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Benefit from over 65 years of experience
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 Those in business with the government can’t help but be confused by the many types of codes the government uses to identify, classify and inventory the products and services that it uses. It’s important, however, that you understand the importance and purpose of each type. Learn more about: Federal Supply Codes (FSC)The FSC (Federal Supply Code) is a four-digit code used by government buying offices to classify and identify the products, and supplies that the government uses and buys. It's important to understand which FSCs apply to your products so that you can find opportunities. You'll need to know the FSCs that apply to your products in order to register to do business with the government. Government buying offices have responsibility for specific products, you'll also use FSCs to identify potential buying offices. You can also do marketing research based on the FSC by reviewing forecasts issued by the buying offices. Product and Service Codes (PSC)Service codes are alpha-numeric, from A to Z. I and O are not used in PSCs. Three numbers are added to the alphabetic character to further define what type of service is needed. Two documents can help you decide what codes to use to locate government contracting opportunities. You'll use the codes to help your own searches on federal government web sites, and in your profiles to have appropriate bid leads pushed out to you by e-mail. The Product and Service Code Manual lists the codes used to index all services, for example: construction, architecture and engineering, information technology, management, security, and so on. If you are in the services industries this is the resource for you. The PSC Manual also contains the same supply and equipment codes as in the H2 Handbook (below), so a manufacturer, dealer or distributor can use this book as well. The Product and Services Codes Manual is free, and downloadable from this web site. Or you can call the Federal Procurement Data Center (FPDC) at 202.401.1529 to request a hard copy. You may also search for applicable FSC codes by keyword on the Defense Logistics Information Service (DLIS) web site. Look up your end products and/or services in the manual and make note of the codes. Knowing the codes that apply to your business will not only help you identify the government buying offices that have a need for your product or service, but will also help you register and search for bid opportunities.
The H2 Handbook lists the codes used to index supplies and equipment (things) in the federal supply system. If your business is a job shop, manufacturer, dealer or distributor this is the resource for you. National Stock Number (NSN)The NSN is a 13-digit number that the federal government assigns, for purposes of identification and inventory control, to every piece of supply, equipment and material that it uses and buys. It works like a federal cataloging system. Note: Services don’t fit into this model since they aren’t inventoried. See the FSC information above. Understanding the NSN is key to opening up doors of 0pportunity for you: it helps you identify the offices and agencies that have control over and/or buy any item. Each item’s NSN is divided into four sections, each with specific meaning, 4444-22-333-4444. The first four digits are the Federal Supply Code (FSC), which categorizes the item. The next two digits specifies the country that buys item. The last seven numbers, called the National Item Identification Number (NIIN), are used to index NSNs. There are two good web resources for NSN information.
DefenseData Defense Supply Center Columbus (DSCC) Search 1.7 million active National Stock Number in the DSCC managed database. |
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