Glossary of Terms
Government contracting, procurement and proposal terminology.
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Government Contracting Terms
- RFP
- Request for Proposal - A formal solicitation issued by a government agency inviting contractors to submit proposals for a specific project or service.
- RFI
- Request for Information - A preliminary document issued to gather information from potential contractors before a formal solicitation.
- RFQ
- Request for Quotation - A solicitation requesting price quotes for specific goods or services, typically used for simpler procurements.
- RFx
- Umbrella term covering RFP, RFI, RFQ and other formal solicitation types.
- SAM.gov
- System for Award Management - The federal website for contractor registration and contract opportunities.
- NAICS
- North American Industry Classification System - Codes that classify businesses by industry for government contracting purposes.
- PSC
- Product and Service Code - Codes that describe the products and services the government buys.
- UEI
- Unique Entity ID - The 12-character identifier SAM.gov assigns to every registered entity.
- CAGE
- Commercial and Government Entity code - A five-character identifier for contractors doing business with the government.
- PWIN
- Probability of Win - An estimated likelihood of winning a specific contract opportunity.
- FAR
- Federal Acquisition Regulation - The primary set of rules governing federal procurement.
- DFARS
- Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement - Additional acquisition rules for Department of Defense contracts.
- CPARS
- Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System - The federal system for documenting contractor performance evaluations.
- BOE
- Basis of Estimate - Documentation justifying the estimated costs, labor hours and resources proposed for a contract.
- SOW
- Statement of Work - Describes the specific tasks, deliverables and timelines a contractor must fulfill.
- PWS
- Performance Work Statement - An outcome-focused alternative to a SOW that describes required results rather than specific tasks.
- T&M
- Time and Materials - A contract type where payment is based on actual labor hours and materials used.
- FFP
- Firm Fixed Price - A contract type with a set price for all deliverables, placing cost risk on the contractor.
- CPFF
- Cost Plus Fixed Fee - A contract where the government reimburses allowable costs and pays a fixed fee on top.
- CPAF
- Cost Plus Award Fee - A contract with a base fee plus an award fee based on performance evaluation.
- IDIQ
- Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity - A contract for an indefinite quantity of supplies or services during a fixed period.
- BPA
- Blanket Purchase Agreement - A simplified method for filling repetitive needs for supplies or services.
- GWAC
- Government-Wide Acquisition Contract - A pre-competed contract vehicle available to federal agencies.
- GSA Schedule
- General Services Administration Multiple Award Schedule - Long-term government-wide contracts with commercial firms for products and services.
- 8(a)
- SBA 8(a) Business Development Program - Helps small, disadvantaged businesses compete in the federal marketplace.
- HUBZone
- Historically Underutilized Business Zone - An SBA program giving small businesses in qualifying areas preferential access to federal contracts.
- SDVOSB
- Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business - A small business owned and controlled by one or more service-disabled veterans.
- WOSB
- Women-Owned Small Business - A small business at least 51% owned and controlled by women.
- SBIR
- Small Business Innovation Research - A competitive program for small businesses to do federal research and development with commercialization potential.
- STTR
- Small Business Technology Transfer - Like SBIR, but requires formal collaboration with a research institution.
- Section C
- Description/Specifications/Statement of Work - The section of a federal RFP that describes what is being bought.
- Section L
- Instructions to Offerors - The section of a federal RFP that describes how to prepare and submit your proposal.
- Section M
- Evaluation Factors for Award - The section of a federal RFP that describes how proposals will be evaluated.
- Compliance matrix
- A table that maps every instruction and requirement in the solicitation to where the proposal answers it.
- Pink Team
- An early review of strategy, outline and win themes, before full drafting.
- Red Team
- A review of the full draft as an evaluator would score it - compliance, quality and persuasiveness.
- Gold Team
- An executive review for final approval of strategy, price and risk.
- White Team
- A final compliance and production check before submission.
- Quiet period
- Once a solicitation is released, FAR 15.201(f) routes communication with the agency through the contracting officer.
- Debriefing
- The agency's explanation of an award decision to an offeror, governed for FAR Part 15 procurements by FAR 15.505 and 15.506.
- SLED
- State, Local and Education - The market segment of non-federal government procurement.
- CUI
- Controlled Unclassified Information - Sensitive but unclassified information that must be safeguarded under federal rules.
- CMMC
- Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification - The Department of Defense framework for assessing contractors' cybersecurity practices.
- FedRAMP
- Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program - A standardized approach to security authorization for cloud products used by federal agencies.
- FPDS
- Federal Procurement Data System - The central repository of federal contract award data.
- USASpending
- The official source of federal spending data.
- MCP
- Model Context Protocol - An open standard that lets an AI assistant use tools in other software, such as your ProposalWorkspace account.
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