Pitt/OSP-Specific Terms:
| Term | Acronym | Definition |
| Assistant Director/ Associate Director | AD | OSP team leader with signing authority. |
| Clinical & Corporate Contracts Services Team | CC Team | OSP team that works with industry-funded agreements. |
| Conflict of Interest Office | COI | Pitt office responsible for managing potential financial/institutional conflicts. |
| Federal Contracts Coordinator | FCC | FC Team member responsible for routing, compliance, communications, etc. |
| Federal Contracts Officer | FCO | FC Team member primarily responsible for federal contract negotiations. |
| Federal Contracts Team | FC Team | OSP team that works with federally-funded procurement agreements. |
| Grants and Contracts Officer | GCO | Individual responsible for review and processing of all grant-related proposals not processed by Grant Analysts. |
| Human Research Protections Office | HRPO | Pitt office responsible for oversight of human subject research. |
| Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee | IACUC | Pitt office responsible for oversight of animal programs and facilities. |
| Office of the Chief Financial Officer | CFO | Pitt's financial administration office. |
| Office of Human Resources | HR | Pitt office responsible for recruiting and supporting the University's workforce. |
| Office of Innovation & Entrepreneurship | OIE | The Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIE) is composed of four operating units charged with inspiring and enabling innovators, both within the university, and throughout Western Pennsylvania, to achieve impact through the commercialization of their research or ideas. It is also responsible for connecting Pitt innovators with partners, both within the university and externally, to achieve societal impact and economic development. |
| Office of Sponsored Programs | OSP | University central office that reports to the Vice Provost for Research; supports and advises the academic community in securing external support for sponsored projects; responsibilities include review, negotiation, approval, and administrative oversight in accordance with applicable University, sponsor, and federal guidelines. |
| Office of Trade Compliance | OTC | Pitt office that provides guidance and assistance to the Universtiy community on a variety of trade-related issues, including: research compliance, international engagement, visas, visitors, travel, procurement and imports. |
| Office of University Counsel | OUC | Pitt service organization that provides advice and counsel to the University of Pittsburgh community—the Board of Trustees, the Chancellor, the administration, faculty, and staff—on legal and policy matters, involving or affecting the institution. |
| Sponsored Projects Accounting | SPA | Pitt's central post-award accounting office. |
General Research Administration Terms:
| Term | Acronym | Definition |
| Accountable Government Property | Non-expendable personal property with an acquisition cost of $1,000 or more and "sensitive items" (defined as items of personal property (supplies and equipment that are highly desirable and easily converted to person use), regardless of acquisition value. | |
| Acquisition | The acquiring by contract with appropriated funds of supplies or services by and for the use of the Federal Government through purchases or lease, whether the supplies or services are already in existence or must be created, developed, demonstrated, and evaluated. Acquisition includes solicitation and selection of sources, award of contracts, contract financing, contract performance, and contract administration. Acquisition is also synonymous with the word procurement. | |
| Assurances | A listing of a variety of requirements, found in different federal laws, regulations, and executive orders that applicants agree in writing to observe as a condition of receiving federal assistance. | |
| Best and Final Offer | BAFO | A final offer provided within the negotiation process prior to determining a contract award. |
| Broad Agency Announcement | BAA | General announcement of Government agency’s research interests. |
| Certification | A statement, signed by an applicant or recipient as a prerequisite for receiving federal funds, that it meets or will adhere to certain conditions and/or will undertake or not undertake certain actions. | |
| Contract | An award of money to carry out a specific task for a government agency, as described in a request for proposal (RFP). Contracts are awarded to bidders submitting proposals that best meet the requirements of the announced work, within a competitive budget range. A mutually binding legal relationship obligating the “seller” (contractor) to furnish the supplies or services and the “buyer” (Government) to pay for them. It includes all types of commitments that obligate the Government to an expenditure of appropriated funds, and except as otherwise authorized, are in writing (e.g., awards and notices of awards, letter contracts, purchase orders, bilateral contact modifications). | |
| Contract Modification | Any written alteration in the specification, delivery point, rate of delivery, contract period, price, quantity, or other contract provision of an existing contract, whether accomplished by unilateral action in accordance with a contract provision or by mutual action of the parties to the contract. It includes: (a) bilateral actions such as supplemental agreements and (b) unilateral actions such as change orders, notices of termination, and notices of the exercise of an option. | |
| Contract Specialist (Contract Negotiator) | CS/CN | A person who is subject to the general supervision of the contracting officer and who actually carries out most of the procedural steps, as contrasted with the approvals required to be taken by the contracting officer under applicable regulations. |
