Federal contracting has its own vocabulary, and small differences in wording can change what a number means. A contract's "value" is not what the government has committed, and what it has committed is not what a company has earned. This glossary defines the terms we use on company pages, in rankings and in our analysis. Each entry has its own link, so you can point someone straight to a definition.

10-K
The annual report that U.S. public companies file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Item 1 (Business) and Item 1A (Risk Factors) usually describe a company's government customers, and the notes to the financial statements often break out revenue by customer. It is our source for each company's reported share.
Appropriation
A law passed by Congress that lets agencies spend money from the Treasury for set purposes. It is the most common form of budget authority. Some appropriations can be obligated only in one fiscal year; others stay available for several years.
Award ID
The identifier for a federal award. For contracts it is the Procurement Instrument Identifier (PIID). An order placed under a larger contract has its own PIID and is linked to the parent contract's ID. Our company pages link each top award to its USAspending record.
Backlog
A company's own measure of work it has been awarded but not yet performed. Many contractors split it into funded backlog, for which money has been obligated, and unfunded backlog, for which it has not. Each company defines backlog in its own way, so figures are not always comparable. Compare remaining performance obligations.
Budget authority
The legal power, granted by Congress, for an agency to make commitments that will lead to payments. Budget authority comes first, then obligations, then outlays.
Ceiling (contract)
The most the government may spend on a contract over its life, usually including all options. Headlines about a contract "worth" a large sum often cite the ceiling. The government may never spend that much, and on a multiple-award IDIQ the ceiling is shared by several companies.
Continuing resolution
A temporary funding law that keeps agencies running when Congress has not passed regular appropriations on time. It usually funds programs at or near the prior year's level and generally bars new programs. Long continuing resolutions can delay contract awards.
Cost-plus contract
A cost-reimbursement contract. The government pays the contractor's allowable costs plus a fee, which may be fixed or tied to performance through an incentive or award fee. It shifts the risk of cost overruns toward the government. Compare firm-fixed-price.
De-obligation
A reduction in money already obligated to a contract, recorded as a negative amount. It happens when work is cut, a contract ends early or funds go unused. De-obligations can appear years after the original award, and they can make a company's net obligations on an award negative for that year.
Department of War
A secondary name for the Department of Defense, authorized by an executive order in September 2025. The order did not by itself change the department's name in law. Some recent filings and federal documents use the newer name, so our 10-K search looks for both. This site uses Department of Defense.
Direct commercial sales
Sales of defense goods or services by a U.S. company directly to a foreign government, under an export license from the State Department. Unlike foreign military sales, the Department of Defense is not the buyer, so these sales do not appear in federal contract data.
Federal fiscal year
The government's accounting year, which runs from October 1 to September 30 and is named for the year in which it ends. Fiscal year 2026 ran from October 1, 2025, to September 30, 2026. We pair each company fiscal year with the federal fiscal year that ends inside it.
Firm-fixed-price contract
A contract with a set price that does not change with the contractor's actual costs. The contractor keeps any savings and absorbs any overruns. Compare cost-plus contract.
Foreign military sales (FMS)
A government-to-government program under which a foreign country buys U.S. defense equipment or services through the Department of Defense. The program is administered by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency. The Pentagon signs the contract with the U.S. company, and the foreign buyer pays for it. Some companies count FMS as U.S. government revenue and others as international revenue, which is why we publish an adjusted share where companies disclose FMS dollars.
Government shutdown (lapse in appropriations)
What happens when appropriations expire and neither regular funding nor a continuing resolution is in place. The Antideficiency Act bars agencies from committing money Congress has not provided, so affected agencies stop work that is not exempt. Contracts that are already funded may continue, but new awards and work that needs government staff or facilities can stop.
IDIQ contract
Indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract. It sets terms and a ceiling but not exact quantities. Money is obligated only when the agency places a task or delivery order. A single-award IDIQ goes to one company; a multiple-award IDIQ lets several companies compete for orders.
