Glossary and Acronym Reference for NASA Procurement

This glossary defines the acronyms and terms of art used across this guide. Chapter references point to where a concept is discussed in more depth. Terms are listed alphabetically by acronym or, where no standard acronym exists, by the term itself.

A

ACO (Administrative Contracting Officer)

The contracting officer responsible for administering a contract after award, as distinct from the officer who awarded it, on contracts where those roles are split.

Acquisition Strategy

The agency's documented plan for how it intends to satisfy a requirement, including contract type, competition approach, and evaluation method.

B

BAA (Broad Agency Announcement)

A competitive solicitation method used mainly for research and development, seeking proposals across a range of technical approaches rather than a single, tightly defined solution.

Best Value Tradeoff

A source selection method that weighs technical merit, past performance, and price together, allowing award to other than the lowest-priced offer when the tradeoff is justified. See Evaluation Criteria and How Sources Are Selected.

BPA (Blanket Purchase Agreement)

A simplified ordering arrangement set up with one or more vendors to fill anticipated repetitive needs, without a fixed total contract value. See IDIQs, BPAs, and Task Order Competition.

C

CAGE Code (Commercial and Government Entity Code)

A five-character identifier assigned to a business location, used across federal contracting systems for identification and verification.

CAS (Cost Accounting Standards)

A set of federal standards governing how contractors measure, assign, and allocate costs on certain negotiated contracts, intended to make cost data comparable and auditable.

CDRL (Contract Data Requirements List)

The list of specific data items — reports, plans, drawings — a contractor is required to deliver under a contract, and the schedule for delivering them.

CICA (Competition in Contracting Act)

The 1984 statute establishing full and open competition as the default federal procurement standard and creating the GAO bid protest process, including the automatic stay of contract performance for timely protests. See Award, Debriefing, and Protests.

CLIN (Contract Line Item Number)

A numbered line identifying a distinct deliverable, service, or priced item within a contract, used to structure pricing and delivery.

CMMC (Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification)

An assessment framework, built on NIST SP 800-171, used to verify a contractor's cybersecurity practices for handling controlled unclassified information. See Compliance After Award.

CO (Contracting Officer)

The government official with legal authority to enter into, administer, and terminate contracts on behalf of the agency.

COR (Contracting Officer's Representative)

A government technical representative delegated specific, limited authority to monitor contract performance, without authority to change contract terms.

CPARS (Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System)

The federal system used to record formal ratings of contractor performance, which feed into past performance evaluations on future competitions. See Past Performance.

CPFF (Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee)

A cost-reimbursement contract type in which the contractor is paid allowable incurred costs plus a fixed fee agreed at the outset, used when uncertainty makes fixed pricing impractical.

CUI (Controlled Unclassified Information)

Government information that requires safeguarding under law, regulation, or policy but is not classified, subject to handling controls including NIST SP 800-171.

D

DCAA (Defense Contract Audit Agency)

The federal agency that audits contractor costs, billing systems, and accounting practices on behalf of the Department of Defense and, by agreement, many civilian agencies including NASA.

DCMA (Defense Contract Management Agency)

The federal agency responsible for administering and overseeing contract performance, including earned value management compliance, on many federal contracts.

Deficiency

A material failure of a proposal to meet a government requirement, or a combination of weaknesses that materially increases risk of unsuccessful contract performance.

DFARS (Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement)

The Department of Defense's supplement to the FAR, adding requirements specific to defense procurement; relevant to NASA contractors who also hold DoD work.

E

EAR (Export Administration Regulations)

Commerce Department regulations controlling the export of dual-use and less sensitive commercial items, as distinguished from ITAR-controlled defense articles.

EVMS (Earned Value Management System)

A method and, above certain thresholds, a formally required system for measuring program cost and schedule performance against a baseline plan. See Compliance After Award.

F

FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulation)

The primary body of regulation governing how federal agencies buy goods and services, applicable across nearly all executive branch procurement. See FAR and DFARS.

FFP (Firm-Fixed-Price)

A contract type in which the price is set at award and does not change regardless of the contractor's actual cost of performance, placing cost risk on the contractor.

FOIA (Freedom of Information Act)

The federal statute giving the public a right to request agency records, subject to defined exemptions, sometimes used to obtain procurement-related documents.

FPR (Final Proposal Revision)

The last revised proposal submitted by an offeror still in the competitive range, after discussions, before final award decision.

G

GAO (Government Accountability Office)

An independent legislative-branch agency that, among other functions, decides bid protests challenging federal award decisions. See Award, Debriefing, and Protests.

