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Acceptance (Fully Executed) - Occurs only at the time when the agreement is signed by both parties. Acceptance can mean the same thing as "obligation" to other agencies or sponsors/customers.

Advance Payment - Payment (in whole or in part) in advance of the work. See also "Billing Terms" and "Payment Options".

Agency Location Code (ALC) - Also known as Accounting Station Symbol. A unique eight-digit code (00-00-0000) assigned to all government agencies by the Department of Treasury that identifies that specific organization.

1st two digits = the Department
2nd two-digits = Operating Division within the Department
3rd 2 digits = accounting points within the Operating Division
4th two-digits = accounting point (Treasury does not accept 4 zeros as the last four digits, instead "01")

Agreement - A written arrangement between two parties where the principal purpose is for an agency to engage in collaborative activities with or to provide reimbursable goods or services to another party.

Agreement Number - A unique number given for each agreement. All modifications to the original document must match that document's agreement number.

Alternative Dispute Resolution - The Census Bureau cannot agree to binding arbitration or mediation. See "Dispute Resolution".

Amount Restrictions - A Federal agency cannot obligate funds in excess of its currently available appropriations or apportionments; a Federal agency also cannot obligate funds in advance of having received appropriations from Congress (reference: Anti Deficiency Act (ADA).

Anti-Deficiency Act (ADA) - The law enacted by Congress to prevent the gov't from incurring obligations or making expenditures (outlays) in excess of amounts available in appropriations or funds (by appropriation, apportionment, or allotment; reference: 31 USC 1341 //www.gao.gov/ada/antideficiency.htm).

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Bona Fide Needs Rule - An appropriation is only available to meet the legitimate bona fide needs of an agency that arise during the appropriations period of availability.

Breach - A data breach is a loss of control, compromise, unauthorized disclosure, unauthorized acquisition, unauthorized access, or any similar term referring to situations where persons other than authorized users and for an authorized purpose have access or potential access to personally identifiable information in a usable form, whether physical or electronic.

Business Event Type Code (BETC) - Code designating the type of activity, thus identifying the sender and receiver for funding between federal agencies through the IPAC system.

DISB: disbursement from the sending or funding agency
COLL: collection by the receiving agency

Business Identifiable Information - Business Identifiable Information consists of (a) information that is defined in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) as "trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person [that is] privileged or confidential." (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4)).

//www.gao.gov/ada/antideficiency.htm - Also known as "DUNS". An on-line source of vendor data for the US Federal Gov't (resource: //www.bpn.gov/).

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Collecting (COLL) - A Business Event Type Code (BETC) used by the receiving agency in the IPAC system.

//www.bpn.gov/ - Confidentiality relates to the legal requirement in Title 13 of the United States Code that requires the Census Bureau, its employees and others sworn to uphold census confidentiality, to maintain the confidentiality of Census data under strict legal penalties, if the data are disclosed. Thus, confidentiality concerns protecting data that are collected to ensure that information is not released in a manner that could identify an individual person, business, or organization.

Contact Information - Name, address, phone number, fax number, and e-mail address for all parties to a reimbursable agreement.

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Deliverables - A tangible object to be produced under the reimbursable agreement. This can be something physical, and in a piece of equipment, or something more nebulous, as in a written report on the results of the research. Deliverables should include a price and a due date associated with each. See "severable" and "non-severable".

Determination and Findings (D&F) - A special form of written approval by the Other Agency's authorized official for all reimbursable agreements using the Economy Act as the transfer authority.

Disbursement (DISB) - The Business Event Type Code (BETC) used by the sending agency in the IPAC system.

Disclosure Avoidance - The Census Bureau will use comprehensive disclosure avoidance techniques consistent with professionally acceptable standards before releasing data products derived from legally protected information.

Dispute Resolution - A method of settling disagreements (resource: //www.fms.treas.gov/tfm/index.html).

Dun and Bradstreet Numbering Systems (DUNS) - The "Data Universal Numbering System" is a unique nine-digit identification number provided by Dun & Bradstreet (D&B), which is site-specific for each distinct physical location of an entity (resource: //www.dnb.com/).

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Economy Act - Transfer Authority authorizing Federal agencies to purchase goods and services from other Federal agencies or major organizational units within the same agency. Also requires attachment of a Determinations and Findings statement executed by the contracting officer or other designated official of the requesting agency (resource: 31 USC § 1535).

Employer/Taxpayer Identification Number (EIN/TIN) - The Federal Tax Identification Number used to identify a business entity set up by the Internal Revenue Service (resource: //www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=98350,00.html).

Expiration Date - Date by which costs must be accrued, or the authority to continue work on the customer order will lapse. Any modification (including No-Cost Time Extensions) must be executed prior to the agreement expiring.

Expired Agreement - A reimbursable agreement that has passed the end date of its period of performance. Expired agreements CANNOT be amended or extended. Any future activities must be documented in a new agreement.

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Fixed-Year Appropriation - Also known as "multi-year funds" and "one-year funds".

