Federal contracting glossary

Official Federal Terms

8(a)

A 9-year SBA development program for socially and economically disadvantaged business owners. Participants can receive sole-source awards (no competition) up to $5.5M for services under FAR 19.805-1 — one of the most powerful tools for small business growth in federal contracting. For individually owned firms, disadvantage is now shown by evidence rather than presumed by group membership.

Amendment

A formal change to a posted solicitation — a new deadline, revised scope, answers to bidder questions, or corrected attachments. Amendments are binding, and most solicitations require you to acknowledge each one in your offer. Failing to acknowledge a material amendment can sink an otherwise strong bid — non-responsive on a sealed bid, unacceptable on a negotiated proposal.

CAGE code

Commercial and Government Entity code — a 5-character identifier assigned during SAM.gov registration. It identifies your firm's specific location to federal systems. Unlike the UEI, which identifies the legal entity, a firm with multiple facilities can hold several CAGE codes.

Capability Statement

A one-page marketing document summarizing what your firm does, your certifications, NAICS codes, past performance, and contact details. Contracting officers ask for it constantly — especially in response to a sources sought notice. It is the standard first impression in federal contracting.

Combined Synopsis/Solicitation

A single SAM.gov posting that combines the public notice and the formal bid request. Common for smaller, simpler contracts — it means you can prepare and submit your offer immediately on publication, rather than waiting for a separate solicitation to drop.

Contracting Officer (CO)

The only federal official with authority to bind the government to a contract. Program staff can describe what they need, but only the CO can commit money or change terms. The CO's name and email appear on the SAM.gov posting — that is who your questions go to.

Debrief

A post-award explanation of why you did or did not win. Under FAR 15.506 you generally must request one within 3 days of award notification. Debriefs are the cheapest competitive intelligence available — they tell you how your pricing and past performance were actually scored. Simplified acquisitions under FAR Part 13 carry no entitlement to a formal debriefing, but if the award turned on more than price alone, asking still gets you a brief explanation of the basis for the decision.

FAR Part 19

The section of the Federal Acquisition Regulation governing small business programs — set-asides, the rule of two, subcontracting plans, and the 8(a), HUBZone, WOSB, and SDVOSB programs. When a solicitation restricts competition to a certification you hold, FAR Part 19 is the authority behind it.

Full and open competition

A solicitation any responsible firm may bid on, with no small business restriction. The opposite of a set-aside. Large incumbents often dominate these, which is why lanes built around set-asides usually offer small firms better odds than chasing full-and-open work.

HUBZone

Historically Underutilized Business Zone. An SBA certification for firms whose principal office sits in a designated area, with at least 35% of employees living in one. In full and open competition the evaluation adds 10% to competing offers rather than reducing yours, and the preference does not apply against other small businesses. Principal office is where the most employees work — and for service work, employees who spend more than half their time at job sites are excluded from that count.

Incumbent

The contractor currently performing the work being recompeted. Incumbents win most recompetes because they carry relevant past performance and known transition risk. Knowing who the incumbent is — and whether they are a small business — tells you a great deal about your realistic odds.

NAICS code

A 6-digit North American Industry Classification System code. The federal government uses it to categorize every contract by industry. Your lane is built around one primary NAICS code — for example, 561720 = Janitorial Services, 561730 = Landscaping Services (the code that covers grounds maintenance work).

Option year

An extension period the government can exercise — or decline — at the end of the base contract year. Most federal service contracts are structured as 1 base year + 4 option years (written as 1+4). The government is not obligated to exercise them.

Period of performance

The timeframe during which a contractor is authorized to perform the work and the government is obligated to pay. Commonly structured as one base year plus option years. After the period ends, the contract either closes or goes out for rebid (a recompete).

Past performance

Your documented record on prior contracts — quality, schedule, and cost control — usually scored through CPARS ratings and reference checks. It is frequently weighted as heavily as price. CPARS is only required above the simplified acquisition threshold, so small federal jobs may leave no rating behind — new entrants can offer commercial past performance or subcontract first to build a federal record.

Presolicitation

An early notice on SAM.gov announcing that a contract is coming — before the formal solicitation is posted. Not a bid opportunity itself. Useful for pipeline planning: it gives you time to research the requirement, identify the contracting officer, and position before competition opens.

Recompete

When a contract runs out and the agency awards it again. The current holder's end date is your chance to bid.

RFI vs RFP vs RFQ

Three different asks. An RFI (Request for Information) is market research — no award follows. An RFP (Request for Proposal) seeks a full technical and price proposal, evaluated on best value. An RFQ (Request for Quotation) asks mainly for a price on a defined item or service. Reading the label first tells you how much work a response actually requires.

Rule of two

Under FAR Part 19, a contracting officer must set an acquisition aside for small business when there is a reasonable expectation that at least two capable small firms will bid at fair market prices. It is the mechanism that converts small business interest into set-asides — which is why responding to sources sought notices matters.

SAM.gov

The System for Award Management — the federal government's official contract opportunity database, maintained by the General Services Administration. Contract actions expected to exceed $25,000 must be publicized here under FAR Part 5. It is also where your firm registers to do business with the government: an active registration is required when you submit an offer and again at award, and it is where your UEI and CAGE code come from. Free to use and search.

