Contract Abbreviations
57 abbreviations · part of Legal Abbreviations
Abbreviations for agreements, clauses and contracting terms used in commercial deals, mergers and acquisitions, technology and data licensing, research collaborations, government procurement and construction. Many name a type of document (NDA, MSA, SOW) whose legal effect depends on its actual wording rather than its label: a memorandum of understanding can be binding, and parts of a letter of intent often are. Entries are general information, not legal advice.
| Abbreviation | Stands for | Description |
|---|---|---|
| AIA | American Institute of Architects | Professional organization for architects in the United States, which sets ethics standards, publishes the AIA contract documents widely used in construction and awards… |
| APA | Asset purchase agreement | Acquisition contract in which a buyer purchases selected assets of a business, and assumes only specified liabilities, instead of buying the company's stock. |
| AUP | Acceptable use policy | Rules defining what users may and may not do with a network, platform, cloud service or employer's computer systems, such as bans on spam, malware, illegal content and… |
| BAA | Business associate agreement | Contract required under HIPAA between a covered entity, such as a hospital, health plan or physician practice, and a vendor that creates, receives, stores or transmits… |
| BATNA | Best alternative to a negotiated agreement | The most advantageous course of action a party can take if negotiations fail, such as accepting another offer, going to trial or walking away. |
| CA | Confidentiality agreement | Name used especially in mergers and acquisitions and commercial real estate for the agreement a prospective buyer signs before receiving confidential information about… |
| CDA | Confidential disclosure agreement | Confidentiality contract under a name favored by universities, research institutions and pharmaceutical companies, typically signed before discussing unpublished… |
| CIIAA | Confidential information and invention assignment agreement | Employee or contractor agreement, common in startups, that combines confidentiality obligations with an assignment of inventions and other intellectual property to the… |
| CISG | United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods | Treaty adopted in Vienna in 1980 that supplies uniform rules for contracts for the sale of goods between parties in different countries. |
| CLA | Contributor license agreement | Agreement that contributors to an open-source project sign, granting the project or its sponsoring company a license to, or ownership of, their contributions, often… |
| CPFF | Cost-plus-fixed-fee | Cost-reimbursement contract type in which the government pays the contractor's allowable costs plus a fee fixed at the outset, which does not change with actual costs. |
| CRADA | Cooperative research and development agreement | Agreement between a US federal laboratory and a company, university or other partner to collaborate on research and development. |
| CTA | Clinical trial agreement | Contract between a sponsor and a research site, or between collaborating institutions, setting terms for conducting a clinical trial: budget, payment schedule… |
| DFARS | Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement | Department of Defense supplement to the Federal Acquisition Regulation, in Chapter 2 of Title 48 of the CFR, adding rules specific to military procurement. |
| DPA | Data processing agreement | Contract between a business that controls personal data and a vendor that processes it on the business's behalf, specifying the subject matter, duration, security… |
| EPC | Engineering, procurement and construction | Contract model in which one contractor takes responsibility for designing, buying equipment and materials for, and building a project, such as a power plant, refinery… |
| EULA | End-user license agreement | License between a software publisher and the person installing or using the software, granting limited rights to use it rather than selling a copy. |
| FAR | Federal Acquisition Regulation | Primary rules governing how US executive agencies buy goods and services, codified in Chapter 1 of Title 48 of the Code of Federal Regulations. |
| FFP | Firm-fixed-price | Pricing arrangement in which the contractor agrees to deliver for a set price that does not change with its actual costs, placing maximum cost risk on the contractor. |
| FIDIC | International Federation of Consulting Engineers | Geneva-based federation, founded in 1913, whose standard construction contract forms are used worldwide, especially on international and development-bank-funded… |
| GMP | Guaranteed maximum price | Construction contract arrangement in which the contractor is paid its actual costs plus a fee up to a capped total, absorbing overruns beyond the cap unless the scope… |
| IDIQ | Indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity | Type of government contract that sets a minimum and maximum quantity of supplies or services over a fixed period, with specific work ordered through task orders or… |
| ISDA | International Swaps and Derivatives Association | Trade association whose standard ISDA Master Agreement is the dominant contract for over-the-counter derivatives such as interest rate swaps and credit default swaps. |
| JVA | Joint venture agreement | Contract by which two or more parties combine resources for a specific business purpose while remaining separate businesses, setting out contributions, governance… |
| LDs | Liquidated damages | Fixed sum, stated in the contract, that a party must pay for a specified breach, most often a daily amount for late completion of a construction project. |
| LOI | Letter of intent | Preliminary document outlining the main terms of a proposed transaction, such as an acquisition, lease or joint venture, before the parties negotiate a definitive… |
| LPA | Limited partnership agreement | Governing contract of a limited partnership, most often a private equity, venture capital or hedge fund, that sets out the rights of the general partner, which manages… |
