Glossary
This A to Z glossary contains common research administration terminology, including terms and phrases specific to CU听小蓝视频 and the University of Colorado system.
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| Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
| 1/6th Rule | Board of Regents Policy that permits faculty consulting work outside the University as long as it does not interfere with teaching and other University commitments, normally not more than 1/6 of their time during any academic period |
| 1800 Grant Street | Location in downtown Denver where University offices are located, ie, President's Office, Payroll and Employee Services, Office of University Controller, Office of Policy and Efficiency, Board of Regents, Internal Audit, University Systems Office, etc. |
| A-21 | Office of Management & Budget (OMB) Circular A-21 -- Cost Principles for Educational Institutions听 (superseded by CFR Title 2, Part 200) |
| A-110 | Office of Management & Budget (OMB) Circular A-110 -- Uniform Administrative Requirements for Grants and Agreements With Institutions of Higher Education, Hospitals, and Other Non-Profit Organizations听 (superseded by CFR Title 2, Part 200) |
| A-122 | Office of Management & Budget (OMB) Circular A-122 -- Cost Principles for Nonprofit Organizations (superseded by CFR Title 2, Part 200) |
| A-133 | Office of Management & Budget (OMB) Circular A-133 -- Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations (superseded by CFR Title 2, Part 200 Sub part F, see 鈥淪ingle Audit鈥 below) |
| AAALAC | American Association of Animal Laboratory Accreditation Council |
| AAAS | American Association for the Advancement of Science |
| AAMC | Association of American Medical Colleges |
| AAU | Association of American Universities |
| ABRF | Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities |
| ACO | Administrative Contracting Officer |
| Account Code | a/c. 听A ChartField used to identify the nature and financial type of a financial transaction |
| ACM$ | National Science Foundation鈥檚 system for awardees to manage award payment and post-award financial processes |
| ADA | Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 |
| AFAA | Air Force Audit Agency |
| AFARS | Army Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement听 |
| AFOSR | Air Force Office of Scientific Research |
| AFRL | Air Force Research Laboratory |
| AHRQ | Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality |
| Allocable | A cost is allocable to a particular award or other cost objective if the goods or services involved are chargeable or assignable to that award or cost objective in accordance with relative benefits received. Able to assign assigning a cost, or a group of costs, to one or more cost objective(s), in reasonable proportion to the benefit provided or other equitable relationship. |
| Allowable | A cost that is necessary, reasonable and allocable to sponsored agreements under the principles and methods provided for sponsored projects |
| ALN | Assistance Listing Number 鈥 five-digit number assigned in the awarding document for all federal assistance award mechanisms, including federal grants and cooperative agreements (formerly CFDA) |
| AMC | Anschutz Medical Campus |
| Amendment | Same as modification |
| ANPRM | Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking |
| AOR | Authorized Official Representative |
| AP | Accounts Payable |
| APL | Applied Physics Laboratory |
| APPE | Association of Practical & Professional Ethics |
| APS | Administrative Policy Statement -- policy statements issued by the System Office and are applicable to all University campuses |
| AR | Accounts Receivable |
| ARL | Army Research Lab |
| ARO | Army Research Office |
| ARDA | Advanced Research & Development Activity |
| ARPA | Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E, ARPA-H, DARPA) |
| ASAP | Department of Treasury's Automated Standard Application for Payment system which allows web based funds withdrawal from grant accounts |
| ATP | Advanced Technology Program |
| At-Risk Extension | A type of extension that may be requested during the life of an award when a PI anticipates a sponsor will provide official documentation of a new end date, with or without additional funding |
| Audit | An inspection of accounting records and procedures by a trained accountant for the purpose of verifying the accuracy and completeness of the records, and may also include examination of compliance with applicable terms, laws, and regulations |
| Award | Funds that have been obligated by a funding agency for a particular project; an award may have multiple project numbers |
| Award Lifecycle | Also known as Lifecycle of an Award (LOA). This is the entire process of an award 鈥 starting from proposal development and ending with award closeout. There are two major stages: pre-award and post-award. |
