Federal Contracting Terminology
Clear definitions for the terms that matter in federal capture management.
A
Acquisition Strategy
The government's documented plan for acquiring a specific capability, including contract type, competition approach, set-aside…
Amendment
A formal modification to a solicitation issued by the contracting officer before contract award. Amendments change requirements, extend…
ATO (Authority to Operate)
A formal authorization granted by an agency's authorizing official that permits an information system to operate at an acceptable level of…
B
Best Value (Tradeoff)
An evaluation method where the government weighs technical quality, past performance, and price together, allowing a higher-priced offer to…
BPA (Blanket Purchase Agreement)
A simplified acquisition method establishing a charge account with a contractor for recurring purchases, typically used under GSA Schedule…
C
CAGE Code (Commercial and Government Entity Code)
A five-character identifier assigned by the Defense Logistics Agency to entities doing business with the federal government, used in…
Capture Management
Capture management is the disciplined process of identifying, qualifying, and positioning to win specific federal contract opportunities.…
Competitive Range
The subset of offerors most highly rated under FAR 15.306, selected by the contracting officer for discussions and final proposal revisions…
Contract Modification
A formal change to an existing federal contract executed under FAR Part 43, covering scope changes, administrative updates, option…
Contracting Officer (CO)
The only federal official with authority to enter into, administer, modify, or terminate contracts on behalf of the United States, with…
Contracting Officer's Representative (COR)
A government employee delegated by the CO to monitor day-to-day contract performance, review deliverables, and serve as the primary…
Cost-Reimbursement Contract
A contract type under FAR Part 16.3 where the government pays the contractor's allowable, allocable, and reasonable costs incurred plus a…
Cost/Price Volume
The proposal section containing all pricing information — CLIN structure, basis of estimate, rate buildup, and escalation — submitted…
D
Data Rights
The government's license rights in technical data and software delivered under a contract, governed by FAR 27.4 and DFARS 227.71, ranging…
Debriefing
Post-decision feedback from the contracting officer to offerors under FAR 15.505 and 15.506, covering proposal evaluation findings and…
DFARS (Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement)
The DoD-specific supplement to the FAR, adding clauses for defense procurements covering CMMC, ITAR, controlled unclassified information,…
E
ECP (Engineering Change Proposal)
A formal request to modify a contract deliverable's design, configuration, or technical requirements after the baseline has been…
Evaluation Criteria
The factors and subfactors the government uses to assess proposals and select a contractor, defined in Section M of the solicitation.…
EVMS (Earned Value Management System)
A project management methodology required on many DoD and large civilian contracts that integrates scope, schedule, and cost data to…
F
FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulation)
The primary body of rules governing federal procurement, establishing policies and procedures for acquiring supplies and services with…
FFP (Firm Fixed Price)
A contract type where the contractor delivers at a predetermined price regardless of actual costs, placing maximum cost risk on the…
G
GO/NO-GO Decision
A GO/NO-GO decision is a formal evaluation gate in the capture process where leadership decides whether to invest resources in pursuing a…
Government-Furnished Equipment (GFE)
Tangible property the government provides to a contractor for use in performing a contract, governed by FAR Part 45 and accountable under…
GSA Schedule (Multiple Award Schedule)
A long-term government-wide contract vehicle managed by GSA that gives agencies pre-negotiated pricing for commercial products and…
GWAC (Government-Wide Acquisition Contract)
A pre-competed, multi-agency IDIQ contract vehicle for IT products and services that any federal agency can use, managed by a single agency…
L
Level of Effort (LOE)
A contract type or pricing arrangement where payment is based on hours or staff-months expended over the period of performance, rather than…
LPTA (Lowest Price Technically Acceptable)
An evaluation method where the government awards to the lowest-priced offer that meets all technical requirements, with no tradeoff between…
M
Management Approach
The proposal section describing how the contractor will manage execution — organizational structure, project management methodology,…
Mentor-Protégé Program
An SBA program pairing experienced firms with eligible small businesses, allowing approved JVs to compete as small while leveraging the…
O
Option Year
A pre-priced, optional period of performance the government can unilaterally exercise to extend a contract beyond the base period under FAR…
Oral Presentations
An alternative or supplement to written technical proposals authorized under FAR 15.102, where offerors present orally to government…