Economy Act: the money expires when the appropriation expires and must be returned at that time whether the statement of work is "several" or "non-severable".
NIST Organic Act: services may extend beyond the expiration of the appropriation if the statement of work is "non-severable".

Foreign Governments - Review the Case-Zablocki Act (DAO 218-4) for questions about foreign government agreements; the State Department could possibly get involved in the review and approval of a reimbursable agreement with a foreign government.

Full Cost Recovery - NIST is to be reimbursed for the full cost of doing the work as agreed upon in the reimbursable agreement. By the end of the agreement, the financial goal is to have a zero profit/loss.

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Incremental Funding - The partial funding of an agreement or an exercised option, with additional funds anticipated to be provided at a later time. NIST does not allow this type of funding unless the deliverables are clearly defined and a period of performance can be directly tied to the funding received.

Indemnification Clause - The Federal government cannot agree to an open-ended indemnification clause because it is a violation of the "Anti-Deficiency Act".

Interagency Agreement (IAA) - Refer to Memorandum of Understanding.

IPAC System - Payment system between Federal agencies.

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Joint Project - Joint projects are projects that have a Title 13 purpose, to which both the Census Bureau and the other participating federal statistical agency contribute confidential data and resources.

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Multi-Year Funds - Appropriation authority to obligate over a specific number of years. Also known as "Fixed-Year Appropriations".

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Non-Severable - Services that constitute a single, indivisible undertaking for which the requesting agency receives no benefit until the entire project is completed. The entire cost is chargeable to the Fiscal Year (FY) in which the agreement was executed even though the services continue in later years. All funding should be available for obligation prior to the work beginning.

No-Year Funds - No-year funds remain available for obligation until expended.

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Obligation - The legal liability of an agency to disburse funds. An agreement which an agency promises to disburse a specified amount of funds for the provision of specified goods or services constitutes an obligation of the specified amount of funds.

One-Year Funds - Funds available for obligation only during the year for which the funds were appropriated.

Other Agency-Specific Authorities - Other agencies may have their own statutory authority to transfer funds to NIST or to engage in collaborative activities with NIST.

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Parties - The entities that are to take part in the agreement (sponsor and NIST).

Payment Options - How payment will be made, either "in Advance" or "Reimbursable". Non-Federal sponsors must allow for advance billing, in whole or in part, depending on the deliverables. If in part, the sponsor should allow for advance billing of a portion upon acceptance of the agreement, then in advance before each succeeding deliverable.

Period of Availability - The period in which funds are available for obligation purposes. See also "Payment Options"

Period-of-Performance (POP) - The period of time during which work is to take place under a reimbursable agreement. The POP needs to be consistent with the Statement of Work (SOW) and with all other attachments. As a general rule, a reimbursable agreement should be written for no longer than five (5) years.

Personally Identifiable Information (PII) - Section 208 (d) of the E-Government Act of 2002 defines personally identifiable information as "any representation of information that permits the identity of an individual to whom the information applies to be reasonable inferred by either direct or indirect means." The term personally identifiable information refers to information which can be used to distinguish or trace an individuals identity, such as their name, social security number, biometric records, etc. alone, or when combined with other personal or identifying information which is linked or linkable to a specific individual, such as data, and place of birth, mother's maiden name, etc.

Programmatic Authority - A Federal organization's authority to undertake the activities set forth in the agreement.

Purpose - The reason for the agreement. See also "deliverables".

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Reimbursable Agreement (RA) - Overarching term for all agreements that transfer funds between NIST and outside sponsors, public and private, foreign and domestic.

Resolution of Disagreements - The process of resolving disputes between parties and how the parties will approach the process. See also "Dispute Resolution".

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Scope - The area covered by the activity described in the reimbursable agreement.

Severable - Services that are ongoing or repetitive in nature (natural breaking points). An agency may generally only obligate funds for services that can be completed within the period of availability of the agency's funds.

Signature Authority - The authority delegated to an official within an organization who is authorized to sign an agreement.

Statement of Work (SOW) - A formal document that captures and defines the work activities, deliverables and timeline of a reimbursable agreement. Detailed requirements and pricing may be included, along with standard regulatory and governance terms and conditions.

Statistical Purpose - (A) means the description, estimation, or analysis of the characteristics of groups, without identifying the individuals or organizations that comprise such groups; and (B) includes the development, implementation, or maintenance of methods, technical or administrative procedures, or information resources that support the purposes described in subparagraph (A).

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Termination/Cancellation Clause - Defines the process by which and conditions under which a reimbursable agreement may be terminated.

Time Restrictions - Appropriations may be used to meet the needs of an agency only during the time for which the funds were available for obligation. See also "Bona Fide Needs Rule", "Severable", and "Non-Severable".

Title 13 - //uscode.house.gov/download/title_13.shtml

Transfer Authority - The authority under which the Other Agency or Sponsor is transferring funds to NIST.

Treasury Account Symbol (TAS) - An alpha-numeric string that identifies Federal appropriation accounts.

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