GWAC (Governmentwide Acquisition Contract)

A pre-competed contract vehicle that any federal agency can use to place task orders, typically for information technology, reducing the need for agencies to run separate full competitions. See Contract Vehicles.

I

IDIQ (Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity)

A contract type establishing terms for an unspecified quantity of future orders over a period, rather than obligating a fixed scope at award. See IDIQs, BPAs, and Task Order Competition.

IGCE (Independent Government Cost Estimate)

The government's own internal estimate of what a requirement should cost, developed before solicitation and used as a benchmark during evaluation and negotiation.

ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations)

State Department regulations controlling the export of defense articles, services, and related technical data identified on the U.S. Munitions List.

L

LPTA (Lowest Price Technically Acceptable)

A source selection method that awards to the lowest-priced offer among those rated technically acceptable, without further tradeoff credit for exceeding minimum requirements. See Evaluation Criteria and How Sources Are Selected.

M

MAC (Multiple Award Contract)

A contract vehicle awarded to more than one contractor, with individual task orders subsequently competed among the awardees.

N

NAICS (North American Industry Classification System)

The standard code system used to classify a business by primary industry, which in federal contracting also determines applicable small business size standards. See NAICS and PSC Codes.

NFS (NASA FAR Supplement)

NASA's agency-specific supplement to the FAR, adding requirements and procedures particular to NASA procurement.

O

OCI (Organizational Conflict of Interest)

A situation in which a contractor's other work, relationships, or interests could impair its objectivity or give it an unfair competitive advantage on a given procurement, subject to disclosure and mitigation rules.

P

PSC (Product Service Code)

A code identifying the type of product, service, or research being purchased, used alongside NAICS codes in federal procurement data. See NAICS and PSC Codes.

PWS (Performance Work Statement)

A statement of work written in terms of required outcomes and performance standards rather than prescribed methods, giving the contractor latitude in how to meet the requirement.

R

RFI (Request for Information)

A market research tool an agency uses to gather information from industry before deciding how to structure a future procurement; it is not a solicitation and does not itself lead to award.

RFP (Request for Proposal)

The formal solicitation document used in a negotiated procurement, laying out the requirement, instructions to offerors, and evaluation criteria. See Anatomy of an RFP.

S

SAM (System for Award Management)

The federal government's central registration system for entities seeking to do business with the government; registration is a prerequisite to award. See SAM.gov Registration.

SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research)

A federal program funding early-stage research and development at small businesses in phases, with a pathway toward follow-on, potentially sole-source, contract work. See SBIR and STTR as a Research On-Ramp.

SEB (Source Evaluation Board)

The panel of government evaluators, typically used on larger or more complex procurements, that reviews proposals and makes recommendations to the source selection authority.

Section L / Section M

The parts of a uniform-format RFP containing instructions to offerors (L) and evaluation factors for award (M), the two sections most directly used to build a compliance matrix. See Anatomy of an RFP.

SOO (Statement of Objectives)

A brief statement of the government's high-level objectives for a requirement, leaving it to offerors to propose the detailed approach and, often, their own performance work statement.

SOW (Statement of Work)

A detailed description of the specific tasks a contractor is required to perform under a contract.

SSA (Source Selection Authority)

The individual with authority to make the final award decision on a procurement, informed by but not bound to follow the recommendation of an evaluation board.

SSEB (Source Selection Evaluation Board)

See Source Evaluation Board; terminology varies by agency for the same general function.

STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer)

A federal research funding program similar to SBIR, requiring formal collaboration between a small business and a research institution. See SBIR and STTR as a Research On-Ramp.

T

T&M (Time and Materials)

A contract type paying a fixed labor rate per hour plus the cost of materials, used when the scope of effort cannot be precisely estimated at award.

Task Order

A specific order for work placed against an existing IDIQ, BPA, or GWAC, competed or assigned according to the terms of the underlying vehicle.

U

UEI (Unique Entity Identifier)

The identifier assigned to an entity through SAM.gov, which replaced the legacy DUNS number as the primary way the federal government identifies contractors. See SAM.gov Registration.

W

WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)

A hierarchical decomposition of a program's total scope of work into progressively smaller, manageable elements, used as the backbone for both technical planning and cost and schedule reporting.

Weakness

A flaw in a proposal that increases the risk of unsuccessful performance but, unlike a deficiency, does not by itself render the proposal unacceptable.

This list covers terms used in this guide. For a broader reference spanning space industry and engineering terminology beyond federal acquisition, see the site-wide glossary.