Organizational Chart
The visual representation of a proposed team structure for a contract, showing reporting lines, key personnel, functional areas, and…
Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI)
A situation under FAR Subpart 9.5 where a contractor's other activities or relationships create biased ground rules, impaired objectivity,…
P
Past Performance
A contractor's record of delivering on previous federal contracts, evaluated during source selection as an indicator of future performance…
Past Performance Questionnaire (PPQ)
A standardized form sent by an offeror or the government to references on prior contracts to gather structured past performance data for…
Performance Work Statement (PWS)
An outcome-based work description used in performance-based acquisitions, defining what the government wants accomplished while leaving the…
Period of Performance (PoP)
The contractually defined timeframe during which the contractor must perform work, typically structured as a base period plus pre-priced…
Place of Performance
The geographic location where contract work must be performed, specified in the solicitation and affecting pricing, staffing, security…
Protest
A formal challenge to a federal contract solicitation or award decision filed at the agency, the GAO, or the Court of Federal Claims, with…
PSC (Product and Service Code)
A four-character code system used in federal procurement to classify what the government is buying, complementing NAICS and used for spend…
Pwin (Probability of Win)
Pwin is a quantitative score estimating how likely a contractor is to win a specific federal contract opportunity. Calculated from weighted…
Q
Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP)
The government's written plan for monitoring contractor performance against PWS or SOW requirements, defining surveillance methods,…
Quality Control Plan (QCP)
The contractor's internal quality management system documenting how it will inspect, monitor, correct, and report on its own work —…
R
RFI (Request for Information)
A pre-solicitation notice agencies issue to gather market information, assess industry capabilities, and shape upcoming requirements before…
RFP (Request for Proposal)
A formal solicitation document the federal government issues requesting detailed proposals from contractors, specifying requirements in…
Risk Management
The discipline of identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks across capture and contract performance, documented as a risk register with…
S
SAM.gov (System for Award Management)
The federal government's official system for entity registration, contract opportunity posting, exclusion screening, and award data — the…
SDVOSB (Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business)
A federal set-aside category reserving contracts for small businesses owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans, verified through…
Section L (Instructions to Offerors)
The section of a federal solicitation that tells contractors exactly how to structure, format, and submit their proposal — volumes, page…
Section M (Evaluation Criteria)
The section of a federal solicitation that defines how the government will evaluate proposals, specifying evaluation factors, subfactors,…
Set-Aside
A set-aside is a federal contracting mechanism that restricts competition on a contract to specific categories of small businesses, such as…
Shipley Process
The Shipley Process is a structured business development and proposal management methodology used in federal contracting. It defines seven…
Small Business Subcontracting Plan
A formal plan required of large prime contractors under FAR 19.704 establishing subcontracting goals for small business categories on…
Sole Source Contract
A contract awarded to a single contractor without full-and-open competition, authorized under specific FAR provisions when only one source…
Sources Sought Notice
A pre-solicitation notice published on SAM.gov where agencies seek information about potential sources before deciding whether to compete a…
Staffing Plan
The proposal element documenting personnel allocation across labor categories, named key personnel, recruitment and retention strategies,…
Statement of Work (SOW)
A prescriptive work description that specifies the tasks, deliverables, schedules, and methods the contractor must follow to perform the…
T
T&M (Time and Materials)
A contract type where the government pays the contractor for actual labor hours at negotiated rates plus actual material costs, used when…
Task Order
An individual work order issued under an IDIQ, GWAC, BPA, or GSA Schedule contract that authorizes specific deliverables, period, and price…
Technical Evaluation
The source selection process of assessing each proposal against the evaluation factors stated in Section M, producing ratings, scores, or…
Technical Volume
The proposal section presenting the offeror's technical approach, methodology, staffing plan, and management strategy, evaluated against…
Transition Plan
The contractor's plan for assuming work from an incumbent or starting performance from scratch, covering knowledge transfer, staffing…