The words the forms use
The dialect
The dialect: the words the forms, the auditors and the agencies use, each pointed at the section that defines it. Government terms are summarised here and linked to the defining section as the eCFR serves it — the section controls, not the summary. Terms marked 'ours' are this platform's own and are defined only here. Forms register · Sector Maps
A non-procurement transaction (grant, subaward, loan) at any tier, or a procurement contract under a federal award expected to equal or exceed $25,000 — the thing that triggers the suspension-and-debarment check.
Defined in: 2 CFR 180.200, 180.210, 180.220 · section as printed · used on: two-cfr-180-300, hud-2992, ad-1048, epa-5700-49
A person debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment, declared ineligible or voluntarily excluded — listed in SAM.gov Exclusions (the 'EPLS' successor).
Defined in: 2 CFR 180.935, 180.940 · section as printed · used on: sam-reps-certs, two-cfr-180-300
Debarment is an action by a debarring official excluding a person for a fixed period; suspension is an immediate, temporary exclusion pending proceedings.
Defined in: 2 CFR 180.925, 180.1015; FAR 9.403 · section as printed · used on: sam-reps-certs, far-52-209-6-subcontract
A participant below the recipient — a subrecipient, a contractor's subcontractor — to whom the exclusion rules flow down.
Defined in: 2 CFR 180.330; 2 CFR 180.300 · section as printed · used on: hud-2992, ad-1048, fhwa-1273
A recipient or subrecipient that provides a subaward to a subrecipient to carry out part of a federal program.
Defined in: 2 CFR 200.1 (definitions) · section as printed · used on: sf-sac, two-cfr-180-300
A subrecipient carries out part of the federal program and is subject to its requirements; a contractor provides goods or services for the recipient's own use. The pass-through entity decides case by case.
Defined in: 2 CFR 200.1; 2 CFR 200.331 · section as printed · used on: sf-sac, far-52-204-10
The organisation-wide audit required when a non-federal entity expends $1,000,000 or more in federal awards in its fiscal year ($750,000 for years beginning before 1 Oct 2024); filed at the Federal Audit Clearinghouse on the SF-SAC.
Defined in: 2 CFR 200.501; 2 CFR 200.512 · section as printed · used on: sf-sac
An auditor's reported deficiency in a single audit, numbered by audit year and sequence (e.g., 2025-003), with its compliance requirement type and whether it is a material weakness or a repeat.
Defined in: 2 CFR 200.516 · section as printed · used on: sf-sac
The OMB Compliance Supplement's lettered requirement categories: I = Procurement and Suspension and Debarment; M = Subrecipient Monitoring; A = Activities Allowed or Unallowed; B = Allowable Costs; N = Special Tests and Provisions; L = Reporting; E = Eligibility.
Defined in: OMB Compliance Supplement (2 CFR 200 App. XI), Part 3 · used on: sf-sac, two-cfr-180-300
Auditing terms for how serious an internal-control deficiency is; a material weakness is one where a material misstatement or noncompliance could occur and not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
Defined in: 2 CFR 200.516(a); AICPA AU-C 265 / GAGAS · section as printed · used on: sf-sac
A finding the auditor reports as a repeat of a prior-year finding on the same program; FAC prints a repeat flag and the prior reference.
Defined in: 2 CFR 200.511; 2 CFR 200.516(b) · section as printed · used on: sf-sac
The pass-through entity's written response to a subrecipient's audit finding, due within six months of FAC acceptance.
Defined in: 2 CFR 200.521; 2 CFR 200.332(e) · section as printed · used on: sf-sac
The contracting officer's determination that a prospective contractor has adequate resources, a satisfactory record of integrity and business ethics, and is otherwise qualified — a judgment no registry read makes.
Defined in: FAR 9.103, 9.104-1 · section as printed · used on: sam-reps-certs, far-52-209-7
The Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System: proceedings, terminations and non-responsibility determinations, filed by contractors and agencies through SAM.
Defined in: FAR 9.104-6; FAR 52.209-7, 52.209-9 · section as printed · used on: far-52-209-7
Unique Entity Identifier — the 12-character SAM.gov identifier that replaced the DUNS number in 2022; the key most federal records use.
Defined in: 2 CFR 25.315; FAR 4.605 · section as printed · used on: sam-reps-certs, far-52-204-7
The offeror's statements in SAM (FAR 52.204-8 and the provisions it lists) made annually and at each offer.
Defined in: FAR 4.1201; FAR 52.204-8 · section as printed · used on: sam-reps-certs
The wage rates the Secretary of Labor determines for a class of laborers in a locality, incorporated into Davis-Bacon covered contracts.