| AWOF or AWF | Agreement Without Funds -- a non-monetary service or research contract, under the authority of the Office of Contracts and Grants, between CU and another external entity or entities |
| AY | Academic Year |
| B2B | Business to Business |
| BA | Business Analyst |
| BAA | Broad Agency Announcement |
| BLM | Bureau of Land Management |
| BPN | Business Partner Network |
| BPO | Blanket Purchase Order (replaced Standing Purchase Order [SPO] effective October 17, 2024) serves as the payment mechanism for a subagreement. See PSC web site for .听 |
| Budget | A detailed statement outlining estimated project costs to support work under a sponsored project |
| Budget Deviation | Significant change from the sponsor-approved budget which may or may not require OCG or CCO approval (contact your Grant Officer or Area Accountant) |
| Budget Period | The interval of time, typically twelve months, when the project period is divided for budgetary and funding purposes |
| Burn Rate | The rate at which the budget is being spent |
| Capital Expenditure | Expenditure on an asset costing $5,000 or more that has a life of more than one year, used interchangeably with fixed asset or equipment. Individual sponsors may have different dollar limitations defining "capital equipment". |
| Carry Forward / Carry Over | The process by which unobligated funds remaining at the end of a budget period may be carried forward (carried over) to another budget period. Some awards require sponsor approval for carry forwards. |
| CAS听 | Federally mandated Cost Accounting Standards intended to ensure uniformity in budgeting and spending funds |
| CAS 501 | Cost Accounting Standards 501 -- Consistency in estimating, accumulating and reporting costs by educational institutions听 |
| CAS 502 | Cost Accounting Standards 502 -- Consistency in allocating costs incurred for the same purpose by educational institutions听 |
| CAS 505 | Cost Accounting Standards 505 -- Unallowable costs must be identified and excluded from all claims for reimbursement |
| CAS 506 | Cost Accounting Standards 506 -- Institutions must consistently use the same cost accounting period for estimating, accumulating, and reporting costs |
| CAS Exceptions (3 criteria) | Contracts & Subcontracts exempt from all CAS requirements are those whose work will be executed and performed entirely outside the United States, its territories, and its possessions |
| CASB | Cost Accounting Standards Board |
| CBD | Commerce Business Daily |
| CBO | Congressional Budget Office |
| CCH | Commerce Clearing House |
| CCO | Campus Controller's Office |
| CCR | Central Contractor Registration |
| CFDA# | Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 鈥 former unique number assigned to federal assistance programs (superseded by ALN in 2018) |
| CFO | Chief Financial Officer |
| CFR | Code of Federal Regulations -- the codification of the general and permanent rules and regulations (sometimes called administrative law) published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the federal government of the United States |
| CFR Title 2, Part 200 (2 CFR 200) | Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards -- supersedes OMB Circulars A-21, A-110 and A-133 and became effective for universities on 12/26/14 |
| CFS | Committee on Fundamental Science |
| Chart of Accounts | COA -- a list of accounts in the general ledger that are systematically classified by title & number |
| CICA | Competition in Contracting Act |
| CIW | Central Information Warehouse, Data tables from PeopleSoft Finance and HR modules maintained on-line and available for writing BrioQuery or Access reports.听 |
| Classified Salary | Salaries of administrative and clerical staff that should normally be treated as F&A costs. Direct charging of these costs may be appropriate where a major project or activity explicitly budgets for administrative or clerical services, and individuals involved can be specifically identified with the project or activity. "Major project" is defined as a project requiring an extensive amount of administrative or clerical support, which is significantly greater than the routine level of such services provided by academic departments. |
| CLIN | Contract Line Item Number |
| Close Out | Procedures used after project termination to ensure all required paperwork, reports, and financial clean-up has occurred to submit required paperwork to sponsors and retire the project in PeopleSoft |
| CMIA | Cash Management Improvement Act |
| CMMC | Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification 鈥 DOD program to enforce protection of sensitive unclassified information that is shared by the Department with its contractors and subcontractors |
| CMP | Conflict Management Plan |
| CNO | Chief Naval Operations |
| CO | Contracting Officer |
| Co-PI/Co-I | Co-Principal Investigator/Co-Investigator |
