Acronyms
Key Acronyms and Abbreviations for the “Contract” Side of Business with Federal Government
It’s mind boggling how many acronyms and abbreviations the federal government has created. You can go to www.USA.gov and see a huge list of many of them, but it would take weeks just to get through the letter “A”. Each agency, each manual, each department has a particular set of most often used acronyms and abbreviations, but according to The Government Guru, possibly some of the most important ones to small businesses are those that relate to contracts and agreements. The Government Guru has assembled a list of some of the most often used and most important to have a working knowledge of:
ACH: Automated Clearing House
ACMS: Advanced Cost Management System
AO: Announcement of Opportunity (NASA)
ASBCA: Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals
ASPR: Armed Services Procurement regulation (changed to DAR, and then to FAR)
Assignment of Claims: assigning the right to payment to a third party such as a financial institution
BOA: Basic Ordering Agreement
BCA: Board of Contracts Appeals
BDC: Business Development Center
Best Value: provides best overall benefit in response to the requirement
B & P: Bid and Proposal Cost
BPA: Blanket Purchase Agreement
CA: Commercial Activities
CAA: Civilian Agency Acquisition
CAC: Contract Audit Coordinator
CACO: Corporate/Home Office Administrative Contracting officer
CACS: Contract Audit Closing Statement
CAGE Code: Commercial and Government Entity
CAM: Contract Audit manual
CAO: Contract Administrative Officer
CAS: Cost Accounting Standard
CCDR: Contractor Cost Data Report, Reports, Reporting
CCI: Consolidated Contract Initiative
CDRL: Contracts Data Requirement List
COC: Certificate of Competency
Certificate of Current Cost and Pricing Data
CFSR: Contract Funds Status Report
CHOA: Corporate Home Office Auditor
CIPR: Contractor Insurance/Pension review
CLIN: Contract Line Item Number
CMO: Contract Management Office
CMS: Contract Management Service
CO: Contracting Officer
COTS: Commercial Off the Shelf Item
CCI: Consolidated Contracting officer
COTR: Contracting Officers Technical Representative
CPSR: Contractor Purchasing System Review
CONUS: Continental United States
CPAF: Cost-plus-award-fee
CPFF: cost-plus-fixed-fee
CPIF: cost-plus-incentive-fee
CPU: Central processing Unit
CSSR: Cost/Schedule Status Report
DAC: Defense Acquisition Circular
DAR: Defense Acquisition Regulation
DCAAM: Defense Contract Audit Agency Manual
DD: Designation for Department of defense Forms
DDAS: DLA office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization
DFARS: Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement
DFAS: Defense Finance and Accounting Service
DLAM: Defense Logistics Agency Manual
DoC: Department of Commerce
DoD: Department of Defense
DoE: Department of Energy
DoJ: Department of Justice
DoL: Department of Labor
DoT: Department of Transportation
DSC: Defense Supply Center
DWG: Drawings
EAC: Estimated at Completion (cost)
EVMS: Earned Value Management System
EC: Electronic Commerce
EDI: Electronic Data Interchange
EPA: Economic Price Adjustment
EFT: Electronic Funds Transfer
F & A: Facilities and Administrative costs
FAR: Federal Acquisition Regulation
FFP Contract: Firm-fixed-price contract
FIFO: first in, first out
FPI: fixed-price-incentive contract
FOB: Free on Board or Freight on Board
FOIA: Freedom of Information Act
FP: Fixed price contract
FPRA: forward pricing rate agreement
FSS: Federal Supply Schedule
G & A: General and Administrative
GAAP: Generally Accepted Accounting Practices
GAGAS: Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards
GAO: General Accountability Office
GFE: Government Furnished Equipment
GFP: Government Furnished property
HQ: Headquarters
IFB: Invitation for Bid
IFMP: Integrated Financial management Project
IT: Information Technology
IP: Intellectual property
LIFO: Last in, First Out
LOE: Level of effort
MADR: Maximum Allowable Defect Rate
NAICS: North American Industrial Classification Code
NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NFS: Nasa FAR Supplement
NODIS: NASA Online Directives Information System
OFPP: Office of Federal Procurement Policy
OMB: Office of Management and Budget
PRLI: Purchase request line item
PSP: Project Surveillance Plan
QBL: Qualified Bidders List
QML: Qualified manufacturer’s List
QPL: Qualified Products List
QAP: Quality Assurance Program
RFI: Request For Information
RFO: Request for Offer (NASA)
SBA: Small Business Administration
SBIR: Small Business Innovative Research
SDB: Socially Disadvantaged Business
SIC code: Standard Industrial Classification
SPI: Single process initiative
SOW: Scope of Work
TIN: Taxpayer Identification Number
T4C:Termination for Convenience
TCO: Termination Contracting Officer
T4D: Termination for Default
T & M: time-and-materials
TINA: Truth in Negotiations Act
UCA: Undefinitized Contract Action