| MAC | Material adverse change | Contract clause, common in merger and loan agreements, that lets a party refuse to close or declare a default if the other party suffers a significant negative change… |
| MAE | Material adverse effect | Defined term in acquisition agreements describing an event serious enough to excuse the buyer from closing, usually tied to the target's representations or a closing… |
| MNDA | Mutual nondisclosure agreement | Two-way confidentiality agreement in which each party may both disclose and receive confidential information and each owes the same duties of secrecy and limited use. |
| MOA | Memorandum of agreement | Written document setting out terms that parties have agreed to, often used by government agencies, tribes, universities and military units to define cooperative… |
| MOU | Memorandum of understanding | Document recording the shared intentions and main terms of an arrangement, used widely between governments, agencies, universities, nonprofits and companies. |
| MSA | Master services agreement | Framework contract setting the general legal terms, such as payment, confidentiality, warranties, indemnities, liability limits and dispute resolution, for an ongoing… |
| MTA | Material transfer agreement | Contract governing the transfer of tangible research materials, such as cell lines, antibodies, plasmids, chemical compounds or mouse strains, between institutions. |
| NCA | Noncompete agreement | Agreement in which an employee or a business seller promises not to compete with the employer or buyer for a set period within a defined area or market after the… |
| NDA | Nondisclosure agreement | Contract in which one or both parties agree to keep specified information confidential and use it only for a stated purpose, such as evaluating a deal, a job or a… |
| NTP | Notice to proceed | Written notice from an owner or government agency authorizing the contractor to begin work, which usually starts the contract performance period. |
| PIIA | Proprietary information and inventions assignment agreement | Agreement, usually signed by employees and contractors when they start work at a technology company, that protects the company's confidential information and assigns to… |
| PSA | Purchase and sale agreement | Contract for buying and selling real estate or business assets that sets the price, deposit, due diligence period, conditions to closing, title requirements and… |
| R&W | Representations and warranties | Statements of fact one party makes in a contract about itself, its business or the subject of the deal, such as financial statements, legal compliance, title to assets… |
| RFP | Request for proposal | Formal document in which an organization describes a project or need and invites vendors to submit detailed proposals covering approach, timeline and price. |
| ROFO | Right of first offer | Contractual right requiring an owner who wants to sell an asset to first offer it to the right holder, who may make or accept an offer before the owner approaches others. |
| ROFR | Right of first refusal | Contractual right giving its holder the option to buy property, shares or another asset on the same terms as a third party's offer before the owner may sell to that… |
| RWI | Representations and warranties insurance | Insurance policy, usually bought by the buyer in an acquisition, that pays for losses caused by breaches of the seller's representations and warranties. |
| SAFE | Simple agreement for future equity | Startup financing instrument in which an investor pays money now for the right to receive shares in a future priced equity round, usually at a discount or subject to a… |
| SCCs | Standard contractual clauses | Model contract terms adopted by the European Commission that allow personal data to be transferred from the EU to countries without an adequate level of data protection. |
| SHA | Shareholders' agreement | Contract among some or all shareholders of a company, often joined by the company itself, governing share transfers, board appointments, voting arrangements, minority… |
| SLA | Service-level agreement | Contract or contract section that defines the measurable level of service a provider commits to, such as 99.9 percent uptime, a four-hour response time or a two-day… |
| SNDA | Subordination, non-disturbance and attornment agreement | Three-way agreement among a commercial tenant, its landlord and the landlord's lender. |
| SOW | Statement of work | Document defining the specific deliverables, tasks, timeline, acceptance criteria and pricing for a project performed under a broader services agreement. |
| SPA | Stock purchase agreement | Acquisition contract in which a buyer purchases the shares of a target company from its shareholders, taking the company as a whole with all its assets and liabilities. |
| SRA | Sponsored research agreement | Contract under which a company funds research at a university or research institute, specifying the project, budget, reporting, publication rights and ownership or… |
| T&C | Terms and conditions | Standard contractual terms governing a sale, a service or use of a website or app, often presented on a separate page or the back of an order form. |
| T&M | Time and materials | Pricing method in which the client pays fixed hourly rates for labor, including overhead and profit, plus the actual cost of materials. |
| ToS | Terms of service | Agreement users must accept to use an online service, app or platform, setting rules for acceptable conduct, account termination, content licenses, fees, disclaimers… |
| TSA | Transition services agreement | Agreement under which the seller in an acquisition or corporate carve-out keeps providing services such as IT, payroll, accounting or logistics to the divested business… |
| UCC | Uniform Commercial Code | Model body of law governing commercial transactions, drafted by the American Law Institute and the Uniform Law Commission and enacted, with local variations, in every… |