| COGNOS Reporting Tool | Systems tool used to generate m-fin financial reports from PeopleSoft |
| COGR | Council on Government Relations |
| COI | Conflict of Interest |
| Concur | System operated and maintained by PSC that supports University travel (Concur Travel) and is the mechanism by which PCard transactions, employee reimbursements, and travel card expenditures are allocated to the appropriate SpeedType (Concur Expense) |
| Confidential Information (CU classification) | Includes data elements usually not disclosed to the public but are less sensitive than highly confidential data. If a legally required and applicable Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request is submitted, these records may be released. See additional information regarding CU鈥檚 . |
| Consistency | The principle of applying same methodology to similar transactions, events, or circumstances |
| Contract | A mechanism for procurement of a product or service with specific obligations for both sponsor and recipient. Typically, a research topic and the methods for conducting the research are specified in detail by the sponsor. |
| Cooperative Agreement | An award similar to a grant, but in which the sponsor's staff may be actively involved in proposal preparation and anticipate having substantial involvement in research activities once the award has been made |
| Corporate Travel Card | VISA card used by employees for University-related travel expenses; it provides State travelers with insurance coverage, and is required for expenses related to the use and fueling of rental vehicles, lodging, airline tickets and other common carrier tickets (if not purchased through an approved travel agency), and international travel expenses. |
| COS | Committee on Science of the National Science and Technology Council |
| COSEPUP | Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy |
| Cost Accounting Standards | (CAS) Federally mandated accounting standards intended to ensure uniformity in budgeting and spending funds |
| Cost Principles | The treatment of costs in accordance with Uniform Guidance, campus and university policies and procedures. The specific cost can be charged to an award only if it is allowable, reasonable, and allocable. |
| Cost Share | Cost Share or Matching is that portion of the costs of research, training, public service or equipment projects that the University or a third party pays for or documents as its portion of a project's costs |
| Cost Share: Statutory/Mandatory | Cost share commitments that are required by the agency for the award |
| Cost Share: Voluntary Committed | Cost share commitments that are not required for the award but are voluntarily committed in the budget and/or in the project proposal |
| Cost Share: Voluntary Uncommitted | Cost share commitments that are neither required for the award nor obligated in the project budget or proposal but represent University commitment actually spent on the project. This type of cost share does not need to be tracked, reported, or included in the F&A base. |
| Cost Share: In Kind | Contributions or assistance in a form other than money-equipment, materials, or services of recognized value that are offered in lieu of cash.听 |
| Cost Transfer | A cost transfer involves the recording of an expense in a sponsored project SpeedType that had previously been charged elsewhere. Cost transfers should be considered 鈥渢he exception, rather than the rule,鈥 and must be kept to a minimum. They must be allowable, timely, reasonable, consistent, of benefit to the sponsored project that is the recipient of the cost, and adequately documented.听听 |
| COR | Contract Officer鈥檚 Representative |
| CORA | Colorado Open Records Act |
| COTR | Contract Officer Technical Representative |
| CPARS | Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System |
| CPFF | Cost Plus Fixed Fee |
| CPSR | Contractor Purchasing System Review |
| CR or Cost Reimbursable | A funded agreement in which the sponsor reimburses the university after costs are incurred, invoiced and found allowable |
| CRADA | Cooperative Research and Development Agreement |
| CRS | Congressional Research Service |
| CSR | Center for Scientific Review |
| CTSA | Clinical & Translational Science Award |
| CU-Data | The official reporting system that contains m-Fin, eRA reports and other types of reports |
| CUI | Controlled Unclassified Information |
| DA | Departmental Administrator -- the person in a department (center, institute, etc.) that is responsible for the day-to-day transaction processing of departmental financial events |
| DA | Department Administration Costs |
| DA | Department of the Army |
| DARPA | Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency |
| DCE | Direct Cost Equivalent |
| DCAA | Defense Contract Audit Agency |
| DCASRs | Defense Contract Administration Services Regions |
| DEAR | Department of Energy Acquisition Regulations |
