Government Spending: Federal Budget & Procurement Terminology and Codes
A free market-structure glossary of U.S. federal budget and procurement terms, thresholds, and classification codes — outlays vs. obligations, discretionary vs. mandatory spending, NAICS and PSC codes, the FAR, the micro-purchase and simplified acquisition thresholds, and identifiers like UEI and CAGE. Definitions are drawn from the FAR, OMB Circulars, and Treasury guidance. Platform-curated public-domain reference data, free to use.
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"records": [
{
"term": "Outlays",
"category": "Budget concept",
"reference": "OMB Circular A-11",
"definition": "Actual payments the government makes during a fiscal year to liquidate obligations"
},
{
"term": "Budget authority",
"category": "Budget concept",
"reference": "Congressional Budget Act",
"definition": "Legal authority granted by law for agencies to incur financial obligations"
},
{
"term": "Obligation",
"category": "Budget concept",
"reference": "OMB Circular A-11",
"definition": "A binding agreement (such as a contract or grant award) that will result in outlays"
},
{
"term": "Discretionary spending",
"category": "Spending type",
"reference": "Congressional Budget Office",
"definition": "Spending set annually through the appropriations process"
},
{
"term": "Mandatory spending",
"category": "Spending type",
"reference": "Congressional Budget Office",
"definition": "Spending governed by eligibility rules and formulas, such as Social Security and Medicare"
},
{
"term": "Fiscal year (FY)",
"category": "Budget concept",
"reference": "31 U.S.C. 1102",
"definition": "The federal budget year running October 1 through September 30"
},
{
"term": "Continuing resolution (CR)",
"category": "Appropriations",
"reference": "Congressional Research Service",
"definition": "Temporary legislation that funds agencies when regular appropriations are not enacted"
},
{
"term": "FAR",
"category": "Procurement rule",
"reference": "Title 48 CFR",
"definition": "Federal Acquisition Regulation — the primary rulebook for federal procurement"
},
{
"term": "Micro-purchase threshold",
"category": "Threshold",
"reference": "FAR 2.101",
"definition": "Simplified purchase ceiling of 10,000 USD for most supplies and services"
},
{
"term": "Simplified acquisition threshold (SAT)",
"category": "Threshold",
"reference": "FAR 2.101",
"definition": "Dollar ceiling of 250,000 USD below which simplified procedures apply"
},
{
"term": "NAICS code",
"category": "Classification",
"reference": "U.S. Census Bureau",
"definition": "North American Industry Classification System code identifying a contract's industry"
},
{
"term": "PSC (Product and Service Code)",
"category": "Classification",
"reference": "GSA PSC Manual",
"definition": "Four-character code classifying what product or service is being bought"
},
{
"term": "UEI (Unique Entity Identifier)",
"category": "Identifier",
"reference": "SAM.gov",
"definition": "12-character SAM.gov identifier that replaced the DUNS number in 2022"
},
{
"term": "CAGE code",
"category": "Identifier",
"reference": "Defense Logistics Agency",
"definition": "Commercial and Government Entity code assigned to entities doing business with the government"
},
{
"term": "IDIQ",
"category": "Contract vehicle",
"reference": "FAR 16.504",
"definition": "Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite-Quantity contract vehicle for recurring needs over a period"
}
],
"sources": [
{
"url": "https://www.acquisition.gov/far",
"name": "Federal Acquisition Regulation (Acquisition.gov)"
},
{
"url": "https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/information-for-agencies/circulars",
"name": "OMB Circular A-11"
},
{
"url": "https://sam.gov",
"name": "SAM.gov Entity Information"
}
],
"category": "glossary",
"vertical": "gov-spending",
"data_note": "All records are public-domain facts compiled from the cited sources as of the asOf date. This content is authored and served by the platform itself — it is not seller data, so the marketplace's zero-storage promise about seller datasets is unaffected.",
"record_count": 15,
"what_this_is": "A platform-published open-data listing curated by Open Data Desk, the marketplace's in-house public-data seller. It is real free inventory: it counts in marketplace statistics and is purchasable for $0 through the normal purchase flow, which delivers this payload with an Ed25519-signed receipt.",
"record_schema": {
"term": "The budget, appropriations, or procurement term or code",
"category": "Topical grouping for the term",
"reference": "Authoritative source that defines the term",
"definition": "Plain-language meaning"
},
"buyer_use_cases": [
"Standardize procurement terminology across a proposal or contracts team",
"Train staff on the thresholds and codes that govern federal buying",
"Map incoming award data to NAICS and PSC classifications correctly"
]
}The full dataset is delivered after purchase. Fingerprint: sha256:a47e117ffad85676365940dcb25b9888406e0c2e3d32ff5ee1090e007199338d
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