| Contracting Officer | CO | The individual who is the government’s authorized agent in dealing with the contractor. This individual has authority to negotiate, award and amend contracts on behalf of the government. |
| Contracting Officer's Authorization | COA | Process by which contractor obtains post-award authorization from CO. |
| Contracting Officer's Representative/Contracting Officer's Technical Representative/Project Officer | COR/COTR/PO | The person representing the government for the purpose of technical monitoring of the contract. However, the COR has no authority to obligate the government or change the terms of the contract (only the contracting officer has that authority). |
| Contractor | An organization or person who has entered into a contract with the federal government to perform a specific task. The contractor is legally and financially responsible and accountable to the awarding agency for performance of the contract supported activity. | |
| Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System | CPARS | Government system used to evaluate contractor performance. |
| Confidential Disclosure Agreement (Non-Disclosure Agreement) | CDA/NDA | Agreement governing use and protection of confidential information. |
| Cooperative Agreement | A mechanism of support that involves greater involvement by the federal government in the scientific/programmatic outcome of the award than in the provision of funds. | |
| Cooperative Research and Development Agreement | CRADA | Nonfinancial collaboration agreement between federal laboratory and non-federal entity. |
| Cost Reimbursement | A cost reimbursement contract is appropriate for use when uncertainties involved in contract performance do not permit costs to be estimated with sufficient accuracy to use any type of fixed price contract. This type of contract places less risk of performance on the contractor and minimum incentive to control costs, and requires Government surveillance during performance to ensure that efficient methods and effective cost controls are used. | |
| Data Use Agreement | DUA | Agreement governing the use and transfer of data. |
| Direct Costs | Costs that can be identified specifically with a particular project or program. | |
| Employer Identification Number | EIN | The number the Internal Revenue Service assigns to every employer. |
| External Participant | Non-institutional employees, including individuals, collaborators, Subcontractors/Subawardees, and consultants (paid and unpaid), who perform work on a research project. | |
| Facilities and Administrative Costs (AKA Indirect Costs, Overhead) | F&A, IDC | Costs of an organization incurred for common or joint objectives which cannot be readily and specifically identified with a particular grant project or other institutional activity. |
| Federal Acquisition Regulation | FAR | The regulation which applies to the NIH and all other civilian executive agencies. These regulations apply to procurements made within and outside of the United States. |
| Federal Information Security Management Act | FISMA | Legislation that defines a framework of guidelines and security standards to protect government information and operations. |
| Final Proposal Revision | FPR | The final set of revisions made to a proposal at the end of the negotiation process. |
| General Purpose Equipment | Any items of personal property which are usable for purposes other than research, such as office equipment and furnishings. | |
| Grant | An award of financial assistance by the federal government whereby money and/or direct assistance is provided to carry out approved activities. A grant is to be used whenever the agency anticipates no substantial programmatic involvement with the recipient during performance of the financially assisted activities. Research grants are awarded to institutions on behalf of a principal investigator to facilitate pursuit of a scientific focus or objective in the area of the investigator's interest and competence. Grants can be classified on the basis of type of activity(ies) supported (research, training, service, etc.); degree of discretion allowed the awarding office (mandatory or discretionary); and/or method of determining amounts of award (negotiated basis or formula. | |
| Grantee | The institution (public or private, nonprofit or for-profit, educational institution, hospital, corporation, organization, agency, or other legally accountable entity) that receives a grant or cooperative agreement and assumes legal, financial, and scientific responsibility and accountability both for the awarded funds and for the performance of the grant-supported activity. In certain cases, a grantee may be an individual in the United States or an institution in a foreign country. | |
| Investigator | Individuals, including Principal Investigator, Project Director, and any other person, regardless of title or position, who direct or can materially influence, and/or who are responsible for or participate in the design, conduct, or reporting of research, including collaborators and consultants. | |
| Intellectual Property | IP | Creative ideas, experimental methodologies, research findings, and insightful interpretations that are created and/or carried out in labs, studios and offices across campus that the law protects from unauthorized use by others. |
| Just in Time | JIT | Defines a process where the gathering and submission of potentially time consuming documentation is deferred until after both the deadline and peer review but prior to the final review and adjudication by the responsible institute’s Advisory Council. |
| Key Personnel | Employees of the awardee who are engaged in the awarded project, listed in the award application, progress report, or any other report submitted to the sponsor AND who are considered by the sponsor as essential resources in the work performance. Key Personnel typically includes the principal investigators and co-investigators, but is dependent upon the individual award. (The sponsor may review the qualifications of any substitution of these individuals.) | |
