A transform surface is a copy of the original surface with a different position, rotation, or scale.
Surface created as a transform
To create a transform surface:
The NURBS object must contain at least one surface.
To move the transform surface, click and drag the surface you want to duplicate. To rotate or scale the transform surface, click the parent surface, go to the Surface sub-object level in the modifier stack, and then rotate or scale the transform surface.
When you use Move to create the transform surface, it simply copies the parent. (It doesn't exaggerate curvature as an offset surface does.)
Axis constraints don't apply to the creation of transform surfaces. You can click to create the surface in place; then once it is created, transform it using constraints.
You can later transform the transform surface as a surface sub-object, and you can animate surface sub-object transforms.