---
kind: "section"
citation: "41 U.S.C. § 4301"
title: "41"
title_heading: "Public Contracts"
number: "4301"
heading: "Definitions"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/41/4301"
units:
  - "Subtitle I — Federal Procurement Policy"
  - "Division C — Procurement"
  - "Chapter 43 — Allowable Costs"
---

# §4301. Definitions


In this chapter:

- (1) **Compensation.—** The term “compensation”, for a [fiscal year](#3), means the total amount of wages, salary, bonuses, and deferred compensation for the [fiscal year](#3), whether paid, earned, or otherwise accruing, as recorded in an employer’s cost accounting records for the [fiscal year](#3).
- (2) **Covered contract.—** The term “covered contract” means a contract for an amount in excess of $500,000 that is entered into by an executive agency, except that the term does not include a fixed-price contract without cost incentives or any firm fixed-price contract for the purchase of commercial products or commercial services.
- (3) **Fiscal year.—** The term “fiscal year” means a fiscal year established by a contractor for accounting purposes.
- (4) **Senior executive.—** The term “senior executive”, with respect to a contractor, means the 5 most highly compensated employees in management positions at each home office and each segment of the contractor.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 111–350, § 3, Jan. 4, 2011, 124 Stat. 3784; Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title VIII, § 836(b)(17), Aug. 13, 2018, 132 Stat. 1864.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised<br>Section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 4301(1) | 41:256(m)(1). | June 30, 1949, ch. 288, title III, § 306(m), as added Pub. L. 105–85, title VIII, § 808(b)(2), Nov. 18, 1997, 111 Stat. 1836; Pub. L. 105–261, title VIII, § 804(b), Oct. 17, 1998, 112 Stat. 2083. |
| 4301(2) | 41:256(l)(1). | June 30, 1949, ch. 288, title III, § 306(l)(1), as added Pub. L. 100–700, § 8(a)(1), Nov. 19, 1988, 102 Stat. 4634; Pub. L. 103–355, title II, § 2151, Oct. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 3315. |
| 4301(3) | 41:256(m)(3). |  |
| 4301(4) | 41:256(m)(2). |  |

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2018—Par. (2). Pub. L. 115–232 substituted “commercial products or commercial services” for “commercial items”.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date of 2018 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 115–232 effective Jan. 1, 2020, subject to a savings provision, see section 836(h) of Pub. L. 115–232, set out as an Effective Date of 2018 Amendment; Savings Provision note under section 453b of Title 6, Domestic Security.