 regarding on-demand CRPs when a contract completion date changes;
- Amendment to Table 24 to explain that the ‘Total price of the QDC/QSC which is attributable to sub-contracts (£m)’ should not include any Attributable Profit.
- Further clarity to Appendix 2 examples of component reporting;
- Confirmation that reports downloaded in DefCARS now include the data requirements introduced on 1 April 2024; and
- Other minor improvements.
The changes made to the supplier reporting guidance are:
- Explanation of how contractors can identify whether QBUCAR and ERAPS reports are an ‘initial report submission’ or ‘final agreed submission made following a written direction from the Secretary of State’; and
- Other minor improvements.
No changes have been made to the DefCARS functionality guidance.
The changes made have been provided in email communications to the SSRO’s Reporting and IT sub-group members. If other contractors require this, they can request it from helpdesk@ssro.gov.uk.
Update to DefCARS – Release v3.1.6
On 9 June we successfully completed a release (v.3.1.6) to align with the guidance publication. There was no downtime experienced in relation to this update. The release included:
- Updating the guidance within DefCARS to reflect the most recent version.
- Removing the Last day of most recently completed financial period field in contract reports created after the release date.
- Updating Excel downloads to reflect changes to web forms over the last 2 years including the 1 April 2024 regulatory changes.
- Other minor improvements.
Notification templates for Qualifying Sub Contract (QSC) assessments
The guidance on aggregation principles included in the contract report guidance references notification templates which contractors can use once a QSC assessment has been undertaken. These templates are available on this guidance page of the SSRO website.
Guidance on validation warnings in the system
DefCARS includes validation checks to help contractors comply with their reporting requirements and reduce the amount of data entry required by eliminating duplication. The SSRO has published a list of all the validation checks which are currently applied within the system and these were last updated on 10 October 2024 DefCARS validation checks – published October 2024 (PDF, 401 KB, 9 pages).
Qualifying Business Unit (QBU) templates
Copy and paste functionality is currently available in many parts of DefCARS. To allow contractors with QBUs to understand their reporting requirements and prepare their QBU Cost Analysis Reports (QBUCAR), a copy and paste template is provided: QBUCAR template (76.5 KB).
The Defined Pricing Structure (DPS)
Contractors or MOD staff who do not currently have access to DefCARS but wish to understand the DPS cost breakdowns, may access the current contract reporting guidance document.
Contractors or MOD staff who do not currently have access to DefCARS but wish to understand the DPS cost breakdowns, may access the DPS templates that preceded DefCARS. These previous templates are substantially the same as the current versions within DefCARS.
Analysis of DefCARS information
Under Section 36(3) of the Defence Reform Act, the SSRO must when requested to do so by the Secretary of State for Defence analyse reports provided to it under Section 24 or 25 and provide the results of that analysis to the Secretary of State or an authorised person. The SSRO has published details of example management information products which it supplies to the MOD: Example DefCARS MI products published on 25 February 2025 (PDF, 2.16 MB, 17 pages).
If you have any questions about how to access DefCARS or the guidance please contact the SSRO at helpdesk@ssro.gov.uk.
