NAICS & Federal Agency Code Lookup

NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) codes are six-digit numbers that classify every business in North America by industry. The federal government uses NAICS codes to organize procurement — every federal contract is tagged with at least one NAICS code to indicate what kind of work is being purchased.

For federal contractors, your NAICS codes determine three things: which contracts you can bid on, which small-business size standards apply (employees or annual revenue), and which set-aside programs you're eligible for. Picking the right primary NAICS during SAM.gov registration is one of the most consequential decisions a federal contractor makes.

The most common NAICS codes in federal procurement include 541512 (Computer Systems Design), 541511 (Custom Programming), 541330 (Engineering Services), 541611 (Management Consulting), and 541715 (R&D in Nanotechnology).

Federal agencies are identified by numeric codes in procurement systems. Top-tier Cabinet-level departments get short three-digit codes: 097 is the Department of Defense, 075 is HHS, 070 is DHS, 036 is the VA. Below the department level, hundreds of sub-agencies and contracting offices have longer alphanumeric codes (e.g., W912HQ for Army Contracting Command, SPE2D5 for DLA Aviation).

When researching federal contracts, you'll most often want the top-tier department code — the sub-agency level is mostly internal accounting. Pursight publishes contract intelligence pages for every Cabinet-level department showing top vendors, NAICS mix, recompete pipeline, and spending trends.

Common NAICS codes in federal contracting

Common federal agency codes