GovCon Glossary

A nine-year SBA certification for small businesses that are at least 51% owned and controlled by individuals who are socially and economically disadvantaged, subject to personal net worth, income, and asset caps. Certified firms can receive sole-source awards up to statutory thresholds and compete for 8(a) set-aside contracts, plus get SBA business development support; each qualifying individual may use the certification only once in a lifetime.

A Department of Defense classification (ACAT I, II, or III) that sorts acquisition programs by dollar value, complexity, and oversight need. The category determines who serves as the program's Milestone Decision Authority, ranging from the Defense Acquisition Executive for the largest programs (ACAT I) down to component-level officials for smaller ones, and which acquisition rules and reporting requirements apply.

A Women-Owned Small Business whose qualifying woman owner(s) also meet SBA's economic disadvantage thresholds: personal net worth under $850,000, adjusted gross income under $400,000 (three-year average), and assets under $6.5 million, excluding retirement accounts. EDWOSB status, unlike standard WOSB, makes a firm eligible for sole-source awards in addition to competitive set-asides in NAICS codes where women are underrepresented.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency-administered program, authorized by the Arms Export Control Act, through which the U.S. government sells defense articles and services to foreign governments via a government-to-government Letter of Offer and Acceptance. DoD then uses its own acquisition system to fill the order, so contractors often deliver FMS work as add-on quantities or cases layered onto an existing U.S. program rather than a standalone foreign contract.

The individual with formal authority and accountability for a defense acquisition program, responsible for approving its entry into the next phase at each milestone and for its cost, schedule, and performance. Who holds this role depends on the program's Acquisition Category, ranging from the Defense Acquisition Executive for the largest programs down to a service or component acquisition executive for smaller ones.

A business certified as at least 51% owned, operated, and controlled by members of a recognized minority group, typically through the National Minority Supplier Development Council or a state, local, or transportation agency program. MBE is distinct from SBA's federal socioeconomic categories (8(a), SDVOSB, WOSB): it's most often used for corporate supplier-diversity programs and state or local set-asides rather than federal prime contracting eligibility.

The cooperative purchasing arm of the National Association of State Procurement Officials, through which one state runs a competitive solicitation under a 'lead state' model and the resulting contract becomes available for other states, local governments, and public entities nationwide to use. It lets contractors sell to many state and local buyers off a single award instead of bidding separately in every jurisdiction.

A senior acquisition official, military or civilian, who oversees a portfolio of major defense programs (typically ACAT I and II) within a service branch, reporting to that service's acquisition executive. A PEO sits above individual Program Managers, setting priorities and resourcing across their portfolio rather than running the day-to-day of any single program.

The individual designated with authority and responsibility to plan, execute, and be accountable for a specific program's cost, schedule, and performance baselines. On a contract, the government PM (or Product/Project Manager) is typically the technical decision-maker a contractor's team works with day to day, distinct from the contracting officer who holds contractual authority.

An acquisition effort that has cleared the requirements process and been assigned a validated funding line in the DoD (or agency) budget for sustained development, procurement, or sustainment, as opposed to a prototype, experiment, or pilot that hasn't been funded for production. Reaching program of record status is often the point where a technology moves from demonstration to a real, budgeted acquisition.

A program document that identifies specific risks to cost, schedule, and technical performance, rates their likelihood and impact, and lays out mitigation, monitoring, and contingency actions for each. Programs typically keep it as a living deliverable, updated on a risk board's cadence, and proposal teams often reference it to show a credible, low-risk execution approach.

A small business at least 51% owned and controlled by one or more veterans with a VA-rated service-connected disability, certified by SBA through the VetCert portal rather than self-certified. Certification opens eligibility for SDVOSB set-aside and sole-source contracts across civilian and defense agencies, and counts toward the government's SDVOSB contracting goal.

The maximum size (measured in average annual receipts or average employee count, depending on the NAICS code assigned to a procurement) that a company can have and still count as 'small.' SBA publishes and periodically updates standards by industry; a firm must fall under the applicable size standard to compete for a small business set-aside or represent itself as small on an offer.

A congressionally mandated set-aside requiring federal agencies with large extramural R&D budgets to fund small business research through competitive, phased awards: Phase I proof-of-concept, Phase II full R&D, and Phase III commercialization using non-SBIR funds. It gives small companies a funded on-ramp to develop technology the government might later buy, without giving up equity.

A companion program to SBIR that funds small business R&D done jointly with a nonprofit research institution (a university, federally funded R&D center, or nonprofit lab), which must perform at least 30% of the work while the small business performs at least 40%. It's built to commercialize research coming out of academic and lab partnerships.

A formal, evidence-based evaluation of how mature a program's critical technologies are, expressed on the 1-9 Technology Readiness Level scale, from basic principles observed (TRL 1) to a proven system in operational use (TRL 9). DoD major programs typically require a TRA before key milestone decisions to confirm technology risk is understood before committing to the next acquisition phase.

A structured, function-based review of a design, process, or requirement aimed at delivering the same or better performance at lower life-cycle cost, typically run by a multidisciplinary team asking what a feature is for and whether a cheaper approach achieves it. Many contracts include a Value Engineering Change Proposal clause letting a contractor share in the savings from an approved VE idea.

A small business at least 51% owned and controlled by one or more veterans, with no service-connected disability required (unlike SDVOSB), certified by SBA through the VetCert portal. VOSB status is the basis for VA's Veterans First set-aside and sole-source contracting preferences, which VA applies on top of any government-wide small business contracting the firm may also pursue.

A small business at least 51% owned and controlled by one or more women who are U.S. citizens, with women running day-to-day operations. Certified WOSBs can compete for set-aside contracts in NAICS codes where SBA has found women underrepresented; firms that also meet economic disadvantage thresholds qualify as EDWOSB and gain sole-source eligibility.