Glossary

The words on a federal notice, in plain English.

Notice: One publication on SAM.gov. Every revision of a notice gets a new notice id, so one solicitation usually has several.
Opportunity: On this site, every notice that shares a solicitation number, plus the award USAspending recorded for it.
Solicitation: A formal request for proposals, quotes or bids. Offers are due by the response deadline.
Combined synopsis and solicitation: A streamlined commercial-item buy in which the notice itself is the solicitation.
Presolicitation: Advance notice that a solicitation is coming, usually within a few weeks.
Sources sought: Market research. The agency asks who could do the work before deciding how to compete it. Responding does not commit you to bid.
Special notice: Industry days, draft requirements and program announcements. Not a solicitation.
Award notice: Who won, on what date, for how much, and under which contract number.
Justification: The written reason, citing the FAR authority, for limiting competition or awarding without it.
Set-aside: A restriction of who may compete: small businesses generally, or a specific program such as 8(a), HUBZone, service-disabled veteran-owned or women-owned.
NAICS: North American Industry Classification System. A six-digit industry code the buyer assigns; it decides which small-business size standard applies.
PSC: Product or Service Code. Four characters describing what is bought. A letter first is a service, a digit first is a product.
CGAC: Common Government-wide Accounting Classification. The three-digit code of a department or independent agency.
FPDS sub-tier code: The four-character code of a bureau, service or command under a department.
AAC: Activity Address Code. The six-character code of a contracting office; most solicitation numbers start with it.
UEI: Unique Entity ID. The twelve-character identifier SAM.gov assigns to every registered vendor. It replaced DUNS in 2022.
CAGE: Commercial and Government Entity code. A five-character identifier the Defense Logistics Agency assigns.
PIID: Procurement Instrument Identifier. The contract number. Orders placed under a contract carry the parent PIID as well.
Obligation: Money the government has committed on a contract action. Negative on a de-obligation. Not the same as the contract ceiling or what was eventually paid.
Extent competed: How the award was competed: full and open, competed under simplified acquisition procedures, not competed, or not available for competition.
Place of performance: Where the work is done, as the notice states it. About half of notices state one.
FAR: Federal Acquisition Regulation. The rulebook; set-aside programs cite their part of it.