Joint venture
A separate company owned by two or more companies, such as United Launch Alliance or Bell Boeing. We do not split a joint venture's contract obligations between its owners or add them to either owner's total. We show them separately on each owner's page.
Modification
A change to an existing contract, such as added work, a new schedule, a price change or an exercised option. Each modification is recorded as a separate transaction with its own obligation amount, which may be positive or negative.
Obligation
A binding commitment by an agency to pay for goods or services, made when it signs a contract, places an order or exercises an option. Federal contract data on USAspending.gov is built mainly on obligations. An obligation is not the same as an outlay or a company's revenue.
Obligation ratio
Our cross-check measure: a company's matched contract obligations divided by its reported U.S. government revenue. A ratio near 1 means the two records roughly agree. We review any company whose ratio falls below 0.4 or above 2.0 before publishing its contract figures. See our explainer on why the numbers differ.
Option
A contract term that gives the government, not the contractor, the right to buy more or to extend the contract on set terms. Options are often included in a contract's headline value, but money is obligated only if and when the government exercises them.
Outlay
Cash the Treasury actually pays out. Outlays follow obligations, often months or years later, as invoices are paid and milestones are met. Outlays, not obligations, count toward the federal deficit.
Prime contract
A contract signed directly between the government and a company, the prime contractor. Federal contract data credits the full obligation to the prime, even when part of the work goes to subcontractors. Our contract figures count prime awards only.
Recipient
In USAspending.gov, the legal entity that receives an award, identified by its UEI. A large company may receive awards under many subsidiary names. USAspending links many recipients to a parent, and we use those links, along with reviewed name lists, to roll subsidiaries up to a public company.
Remaining performance obligations
A disclosure required under ASC 606: the revenue a company expects to recognize in the future from contracts already in place. It is a defined accounting measure, unlike backlog, and the two often differ.
Reported share
The percentage of total revenue that a company says came from the U.S. government, in its own 10-K and on its own definition. It is the primary measure on this site. Where a company gives no such figure, we show "not disclosed".
Revenue recognition (ASC 606)
The accounting rules that decide when a company counts income as earned. U.S. public companies follow Accounting Standards Codification Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, set by the Financial Accounting Standards Board. Most long-term government contracts are recognized over time as the work is performed, often in proportion to costs incurred, so revenue builds gradually rather than at the moment of award.
Subcontract
An agreement under which a company performs part of a prime contract for the prime contractor rather than for the government. Primes report their first-tier subawards separately, and that data is less complete than prime award data. Revenue a company earns as a subcontractor does not appear in its own prime obligations.
Task order
An order for services placed under an existing contract such as an IDIQ. An order for supplies is called a delivery order. Orders are where money is actually obligated under these contracts.
Termination for convenience
The government's right to end a contract, in whole or in part, when doing so is in its interest, even if the contractor has done nothing wrong. The contractor is generally paid for work performed and certain settlement costs, with reasonable profit on that work, but not profit on work never done. The rules are in Part 49 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), with contract clauses at FAR 52.249.
UEI (Unique Entity Identifier)
The 12-character ID the federal government assigns to every entity that registers to do business with it, issued through the System for Award Management (SAM.gov). The UEI replaced the DUNS number in April 2022. Our company pages list the UEIs we matched to each company.
USAspending.gov
The official public source of federal spending data, run by the Treasury's Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It was created under the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 and expanded by the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act) of 2014. Its contract data comes from the Federal Procurement Data System. Department of Defense contract data appears with a 90-day delay.
XBRL
eXtensible Business Reporting Language, a format that tags each number in a filing with a standard label so software can read it. We take each company's total revenue from the SEC's XBRL data. Companies rarely tag their U.S. government share, so a person reads it from the 10-K text.

For how these terms shape the figures on company pages, read our explainer on obligations, outlays and revenue and our methodology.