| DFARS | Department of Defense supplement to the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), applicable to DOD contracts and subcontracts, implements and supplements the FAR |
| Deliverable | Specific end product as a result of work performed on a sponsored project. Examples include a final technical report, an evaluation report, technical assistance, training, compiled database, etc., usually with specific deadlines. |
| DEPA | Disclosure of External Professional Activities -- the annual disclosure of information relevant to potential conflicts of interest and/or commitment |
| Depreciation | Allocating the acquisition cost of a fixed asset over its estimated useful life rather than charging its full cost in the year it was acquired |
| DHEW | Department of Health, Education, and Welfare |
| DHHS | Department of Health and Human Services |
| DHS | Department of Homeland Security |
| DIA | Defense Intelligence Agency |
| DIALOG | A computer-based search system using key words听 |
| DIPEC | Defense Industrial Plant Equipment Council |
| Direct Cost (DC) | Costs identified with the sponsored work that can be identified relatively easily with a high degree of accuracy. General categories of direct costs include but are not limited to salaries and wages, fringe benefits, research supplies, contractual services, travel and communication, equipment, and computer use.听 |
| DIS | Defense Investigative Service |
| DNA | Defense Nuclear Agency |
| DOC | Department of Commerce |
| DOD听 | Department of Defense |
| DoD GAR | Department of Defense Grant and Agreement Regulations -- these regulations provide uniform policies and procedures for the award and administration of DoD Grants and Cooperative Agreements (see FAR for contract regulations) |
| DOE | Department of Energy听 |
| DoED | Department of Education |
| DOI | Department of the Interior |
| DOL | Department of Labor |
| Donor | An external party that provides a gift or endowment to the university who has no expectation of anything in return |
| DOT | Department of Transportation |
| DRA | Department Research Administrator |
| DS-2 | The 小蓝视频 Campus Disclosure Statement filed with and approved by our federal cognizant agency (Department of Health and Human Services). The DS-2 formally states our policy for direct charging expenses to sponsored projects. |
| DSMB | Data Safety Monitoring Board for human subjects research |
| DSMP | Data Safety Monitoring Plan for human subjects research |
| DUNS | Dun & Bradstreet Number (replaced by UEI in 2022) |
| EAR | Export Administration Regulations |
| EARS | Electronic Approval and Routing Systems |
| ebXML | Electronic Business Extensible Markup Language |
| EC | Electronic Commerce |
| EDA | Economic Development Administration听 |
| EDGAR | Education Department General Administration Regulations |
| EDI | Electronic Data Interchange |
| EEOC | Equal Employment Opportunity Commission |
| Effort Reporting | Reporting the amount of time spent by an employee on a particular activity during a certain period of time |
| EFT | Electronic Funds Transfer |
| EHS | Employee Health Services |
| EH&S | Environmental Health & Safety |
| EIN | Employer Identification Number |
| EMTALA | Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act |
| Encumbrance | Costs obligated for expenditure but not yet realized. May be created by PO, SPO, tuition or payroll subsystems. |
| EO | Executive Order |
| EPA | Environmental Protection Agency |
| ESTTOOL | Estimation Tool 鈥 internal budget form used to estimate project costs |
| ePERs | Electronic Personnel Effort Reporting System -- paperless effort reporting forms completed & filed electronically |
| Equipment | (Also called capital equipment or fixed assets) Tangible personal property with a life of more than one year and a cost of $5,000 or more. |
| ERA | Economic Regulatory Administration听 |
| ERA | Electronic Research Administration |
| ESCRO | Embryonic Stem Cell Research Oversight |
| ESSCB | Empire State Stem Cell Board |
| ETA | Employment and Training Administration听 |
| EVS | Equipment Visibility System |
| Exchange-like Transaction | Transaction in which there is an identifiable exchange between the University and a sponsoring agent but the exchange may not be quite equal, or the direct benefits of the exchange may not be exclusively for the parties |
| Expanded Authority | The authority granted to CU that waives the prior approval requirements by a sponsoring agency.听听 Expanded authority is used only for changes that are necessary for the completion of the project within its original scope and original total budget. |
