# 3402.101 3402.101 Definitions.
As used in this chapter—
*Chief of the Contracting Office* or *COCO* means an official serving in the contracting activity (Contracts and Acquisition Management (CAM) or FSA Acquisitions) as the manager of a group that awards and administers contracts for a principal office of the Department. See also definition of *Head of the Contracting Activity* or *HCA* in this section.
*Department* or *ED* means the United States Department of Education.
*Head of the Contracting Activity* or *HCA* means those officials within the Department who have responsibility for and manage an acquisition organization and usually hold unlimited procurement authority. The Executive Director, Federal Student Aid Acquisitions, is the HCA for FSA. The Director, Contracts and Acquisitions Management (CAM), is the HCA for all other Departmental program offices and all boards, commissions, and councils under the management control of the Department.
*Performance-Based Organization* or *PBO* is the office within the Department that is mandated by Public Law 105-244 to carry out Federal student assistance or aid programs and report to Congress on an annual basis. It may also be referred to as “Federal Student Aid.”
*Requiring activity* means the principal office charged with meeting or supporting a mission and delivering requirements. The requiring activity is responsible for obtaining funding or developing the program objectives. The requiring activity may also be the organizational unit that submits a written requirement or statement of need for services required by a contract.
*Senior Procurement Executive* or *SPE* means the single agency official appointed as such by the head of the agency and delegated broad responsibility for acquisition functions, including issuing agency acquisition policy and reporting on acquisitions agency-wide. The SPE also acts as the official one level above the contracting officer when the HCA is acting as a contracting officer.