SDVOSB

Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business. A set-aside category for firms majority-owned and controlled by a veteran with a service-connected disability. Certified through the SBA's VetCert program, which took over from the VA's Center for Verification and Evaluation on January 1, 2023. Active certification is required to compete for SDVOSB set-asides.

Set-aside

A federal contract reserved for small businesses. Large businesses cannot compete. A total small business set-aside — the most common kind — needs no certification at all, only that you self-certify as small in SAM against the solicitation's NAICS code. Certification matters only for the narrower 8(a), HUBZone, WOSB, and SDVOSB set-asides. Either way the competition pool shrinks from hundreds of firms to a handful in your trade.

Size standard

The SBA's ceiling for counting as a small business in a given NAICS code, set either in average annual receipts or employee count. It varies by code — janitorial and landscaping both run on receipts-based standards. Size is judged against the NAICS code the contracting officer names in each solicitation, not your primary code, so outgrowing one code does not close every set-aside to you.

Sole-source award

A contract awarded to one firm without competition. Permitted only under specific circumstances defined in the FAR — most commonly for 8(a) participants below the dollar threshold ($5.5M for services), urgent requirements, or when only one firm can perform the work.

Solicitation

The formal federal document that officially requests bids or proposals. Once a solicitation is posted on SAM.gov, contractors can submit offers by the response deadline. The solicitation contains the statement of work, evaluation criteria, contract terms, and instructions for submitting a proposal.

Sources Sought

A market research notice asking whether qualified small businesses exist for a potential upcoming contract. Not a solicitation — responding does not commit you to anything and does not constitute a bid. Responding puts your firm on the contracting officer's radar before the competition opens.

Statement of Work (SOW / PWS)

The section of a solicitation defining exactly what the contractor must deliver. A traditional SOW prescribes how the work is done; a Performance Work Statement (PWS) states the outcome and measurable standards, leaving the method to you. Read it before anything else — it determines whether the work is genuinely in your lane.

Teaming agreement

A written arrangement between firms to pursue one opportunity together, typically as prime and subcontractor or as a joint venture. It is how a small firm bids work larger than it could perform alone, and how a new entrant borrows past performance. Signed before the proposal, not after award.

UEI (Unique Entity Identifier)

A 12-character alphanumeric ID assigned by SAM.gov to every business that registers. Required to bid on any federal contract. Replaced DUNS numbers in April 2022. If your firm is registered in SAM.gov, you already have one — find it in your SAM.gov entity registration.

How FedLane.us Uses Them

FedLane.us-specific terms you'll see in your digest and scoring explanations.

Bid Brief

Your bid plan for one notice — a short PDF covering eligibility, the key dates, what the solicitation actually asks for, and where your firm is strong or thin. Generated on request when you mark a notice Bid or Consider. Your first two each month are free with your trial or subscription, then $49 each.

Capability Statement (generated)

FedLane.us assembles your one-page capability statement from your firm profile — certifications, NAICS codes, past performance, and contact details — formatted for a contracting officer. You supply the inputs and operate the tool; the document is yours to send.

Digest

The email FedLane.us sends after scanning your lane. Free sends a Monday coverage receipt even when no notice qualifies; Pathfinder sends weekday decision alerts when activity clears the scoring bar. Each matched item includes a plain-English summary, key dates, and a reason why it matters for your firm.

Lane

Your specific set-aside + NAICS combination — the slice of the federal market where your firm has the best competitive position. Example: SDVOSB + NAICS 561720 is one lane. Contractors who pick a lane and compete consistently in it outbid those who chase everything.

Match strength

How well a notice matches your declared lane, shown in plain language — Strong match, Worth a look. Grounding-strict: every judgment requires verbatim citations from the notice text — the score cannot rest on inference or a guess. A notice with thin information gets a conservative read, not a confident one.

Will Bid / Consider / Pass

Our call on each notice, for Pathfinder subscribers: worth bidding, worth a look, or skip. You file the bid — FedLane.us prepares it. Unlike match strength (which evaluates a notice against the lane in general), it weighs each notice against your specific firm — your certifications, NAICS codes, typical contract value, and geography — and includes a 2–3 sentence rationale.

Notice

A federal contract posting you could bid on — one record in SAM.gov, carrying its own Notice ID. FedLane.us says notice for individual records throughout the product, matching SAM's own term for them.

Pathfinder

The paid plan — decision-to-ready. Pathfinder delivers the Will Bid / Consider / Pass call on each notice in your lane, plus the artifacts that get your firm ready to act on it.

Your bids

The notices you have marked Bid or Consider, tracked in the portal with their deadlines and the decisions you have recorded. Your decision history stays with your firm, so the record of what you pursued and why builds up over time.

Urgency Band

A deadline label — Today, This Week, This Month, or Later — that tells you how much time you have to respond. Never affects match strength. A weak-match contract due tomorrow does not outrank a strong-match contract with three weeks left. Ranking is always fit-first.