| F&A (also IDC) | Indirect Costs, also known as overhead or facilities and administration costs (F&A)听 -- Indirect (F&A) Costs: defines indirect (F&A) costs as 鈥渢hose costs incurred for a common or joint purpose benefitting more than one cost objective, and not readily assignable to the cost objectives specifically benefitted, without effort disproportionate to the results achieved.鈥 IDC or F&A are real costs to CU 小蓝视频 that are not readily or easily assignable to a specific funded project. Indirect costs help promote organized research at CU 小蓝视频 by providing funds for research-related expenses such as heat, light, water, electricity and custodial services in offices and laboratory spaces; occupational safety and hazardous waste removal; telecommunications; computers and internet access; and many other support services. |
| F&A Rate | A rate (in form of a percentage) that UCB charges to a sponsored project for the use of institution facilities and administration. This rate is negotiated every 3-4 years. |
| FAA | Federal Aviation Administration |
| Fabrication | Created component parts that work together to make a product or structure |
| FAPIIS | Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System |
| FAR | Federal Acquisition Regulations -- the primary regulation for use by all Federal Executive agencies in their acquisition of supplies and services with appropriated funds (federal contracts are often subject to the FAR)听 |
| FARS | Financial Accounting and Reporting System |
| FASA | Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act听 |
| FASAB | Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board |
| FASEB | Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology听 |
| FastLane | FastLane is an interactive real-time system used to conduct NSF business over the Internet.听 Much of the system functionality has been transferred into Research.gov. |
| FBO | Federal Business Opportunities听 |
| FCC | Federal Communications Commission听 |
| FCST | Federal Council for Science and Technology |
| FDA | Food and Drug Administration |
| FDP I听 | Florida Demonstration Project Phase 1 |
| FDP II | Federal Demonstration Project Phase 2 |
| FDP III & IV | Federal Demonstration Partnership Phase 3 and 4 |
| FEA | Federal Enterprise Architectures |
| FECAI | Federal Electronic Commerce Acquisition Instructions |
| Federal Cognizant Agency | The federal agency to which we are assigned for purposes of certain administration functions such as F&A rate negotiation and audit resolution |
| Federal Flowthrough | A non-Federal entity that provides a Federal award to a subrecipient or subaward to carry out a Federal program |
| FEDIX | An online federal data base serving most federal agencies for online searches |
| Fellowship | Fellowships are funding to support the educational experience of the recipient and are not considered compensation for performance. The purpose of fellowships are to enhance academic experience or career growth and may be for research or non-research activities. Fellows are not considered to have an employee-employer relationship with the university. |
| FEMA | Federal Emergency Management Agency |
| FERPA | Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act |
| FFATA | Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 or "Transparency Act" -- The FFATA Subaward Reporting System tool is used by Federal prime awardees (i.e. prime contractors and prime grants recipients) to capture and report subaward and executive compensation data regarding their first-tier subawards听 |
| FFMIA | Federal Financial Management Improvement Act |
| FFR | Federal Financial Report |
| FHWA | Federal Highway Administration听 |
| FICC | Federal Interagency Coordinating Council |
| FileMaker | OCG database that supplies proposal and award information on proposals and awards.听 This system is no longer used for this purpose and was replaced by InfoEd in 2015. |
| FIMA | Financial Management System |
| FIPSE | Fund for Improvement of Post Secondary Education |
| FISAP | Fiscal Operations Report & Application to Participate |
| Fiscal Manager | (Formerly known as Key Contact) Departmental Administrator who receives monthly project financial reports and is responsible for managing its financials |
| FISMA | Federal Information Security Management Act |
| Fixed Asset | Expenditure on an asset costing $5,000 or more that has a life of more than one year, used interchangeably with capital equipment or equipment |
| FP or Fixed Price | A funded agreement听in which payment will be made upon a set dollar amount, regardless of how much is expended to complete the agreed upon performance |
| Fly America Act | This requires Federal employees and their dependents, consultants, contractors, grantees, and others performing United States Government financed foreign air travel to travel by U.S. flag air carriers |
| FMC | Federal Management Circular |
| FN | Foreign National |
| FOA | Funding Opportunity Announcement |
| FOB | Free On Board |
| FOIA | Freedom of Information Act |
| FPS | Financial Procedure Statement, which provides procedural guidance for University financial activity |