When you outsource software development, you need a way to measure what you are buying that is independent of the vendor selling it to you. COSMIC Function Points are that measure.
In every mature industry, buyers and sellers share a common unit of measure:
Enterprise software development is different. When you issue an RFP, the vendor quotes in their own units — hours, story points, sprint capacity, team-weeks. These are internal productivity metrics that measure how the vendor works, not how large or complex your software is.
The result: two competent vendors can quote 500 hours and 1,400 hours for the same scope and both be internally consistent. You have no independent basis to evaluate which is accurate, which is padded, and which vendor has quietly underscoped three features they will add back as change orders.
This information asymmetry is the leading cause of enterprise software cost overruns.
COSMIC Function Points measure software by what it is required to do — its functional requirements — using a standardized counting method defined in ISO/IEC 19761:2011.
A COSMIC Function Point is one data movement. Every time software moves data — from a user into the system, from the system to a user, to persistent storage, or from persistent storage — that is one CFP.
Example: A customer registration form — one Entry (user data in), one Write (record to database), one Exit (confirmation back) = 3 CFPs.
This count is deterministic. It does not depend on who performs the count, what technology is used, or how the development team is organized. The same requirements, measured by two independent analysts, produce the same CFP total within a small margin of variance.
That makes it a reliable procurement metric: you can ask any vendor to provide their cost per COSMIC Function Point and compare proposals on equal terms.
| Measure | What it counts | Vendor-neutral | Auditable | ISO standard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Story points | Team effort / complexity | No | No | No |
| Hours / days | Team calendar time | No | No | No |
| IFPUG Function Points | Logical files and transactions | Partially | Yes | ISO 20926 |
| COSMIC Function Points | Data movements | YES | YES | ISO 19761 |
Story points and hours are useful for managing software projects internally. They are not a procurement metric. Asking a vendor to quote in hours is like asking a builder to quote in labourer-days with no architectural drawings — you are accepting their scope definition as the basis for the entire contract.
COSMIC Function Points are different because they are derived from your requirements, not the vendor's estimate of their own effort. You measure CFPs from your requirements document before you issue an RFP. Any vendor can then be asked to provide their cost per CFP — giving you a basis for objective comparison.
COSMIC is used in high-value software procurement where independent scope verification is required.
EU-LISA, 2020
€990 Million Contract
The EU Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems used COSMIC as the mandatory software sizing methodology in the EUROSUR contract.
Italy — Regione Piemonte
€350–400 per CFP
Government software contracts in the Piemonte region are priced at EUR 350–400 per COSMIC Function Point — making CFP the standard unit for public IT procurement.
Poland — Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Mandatory CFP Quoting
RFPs require vendors to provide a gross price per COSMIC Function Point, enabling objective comparison across vendor proposals.
United States — GAO
Approved Sizing Standard
The US Government Accountability Office Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide lists COSMIC as an approved software sizing methodology for federal cost estimation.
Government procurement must be auditable. A decision based on vendor-supplied hour estimates cannot be independently verified. A decision based on COSMIC Function Points from an independent sizing can be. The same logic applies to enterprise IT procurement.
COSMIC Function Points are defined in ISO/IEC 19761:2011 — "Software Engineering — COSMIC: A Functional Size Measurement Method." The standard is published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
The standard defines: the measurement model (functional processes, data movements, CFP), rules for applying the measurement method, conformance requirements for automated tools, and guidance for uncertainty in measurement.
The standard has been in use since 1998 and has remained largely unchanged — a sign of methodological stability rare in software engineering.
Upload your document and receive a benchmark in minutes.