Government contracting glossary
72 terms in plain words. General guidance, not legal advice: the FAR and the solicitation govern. Free tools
- 8(a) Business Development Program · also 8(a)
- An SBA program for small businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged people. Firms get a nine-year term in which agencies can set contracts aside for them or award some directly (sole source) up to set limits. FAR 19.800 →
- Amendment
- A change to a solicitation after it is posted: new questions and answers, a later due date, revised requirements. Offerors usually must acknowledge each amendment in their proposal. FAR 15.206 →
- Assistance Listing · also CFDA
- The catalog number of a federal grant, loan or other aid program (formerly CFDA), such as 10.551 for SNAP. Every assistance award names one. A program page →
- Award notice
- A SAM.gov notice saying who won a contract and for how much. Its amount may be the award or, for an IDIQ or BPA, a ceiling. Recently awarded →
- Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA) · also BOA
- A written understanding of terms and prices for future orders. It isn't a contract; each order placed under it is. FAR 16.703 →
- Best value
- Choosing the offer that gives the government the most for its needs, which may not be the lowest price. Trade-off and lowest-price-technically-acceptable (LPTA) are the two common ways to judge it. FAR 15.101 →
- Bid protest
- A formal challenge to a solicitation or award, filed with the agency, the GAO or the Court of Federal Claims. Deadlines are short, often 10 days from when the protester knew or should have known. FAR 33.103 →
- Bid/no-bid
- The decision whether to pursue an opportunity, weighing fit, relationship, competition, price and the cost of writing the proposal. Bid/no-bid check →
- Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) · also BPA
- A simplified way to fill repeated needs: an agreement with set terms and often discounts, under which an agency places calls (orders) as needed. FAR 13.303-1 →
- CAGE code
- Commercial and Government Entity code: a five-character ID for a company location, assigned with its SAM.gov registration.
- Capability statement
- A one-page summary of what a company does, its codes (UEI, CAGE, NAICS), certifications and past performance, used for introductions and sources-sought replies. Capability statement builder →
- Capture management
- The work of positioning to win a specific opportunity before the solicitation: learning the customer, shaping the requirement, choosing teammates and planning the win strategy.
- Ceiling
- The most that may be ordered under an IDIQ, BPA or other vehicle over its life. It is a limit, not money spent: many companies' awards can share one ceiling.
- CMMC
- Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification: the Defense Department's requirement that contractors handling controlled unclassified information meet set security practices, verified at a required level. DFARS 252.204-7021 →
- Competition · also Extent competed
- Whether a contract was competed: full and open, after exclusion of sources (a set-aside), or not competed (sole source) under a FAR exception. FAR 6.101 →
- Compliance matrix
- A table mapping every requirement and instruction in a solicitation (often Sections L and M) to where the proposal answers it.
- Contract vehicle
- A contract that agencies place orders under, such as a GWAC, a multiple-award IDIQ, a GSA Schedule or a BPA. Holding the vehicle is often required to compete for its orders. A vehicle page →
- Contracting office
- The office that buys for an agency; every contract names its awarding office code. An office page →
- Contracting Officer (CO) · also CO, KO, COR
- The government official with authority to sign, change and end contracts. The Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) oversees the work day to day. FAR 1.602-1 →
- CPARS
- Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System: where agencies record evaluations of a contractor's performance, used as past performance in later source selections. FAR 42.1502 →
- Debriefing
- An explanation the agency gives an unsuccessful (or successful) offeror of how its proposal was evaluated. Requesting it promptly matters for protest timing. FAR 15.506 →
- Definitive contract
- A standalone contract for a set amount of work or supplies, as opposed to an order under a vehicle.
- Delivery order / task order · also Task order, Delivery order
- An order placed under an IDIQ: delivery orders for supplies, task orders for services. FAR 16.505 →
- DUNS
- The old company identifier, replaced by the UEI in April 2022.
- EDWOSB
- Economically disadvantaged women-owned small business: a WOSB program certification with a lower ownership-wealth threshold, eligible for some set-asides WOSBs can't use. FAR 19.1505 →
- Evaluation factors
- What the government will judge proposals on (technical approach, past performance, price...) and their relative importance, usually in Section M. FAR 15.304 →
- FAR
- Federal Acquisition Regulation: the rules for how executive agencies buy. Agencies add supplements, such as DFARS for Defense. FAR 1.101 →
- Firm-fixed-price (FFP) · also FFP
- A contract type where the price doesn't change with the contractor's costs. The contractor carries the cost risk. FAR 16.202-1 →
- Fiscal year
- The federal fiscal year runs October 1 to September 30: FY2025 is October 2024 to September 2025.
- Forecast
- An agency's published list of planned purchases with estimated values and dates, before any solicitation. Planned purchases →
- FPDS
- Federal Procurement Data System: where agencies report contract actions; USAspending.gov carries its records. It is moving into SAM.gov.
- GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) · also GSA Schedule, MAS
- GSA's long-term contracts with pre-negotiated ceiling prices that any agency can order from. FAR 8.402 →
- GWAC
- Government-wide acquisition contract: a multiple-award IDIQ for IT that any agency can use, such as Alliant 2, 8(a) STARS III or SEWP. Alliant 2 →
- HUBZone
- An SBA program for small businesses based in, and employing people from, historically underutilized business zones. Contracts can be set aside for them and they get a price evaluation preference. FAR 19.1305 →
- IDIQ · also IDV, Indefinite delivery vehicle
- Indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract: sets terms for future orders without fixing quantities. Single-award or multiple-award; its value is a ceiling. FAR 16.504 →
- Incumbent
- The company holding the current contract for work that is coming up again.
- Industry day
- A meeting an agency holds to explain an upcoming requirement and meet potential offerors. FAR 15.201 →
- J&A
- Justification and approval: the document that explains why a contract wasn't competed (FAR 6.3). FAR 6.303-2 →
- Labor category
- A defined job role with qualifications (e.g. senior systems engineer) priced by the hour in services contracts. GSA ceiling rates →
- LPTA
- Lowest price technically acceptable: the award goes to the lowest-priced proposal that meets the minimum technical requirements. FAR 15.101-2 →
- Micro-purchase threshold
- Purchases at or below this amount can be bought without competition, often by government purchase card: generally $15,000 since October 1, 2025 (was $10,000), higher for some contingency and defense uses. FAR 2.101 →
- Modification · also Mod
- A change to an existing contract: adding money, exercising an option, extending dates or changing scope. Each is a transaction in USAspending. FAR 43.103 →
- NAICS code · also NAICS
- North American Industry Classification System code: a six-digit code for the industry of the work. Each solicitation names one, which also sets the small-business size standard. An industry page → FAR 19.102 →
- Obligation
- Money the government has legally committed by a contract, grant or loan. It may be paid out later, or taken back (negative amounts).
- Option
- A priced right for the government to extend a contract's period or add quantities. Value with all options is the most the contract could be worth. FAR 17.207 →
- OTA
- Other transaction authority: agreements outside the FAR used by some agencies (notably Defense) for prototypes and research.
- Outlay
- Money actually paid out of the Treasury, for any year's commitments.
- Past performance
- Records of how well a company did similar work, an evaluation factor in most source selections. FAR 15.305 →
- Period of performance
- The time over which the work is done, from start to the current end date; options can extend it. FAR 11.401 →
- Place of performance
- Where the work is done, which can differ from where the company is based.
- Prime contractor · also Prime
- The company holding the contract with the government. Companies it hires are subcontractors. FAR 44.101 →
- PSC
- Product and Service Code: a four-character code for what was bought (e.g. D302 IT systems development). Products and services →
- Pursuit
- An opportunity a company has decided to track and possibly bid. Pursuit desk →
- Recompete
- A contract ending soon whose work the agency will likely buy again, often through a new competition. Coming up for re-bid →
- Request for Information (RFI) · also RFI
- A market-research notice asking industry for information; no award follows directly. FAR 15.201 →
- Request for Proposal (RFP) · also RFP
- A solicitation asking for proposals, typically for negotiated procurements (FAR Part 15). FAR 15.203 →
- Request for Quote (RFQ) · also RFQ
- A solicitation asking for quotes, typically for simplified acquisitions and orders under schedules. FAR 13.004 →
- SAM.gov
- The System for Award Management: where companies register to do business with the government and where agencies post contract opportunities. FAR 4.1102 →
- SDVOSB
- Service-disabled veteran-owned small business: eligible for set-asides and sole-source awards under SBA's veteran program (and the VA's own rules). FAR 19.1405 →
- Section L and M
- In a Uniform Contract Format solicitation, Section L gives instructions for the proposal and Section M the evaluation factors. FAR 15.204-1 →
- Set-aside
- A contract reserved for small businesses or a kind of small business (8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, WOSB). FAR 19.502-2 →
- Simplified acquisition threshold
- Purchases up to this amount can use simplified procedures and are generally set aside for small businesses when two or more can compete: $350,000 since October 1, 2025 (was $250,000). FAR 2.101 →
- Single bid
- A competed contract that drew only one offer. Offices with high single-bid rates can be easier to break into. Few bidders →
- Size standard
- The SBA limit, in revenue or employees, under which a company counts as small for a given NAICS code. FAR 19.102 →
- Sole source
- A contract awarded without competition under a FAR exception, explained in a J&A or a set-aside program rule. FAR 6.302-1 →
- Sources sought · also Sources sought notice
- A market-research notice asking capable companies to say so; it often decides whether the work will be set aside. FAR 10.002 →
- Statement of Work (SOW) · also SOW, PWS
- The description of the work the contractor must do. A Performance Work Statement (PWS) describes the results instead of the method.
- Subaward
- A subcontract or subgrant a prime reports (above a dollar threshold). It is part of the prime's total: never add the two. FAR 44.101 →
- Teaming agreement
- An agreement between companies to pursue a contract together, one as prime and the other(s) as subcontractors, or as a joint venture. FAR 9.603 →
- Time-and-materials (T&M) · also T&M
- A contract type paying fixed hourly rates for labor plus the cost of materials. FAR 16.601 →
- UEI
- Unique Entity ID: the 12-character ID every company or organization gets when it registers in SAM.gov.
- WOSB
- Women-owned small business: eligible for set-asides in industries where women-owned firms are underrepresented, once certified by SBA. FAR 19.1505 →