They tell you what does not qualify

Every test for qualifying work excludes something. An adviser who can tell you what they excluded from your claim, and why, has applied the test to your work. An adviser who found that everything qualifies may have done the same and reached a happy answer, or may not have looked. The difference shows in a review, when the excluded work is not there to be challenged and the included work has a reason behind it.

• Ask the adviser to list the projects and costs they considered and left out, with a sentence on each.
• Ask them to explain the test in plain words and to apply it to one borderline project with your technical people in the room.
• Look at the fee: an adviser paid a percentage of the claim who still tells you what to leave out is applying the test against their own interest, which is worth noticing.
• Ask whether the claim is smaller than the adviser's first estimate, and why.
• Read the technical descriptions for the work that was included and check that each one says why it qualifies, not only what was done.