Defined in: 29 CFR 1.2; 29 CFR 5.2 · section as printed · used on: wh-347, fhwa-1273, hud-4010
The weekly payroll each contractor and subcontractor submits on covered work with a signed statement that it is correct and complete.
Defined in: 29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(ii) · section as printed · used on: wh-347, sf-1413
Persons and firms debarred under Davis-Bacon or the Service Contract Act, to whom no covered contract may be awarded; published by WHD.
Defined in: 29 CFR 5.12 · section as printed · used on: wh-347, fhwa-1273
An OIG action barring federal health care program payment for items or services furnished, ordered or prescribed by the excluded person; listed in the List of Excluded Individuals/Entities.
Defined in: 42 CFR 1001.1901; 42 U.S.C. 1320a-7 · section as printed · used on: cms-855, medicaid-455, ma-fdr, mco-438-608
Medicaid enrollment terms for who must be disclosed on the state's form — owners of 5% or more, officers, directors, managing employees, agents.
Defined in: 42 CFR 455.101 · section as printed · used on: medicaid-455, mco-438-608
The state Medicaid agency's duty to check the LEIE, SAM and other databases at enrollment, re-enrollment and monthly.
Defined in: 42 CFR 455.436 · section as printed · used on: medicaid-455, cms-855
Medicare Advantage / Part D terms for the sponsor's contracted parties, all of which the compliance program must screen before hire or contract and monthly.
Defined in: 42 CFR 422.2; 42 CFR 423.4; 42 CFR 422.503(b)(4)(vi)(F) · section as printed · used on: ma-fdr
The CMS-855 Section 3 category: convictions, exclusions, revocations, license suspensions and similar, which the applicant must list.
Defined in: 42 CFR 424.502; CMS-855 instructions · section as printed · used on: cms-855
Equipment and services from the named Chinese companies and their affiliates that federal contractors represent they do not provide or use.
Defined in: FAR 52.204-25(a); FAR 52.204-26 · section as printed · used on: sam-reps-certs
DCSA's determination about a cleared company's foreign interests; the SF-328 asks the facts, DCSA decides.
Defined in: 32 CFR 117.11; 32 CFR 117.3 · section as printed · used on: sf-328
Goods mined, produced or manufactured wholly or in part in Xinjiang, or by a UFLPA Entity List party, are presumed made with forced labor and barred unless the importer rebuts it.
Defined in: Pub. L. 117-78 §3; 19 U.S.C. 1307 · used on: cbp-form-28
The Federal Register notice an agency publishes to create or revise a form, and the OMB number the approved form must display.
Defined in: 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.; 5 CFR 1320.5 · section as printed · used on: sf-424b, hud-2992, wh-347, cms-855
A dated, SHA-256-hashed record of what the official files printed under an exact name or key on the read date, with the source and file date under every row and the re-run line. It is not a determination about the party. It is a read receipt, not a payment, bank, filing-acknowledgement, ERP or voucher receipt: it proves what a source printed, not that money moved, an expense was incurred or a form was filed.
Defined in: Alpha Covenant Holdings (our term) · used on: screening, roster, payment-time
Shown exactly as the agency's file or page printed it on the read date — no normalisation that changes meaning, no inference.
Defined in: Alpha Covenant Holdings (our term) · used on: every receipt
A source that did not respond, refused automated reads, or was rate-limited on the read date. Printed as such with the official link — never counted as zero or 'no result'.
Defined in: Alpha Covenant Holdings (our term) · used on: every receipt, construction, record-history
A row whose printed name matches the name read. A candidate is an ambiguity to resolve with an official key, not a finding of identity.
Defined in: Alpha Covenant Holdings (our term) · used on: screening, your-record
Records from different agencies placed under one key without inferring anything from the combination; agencies do not validate one another.
Defined in: Alpha Covenant Holdings (our term) · used on: screening, record-history, construction
The authority context for one check — the regulation, who it binds, when, and the record it expects — without a legal conclusion.
Defined in: Alpha Covenant Holdings (our term) · used on: duty-sheets, forms
A form-to-duty reference document for a named situation: the form lines, the Duty Sheet behind each, the record each rests on, what a read cannot prove.
Defined in: Alpha Covenant Holdings (our term) · used on: maps
A roster's own dated records counted against the receipt steps of the forms it named: rows with a dated record, none held, source silent — dates, never a grade.
Defined in: Alpha Covenant Holdings (our term) · used on: roster, batch
Not legal definitions for any purpose beyond reading these pages; not advice. Where a summary and the cited section differ, the section is right and the summary is a correction waiting to be filed. · Corrections