The 8(a) Business Development Program is a business assistance program for small disadvantaged businesses. The 8(a) Program offers a broad scope of assistance to firms that are owned and controlled at least 51% by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. The 8(a) Program is an essential instrument for helping socially and economically disadvantaged entrepreneurs gain access to the economic mainstream of American society. The program helps thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs to gain a foothold in government contracting. Participation in the program is divided into two phases over nine years: a four-year developmental stage and a five-year transition stage.

Section 8 (a) of the Small Business Act; Federal Contracting Preference Program for Disadvantaged Businesses

All discussion-based and operations-based exercises result in the development of an&nbsp;AAR.&nbsp;The AAR is the document that summarizes key information related to evaluation.&nbsp;The Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) has defined a standard format for the development of an AAR. By using this format, jurisdictions ensure that the style and the level of detail in their AAR is consistent with other jurisdictions. Consistency across jurisdictions allows the nation-wide emergency preparedness community to gain a broad view of capabilities. The length, format, and development timeframe of the AAR depend on the exercise type and scope. These parameters should be determined by the exercise planning team based on the expectations of elected and appointed officials as they develop the evaluation requirements in the design and development process. The main focus of the AAR is the analysis of core capabilities. Generally, AARs also include basic exercise information, such as the exercise name, type of exercise, dates, location, participating organizations, mission area(s), specific threat or hazard, a brief scenario description, and the name of the exercise sponsor and POC. The AAR should include an overview of performance related to each exercise objective and associated core capabilities, while highlighting strengths and areas for improvement. Therefore, evaluators should review their evaluation notes and documentation to identify the strengths and areas for improvement relevant to the participating organizations&rsquo; ability to meet exercise objectives and demonstrate core capabilities.

Acquisition Category (ACAT) Categories established to facilitate decentralized decision making and execution and compliance with statutorily imposed requirements. The categories determine the level of review, decision authority, and applicable procedures.

The U.S. government contracting officer who is assigned the responsibility for the administration of U.S. government contracts.

Actual Cost of Work Performed (ACWP) is the cost incurred and recorded for work completed within a given time period. The ACWP is reported by the contractor’s accounting system in accordance with generally accepted accounting procedures and is simply stated actuals are actuals.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA (42 U.S.C. § 12101) is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which made discrimination based on race, religion, sex, national origin, and other characteristics illegal. In addition, unlike the Civil Rights Act, the ADA also requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities, and imposes accessibility requirements on public accommodations. In 1986, the National Council on Disability had recommended the enactment of an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and drafted the first version of the bill which was introduced in the House and Senate in 1988. The final version of the bill was signed into law on July 26, 1990, by President George H. W. Bush. It was later amended in 2008 and signed by President George W. Bush with changes effective as of January 1, 2009.

Any equipment or interconnected system or subsystems of equipment that is used in the automatic acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception, of data or information by a Federal agency, or under a contract with a Federal agency which requires the use of such equipment, or requires the performance of a service or the furnishing of a product which is performed or produced making significant use of such equipment. Such term includes computer, ancillary equipment, software, firmware, and similar procedures, services, including support services, and related resources as defined by regulations issued by the Administrator for General Services.

In management, an action item is a documented event, task, activity, or action that needs to take place. Action items are discrete units that can be handled by a single person. Action items are usually created during a discussion by a group of people who are meeting about one or more topics and during the discussion it is discovered that some kind of action is needed. The act required is then documented as an action item and usually assigned to someone, usually a member of the group. The person to whom the action is assigned is then obligated to perform the action and report back to the group on the results. Action items are usually documented in the meeting minutes and are recorded in the task list of the group. As people complete action items, the items are documented as being completed and the item is removed from the list of outstanding action items.

A Voluntary Consensus Standard (VCS) developed in accordance with the "ANSI Essential Requirements: Due process requirements for American National Standards" and subject to ANSI’s unique: 1) accreditation of consensus procedures; 2) neutral oversight; 3) approval process; 4) appeals process; and 5) procedural audit.

Buy American Act or Broad Agency Announcement

Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative

Cooperative Research and Development Agreement

Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

Davis Bacon Act – Addresses prevailing wages on federal contracts

Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement

Disabled Veteran-Owned Business Enterprise

Government Acronyms

286 Government Terms

Acronyms

Submissions