Administrator. The Administrator or Deputy Administrator of NASA.

Agreement officer. A Government employee (usually a Contracting Officer or Grant Officer) who has been delegated the authority to negotiate, award, or administer the cooperative agreement. Most often Contracting Officers are delegated this authority for the more complex cooperative agreement projects.

Assistant Administrator for Procurement. The head of the Office of Procurement, NASA Headquarters (Code H).

Cash contributions. The cash invested in a given program or project by the Federal Government and/or recipient. The recipient's cash contributions may include money contributed by third parties.

Closeout. The process by which NASA determines that all applicable administrative actions and all required work of the award have been completed by the recipient and NASA.

Commercial item. The definition in FAR 2.101 is applicable.

Consortium. A consortium is a group of organizations that enter into an agreement to collaborate for the purposes of the cooperative agreement with NASA. The agreement to collaborate can take the form of a legal entity such as a partnership or joint venture but it is not necessary that such an entity be created. A consortium may be made up of firms that normally compete for commercial or Government business or may be made up of firms that perform complementary functions in a given industry.

Cooperative agreement. As defined by 31 U.S.C. 6305, cooperative agreements are financial assistance instruments used to stimulate or support activities for authorized purposes and in which the Government participates substantially in the performance of the effort. This Part 1274 covers only cooperative agreements with commercial firms where resource sharing is involved. Cooperative agreements with other types of organizations are covered by 14 CFR Part 1260.

Cooperative agreement notice (CAN). Publication on Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) or NASA Acquisition Internet Service (NAIS) websites advertising the solicitation of competitive proposals for the award of a cooperative agreement.

Cost sharing. Arrangement whereby the Government and the recipient share the funding requirements of a program or project at an agreed upon ratio or percentage (normally 50/50). Normally, the Government's payment of its share of the costs is contingent upon the accomplishment of tangible milestones (preferred method). Any payment arrangement that is based on a method other than the accomplishment of tangible milestones (e.g., a reimbursable arrangement where NASA pays a share of incurred costs, regardless of the accomplishment of tangible milestones) must be approved through the deviation process discussed in 1274.106.

Date of completion. The date on which all work under an award is completed or the date on the award document, or any supplement or amendment thereto, on which NASA sponsorship ends.

Days. Calendar days, unless otherwise indicated.

General purpose equipment. Equipment which is usable for other than research, medical, scientific, or technical activities, whether or not special modifications are needed to make them suitable for a particular purpose. Examples of general purpose equipment include office equipment and furnishings, air conditioning equipment, reproduction and printing equipment, motor vehicles, and automatic data processing equipment.

Government furnished equipment. Equipment in the possession of, or acquired directly by, the Government and subsequently delivered, or otherwise made available, to a recipient and equipment procured by the recipient with Government funds under a cooperative agreement. In most cases, Government furnished equipment will be counted as part of the Government's in-kind or non-cash contributions to the cooperative agreement for the purpose of determining the share ratio.

Incremental funding. A method of funding a cooperative agreement where the funds initially allotted to the cooperative agreement are less than the award amount. Additional funding is added as described in §1274.918.

Non-cash or in-kind contributions. May be in the form of personnel resources (where cost accounting methods allow accumulation of such costs), real property, equipment, supplies and other expendable property, and the value of goods and services directly benefiting and specifically identifiable to the project or program. Costs incurred by NASA to provide the services of one of its support contractors to perform part of NASA's requirements under a cooperative agreement shall be included as part of NASA's cost share, and will be counted as an in-kind contribution to the cooperative agreement.

Recipient. An organization receiving financial assistance under a cooperative agreement to carry out a project or program. A recipient may be an individual firm, including sole proprietor, partnership, corporation, or a consortium of business entities.

Research misconduct is defined in 14 CFR 1275.101. NASA policies and procedures regarding Research misconduct are set out in 14 CFR part 1275, “Investigation of Research Misconduct.”

Resource contributions. The total value of resources provided by either party to the cooperative agreement including both cash and non-cash contributions.

Subcontracting dollar threshold. The dollar amount of the cooperative agreement subject to the small business subcontracting policies (includes small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, historically underutilized small business, small disadvantaged business, women-owned business concerns, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and minority educational institutions). For cooperative agreements, the dollar threshold to which the small business subcontracting policies apply, is established by the total amount of NASA's cash contributions.

Suspension. An action by NASA or the recipient that temporarily discontinues efforts under an award, pending corrective action or pending a decision to terminate the award.

Technical officer. The official of the cognizant NASA office who is responsible for monitoring the technical aspects of the work under a cooperative agreement. A Contracting Officer's Technical Representative may serve as a Technical Officer.

Termination. The cancellation of a cooperative agreement in whole or in part, by either party at any time prior to the date of completion.

[67 FR 45790, July 10, 2002, as amended at 70 FR 28809, May 19, 2005]