- ACG
- Active Capability Gap — continuously open Army AOS submission path. Solution Briefs build a searchable repository for Army entities.
- AEMO
- Army Enterprise Marketing Office — owner of Army recruiting marketing contracts.
- AFC
- Army Futures Command — Austin-based command running Army modernization, talent, readiness problem statements.
- AFRL
- Air Force Research Laboratory — Wright-Patterson AFB; incubator of GigEagle.
- AIE 2.0
- Accessions Information Environment 2.0 — Army's $5.6B/10-yr Salesforce-based recruiting platform; awarded Jan 2026.
- AO
- Agreements Officer — the OT-equivalent of a Contracting Officer. Negotiates and signs OT agreements; distinct authority from a FAR-based CO.
- AOS
- Army Open Solicitation (
W9128Z-25-S-A002) — perpetually open Army solicitation accepting ACG and CFS submissions.
- BAA
- Broad Agency Announcement — open solicitation seeking white papers/proposals across a stated topic area.
- Bayh-Dole
- 1980 Act establishing the federal government's baseline rights in inventions made with federal funding. Sets the floor for OT IP negotiation.
- C5
- Consortium for Command, Control, Communications, Computers & Combat Systems (one of the DoD prototype consortia).
- CDAO
- Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office — DoD-wide office for AI / data / digital. Provided GigEagle's $5.3M scaling investment.
- CFDA
- Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance — now called Assistance Listing Number on SAM.gov. The unique ID for every federal grant program.
- CFS
- Call for Solutions — Army AOS pathway resembling traditional RFPs; tailored requirements + deadlines. MAHC-III was a CFS.
- CMMC
- Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification — DoD cyber framework. NSTXL members must complete Level 2 Self-Assessment in SPRS by 2026-11-10.
- CO / KO
- Contracting Officer — the only person at an agency who can legally bind the government to a FAR-based contract.
- COOL
- Credentialing Opportunities On-Line — DoD-wide and per-service portals mapping military occupations to civilian credentials.
- COR / COTR
- Contracting Officer's Representative — manages the contract once awarded.
- CPP
- Competitive Preference Priority — ED grant scoring add-on. The Talent Marketplace priority is a new CPP that boosts grant applicants who align.
- CSO
- Commercial Solutions Opening — accelerated DoD acquisition vehicle used heavily by DIU; the lowest-friction commercial entry under § 4022.
- CTMO
- Chief Talent Management Office — under OUSD(P&R); policy center of gravity for DoD workforce strategy. Co-owns GigEagle.
- DHRA
- Defense Human Resources Activity — DoD field activity owning the Military-Civilian Transition Office and the Office of People Analytics (JAMRS).
- DSBS
- Dynamic Small Business Search — keyword-searchable profile inside SAM.gov.
- DSIP
- Defense SBIR/STTR Innovation Portal — where all DoD SBIR proposals are submitted.
- EIR
- Education Innovation & Research — ED's flagship innovation grant program.
- FAR
- Federal Acquisition Regulation — the rulebook for federal contracting. OTAs are exempt.
- FOA / NOFO
- Funding Opportunity Announcement / Notice of Funding Opportunity — the grants equivalent of an RFP.
- GigEagle
- DoD's AI-powered agile talent marketplace (
gigeagle.mil) — 13,000+ users; matches active-duty personnel to short-term gigs.
- HCA
- Head of Contracting Activity — the senior contracting official within a DoD component. Can approve OTs up to $100M.
- IDIQ
- Indefinite Delivery / Indefinite Quantity — long-term umbrella contract with task orders.
- IES
- Institute of Education Sciences — ED's research arm; runs ED-SBIR.
- IPPS-A
- Integrated Personnel and Pay System - Army — Army's unified human capital management platform (Oracle PeopleSoft). MAHC-III sustains and modernizes it.
- JAMRS
- Joint Advertising, Market Research & Studies — DHRA Office of People Analytics; runs biannual Youth Poll measuring propensity to serve.
- JHTO
- Joint Hypersonics Transition Office — co-owner of the WISH workforce prototype with NSWC Crane.
- LER
- Learning and Employment Record — digital portable resume connecting credentials to verified competencies. One of the three ED Talent Marketplace components.
- MAHC-III
- Managing Army's Human Capital — Innovation, Integration, and Implementation. $287M / 7-yr IPPS-A sustainment contract awarded to CACI April 2026.
- MCTO
- Military-Civilian Transition Office — DHRA office overseeing transition technology services ($27.6M IT contract; recompete 2028-2029).
- MICC
- Mission and Installation Contracting Command — Army contracting org; Fort Knox issues Army marketing/recruiting contracts.
