Contents
Cal Poly Pomona

Definitions

External funding acronyms and terms

Confused by the alphabet soup surrounding grants?  Below are some definitions to help you interpret grant-speak.  If you have any suggestions for additions to this list, please contact ORSP.

OMB Circular: Cost Principles for Educational Institutions
Animal Care and Use Committee (also called IACUC elsewhere) - campus committee that reviews protocols for animal subject research
Air Force Office of Scientific Research
AOR:
Authorized Organizational Representative - the person legally authorized to commit the organization to a project.
Academic Research Enhancement Award - NIH grant program
BAA:
Broad Agency Announcement
Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement - NSF grant program
CDC:
Center for Disease Control - federal agency
CFDA:
Code of Federal Domestic Assistance
CFR:
Code of Federal Regulations
co-PI:
Co-Principal Investigator
COS:
Community of Science - funding opportunity search service
Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service - funding arm of USDA
Defense Advanced Research Project Agency
Department of Health and Human Services (also HHS) - federal agency
DoD:
Department of Defense - federal agency
DoE:
Department of Energy - federal agency
Department of Education - federal agency
DoJ:
Department of Justice - federal agency
EPA:
Environmental Protection Agency - federal agency
Equipment:
 The federal definition of "equipment" means an article of nonexpendable, tangible personal property having a useful life of more than one year that has a cost (including tax, shipping, and installation) of more than $5000.  Anything under this threshold is considered Supplies.
F&A:
Facilities and Administrative costs - also called indirect costs or IDC
FAR:
Federal Acquisition Regulation
Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Schools - US Dept. of Education grant program
FWA:
Federal Wide Assurance - federal approval number for each IRB
GPG:
Grant Proposal Guide (NSF)
Hispanic Association of Colleges & Universities
Historically Black College and University
HSI :
Hispanic-Serving Institution
HUD:
Department of Housing and Urban Development - federal agency
ICR:
Indirect Cost Recovery - what we collect in F&A
IDC:
Indirect costs - also called F&A or Facilities and Administrative costs
IRB:
Institutional Review Board - campus committee that reviews protocols for human subject research
Minority Access to Research Careers - NIH grant program
Minority Biomedical Research Support - NIH grant program
MRI:
Major Research Instrumentation - NSF grant program
MSI:
Minority-Serving Institution
MTDC:
Modified Total Direct Cost - cost base for applying an F&A rate that generally includes all costs, except capital equipment, leasing costs, tuition remission, participant support costs, and subrecipient costs above the first $25,000.
National Council of University Research Administrators - professional society
NEA:
National Endowment for the Arts - federal agency
NEH:
National Endowment for the Humanities - federal agency
NIH:
National Institutes of Health - federal agency
NIJ:
National Institute of Justice - federal agency
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - federal agency
NSA:
National Security Agency - federal agency
NSF:
National Science Foundation - federal agency
OCR:
Office for Civil Rights
OIG:
Office of the Inspector General (or just IG)
OMB:
Office of Management and Budget - US government office that sets rules for receiving and administering federal grants
PA:
Program Announcement
PD:
Program Director
PHS:
Public Health Service
PHS-398:
Proposal forms used by NIH
PI:
Principal Investigator
R01:
NIH Research Program Grant
R03:
NIH Small Grant Program
R21:
NIH Exploratory Research Grant
REU:
Research Experience for Undergrads - NSF grant program
RFA:
Request For Application
RFP:
Request For Proposal
Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement - NIH grant program
S&W:
Salaries and Wages - cost base for applying an F&A rate
SBA:
Small Business Administration - federal agency
SBIR:
Small Business Innovation Research
Support of Continuous Research Excellence - NIH grant program
SOW:
Statement of Work - needed for subcontracts
Funding opportunity search service
SRA:
Society of Research Administrators - professional society
STEM:
Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics
STTR:
Small Business Technology Transfer Program
TDC:
Total Direct Cost - cost base for applying an F&A rate
Time & Effort:
Official reports on the time and/or effort someone expends working on an externally funded project.  Also called Effort Reporting
United States Agency for International Development - federal agency
US Department of Agriculture - federal agency