| Material Transfer Agreement | MTA | Contractual documents used for the acquisition of various biological and research materials, and occasionally, data, developed by nonprofit, government and private industry |
| National Institutes of Health | NIH | A part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; the nation’s medical research agency. |
| Negotiation | The process Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) undertakes to obtain mutually-acceptable terms and conditions for the University and other entities involved in University research. | |
| Non-Disclosure Agreement/Confidential Disclosure Agreement | NDA/CDA | A legal agreement between a minimum of two parties which outlines information the parties wish to share with one another for certain evaluation purposes, but wish to restrict from wider use and dissemination. |
| Non-Traditional Defense Contractor | NTDC | Typically a Department of Defense contractor not subject to full cost-accounting standards. |
| Option | An option is a unilateral right by which, for a specified time, the Government may elect to purchase additional supplies or services called for by the contract, or may elect to extend the term of the contract. | |
| Organizational Conflict of Interest | OCI | Relationship that impairs one’s impartiality or objectivity in procurement. |
| Other Transaction Agreement | OT/OTA | A legal contract with the federal government that is not a grant, cooperative agreement, or a federal contract. |
| Primary Point of Contact | POC | |
| Prime Funding Source | The type of original funding mechanism issued from the organization from where the research funds originate (i.e., Federal grants, Federal cooperative agreements, Federal contracts, corporate contracts, non-profit foundation grants, etc.). | |
| Prime Sponsor | Organization from where the research funds originate (for Federal grants, cooperative agreements, and Federal contracts, this is the Federal agency providing the research funds; for corporate contracts, this is the commercial entity providing the research funds). | |
| Principal Investigator/Project Director | PI/PD | A qualified individual designated by the contractor’s organization to direct the project or program being supported by the contract. This individual has primary responsibility for guiding and/or performing the work as described in the contract work statement. |
| Program Officer | PO | An agency program office staff person responsible for 1) developing program regulations, application notices, and application packages, 2) overseeing the review and ranking of applications submitted under their programs, 3) providing detailed funding recommendations to the Grants Division for applications, 4) participating in negotiations, as necessary, 5) providing technical assistance to applicants and recipients, 6) monitoring funded projects, and 7) making recommendations about recipients' requests for revisions to project activities and budgets. |
| Project Officer/Contracting Officer's Technical Representative | PO/COTR | The person representing the government for the purpose of technical monitoring of the contract. However, the project officer has no authority to obligate the government or change the terms of the contract (only the contracting officer has that authority). |
| Project Period | The total amount of time (sometimes several years) during which an agency authorizes a recipient to complete the approved work of the project described in the application; project periods of more than one year are divided into budget periods. | |
| Purchased Services Agreement | PSA | Any contract between a state agency and a nonprofit agency, partnership or corporation for the purchase by the state of ongoing and routine health and human services for clients. |
| Request for Information | Solicitation of information for planning purposes – will not result in a contract. | |
| Request for Proposal | RFP | The government’s invitation to prospective offerors to submit a proposal based on the terms and conditions set forth in the RFP. The RFP is also called the solicitation. |
| Request for Quote | RFQ | Process in which a company solicits select suppliers and contractors to submit price quotes and bids for the chance to fulfill certain tasks or projects. |
| Services Agreement | Vendor agreements issued to contractors by Purchasing Services for the procurement of services. | |
| Simplified Acquisition Threshold | SAT | The dollar amount in federal acquisition represented by the anticipated award amount of a contract, under which contracting officers are directed to use simplified acquisition procedures to solicit and award the resulting contracts. As of summer 2022, the SAT is $250,000. |
| Small Business Innovation Research Program | SBIR | Program to promote small business participation in research and development. |
| Small Business Subcontracting Plan | SBSP | A purchasing plan that projects the percentage of costs allocated under an award to small/disadvantaged businesses. |
| Small Business Technology Transfer Program | STTR | Similar to SBIR, but requires small business to collaborate with a university. |
| Statement of Work/Scope of Work | SOW | The document which states the technical objectives, level of effort, and requirements of the contracts. This document is normally found in Section “C” or included as an attachment in Section “J” of the RFP and contract. |
| Subcontract/Subaward | A formal written agreement with a third-party entity in which a portion of the programmatic work under a Pitt prime award is transferred to another institution or organization, a subrecipient. Subawards are issued by the Office of Sponsored Programs. | |
| United States Code | USC | Codification of U.S. laws. |
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