- MOC
- Military Occupational Classification — military job codes mapped to civilian SOC/O*NET via the Military Crosswalk.
- MSCAP
- Military Spouse Career Accelerator Program — DoD SECO 12-week paid fellowships; permanent since 2026-01-01.
- MSEP
- Military Spouse Employment Partnership — DoD network of 700+ employers committed to hiring military spouses.
- MTA
- Middle Tier of Acquisition — pathway under Section 804 of NDAA 2016 for rapid prototyping & rapid fielding. TPG is structuring our engagement under MTA.
- NDC
- Nontraditional Defense Contractor — entity that has not worked on a DoD contract subject to full Cost Accounting Standards coverage in the past year.
founding_up qualifies; this is our § 4022 doorway.
- NDNC
- Non-Disclosure & Non-Circumvention agreement — bilateral confidentiality + restriction on going around the introducing party to their contacts.
- NSTXL
- National Security Technology Accelerator — manages three OTA consortia (TReX II, S2MARTS, SpEC). 19,000+ member innovators; $900M+ facilitated.
- NSWC
- Naval Surface Warfare Center — operating component of NAVSEA. NSWC Crane Division co-owns WISH.
- OCTAE
- Office of Career, Technical, & Adult Education at ED.
- OESE
- Office of Elementary & Secondary Education at ED.
- OPE
- Office of Postsecondary Education at ED.
- OSC
- Office of Strategic Capital — under DoW CTO; capital-formation lens for defense-relevant tech.
- OTA
- Other Transaction Authority — non-FAR contracting vehicle for research (§ 4021), prototypes (§ 4022), and follow-on production (§ 4022(f)).
- OUSD(A&S)
- Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment — top-level OT approval authority for agreements over $500M.
- OUSD(R&E)
- Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering — owns Research OTs and second-tier Prototype approval ($100–500M).
- PSC / FSC
- Product Service Code / Federal Supply Code — what is being bought.
- ROM
- Rough Order of Magnitude — high-level price estimate required on OT white paper cover pages.
- S2MARTS
- Strategic & Spectrum Mission Advanced Resilient Trusted Systems — NSTXL-managed OTA consortium for trusted microelectronics & related capabilities.
- SAM
- System for Award Management — sam.gov, the single registration system for all federal entities.
- SBIR / STTR
- Small Business Innovation Research / Small Business Technology Transfer — federal R&D funding programs. Reauthorized via S. 3971 signed 2026-04-13, extending through 2031.
- SECO
- Spouse Education and Career Opportunities — DoD office under OUSD(P&R) running MSEP and MSCAP.
- SkillBridge
- DoD program letting service members do civilian training in their last 180 days of active duty.
- SpEC
- Space Enterprise Consortium — NSTXL-managed OTA consortium for space technology prototyping.
- SPE
- Senior Procurement Executive — senior official with non-delegable approval authority for OTs $100M–$500M within their component.
- SS
- Sources Sought — pre-solicitation market research notice. Always respond if even loosely aligned.
- TAP
- Transition Assistance Program — mandatory DoD pre-separation curriculum. ~200K service members transition annually; ~$272M services contract pending OASIS+ recompete.
- TReX II
- Training & Readiness Accelerator II — NSTXL-managed OTA consortium funding training solutions and curriculum for military readiness. Strongest immediate fit for
founding_up.
- UEI
- Unique Entity Identifier — replaced DUNS in April 2022. Assigned by SAM.gov.
- USAREC
- U.S. Army Recruiting Command — elevated to 3-star command December 2025; runs Industry Connections portal for direct engagement.
- USD(A&S)
- Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment — top of the OT approval chain (over $500M).
- VEO
- Veteran Employment Outcomes — Census Bureau experimental dataset showing earnings/employment by MOS, rank, demographics, geography at 1/5/10-yr post-discharge.
- VET TEC 2.0
- VA program paying tuition + housing for veterans in high-tech training programs (6-28 weeks). Veteran-facing app live 2026-06-01; funded through 2027-09-30.
- VR&E
- Veteran Readiness & Employment — VA Chapter 31 program for veterans with service-connected disabilities.
- VSTAG
- Veteran & Spouse Transitional Assistance Grant — VA grant program; up to $500K/yr for 5 yrs ($2.5M total); requires 1:1 match + VSO/university lead applicant.
- WIOA
- Workforce Innovation & Opportunity Act — 4 titles; Title I (DOL, formula to states), Title II (ED AEFLA), Title III (Wagner-Peyser), Title IV (VR).
- WISH
- Workforce Innovation Supporting Hypersonics — NSWC Crane + JHTO prototype project run through NSTXL S2MARTS pursuing scalable hypersonics training models.