Guide

How to pick NAICS codes for SAM.gov (and why it matters more than you think)

Your NAICS codes shape which notices your searches catch and how agencies read your business. On any given bid, the code on the solicitation decides whether you count as small. Ten minutes here saves a lot of missed work later.

What a NAICS code is

NAICS is the North American Industry Classification System. Each six-digit code describes a type of business, like a kind of construction, consulting or repair. The contracting officer puts one on nearly every solicitation to describe the main purpose of the buy.

Primary vs. the rest

• Primary: the code that best describes your main line of business.
• Others: every other code that describes work you really sell. SBA says a business generally has a primary code but can have several if it sells several products or services.

Don't list codes for work you can't deliver. Your alerts fill up with notices you'll pass on, and your SAM.gov profile should describe work you actually sell.

Size is checked code by code

Each NAICS code has its own SBA size standard, usually based on average annual receipts or number of employees. You can be small under one code and not under another. Count affiliates the way SBA's rules require, not just your own company's revenue or headcount.

Each solicitation carries one NAICS code and one size standard (large multiple-award vehicles can split by category), and you don't pick it. The contracting officer does. When you look at a small business set-aside, the question is whether you're small under that code, not your primary. If the code looks wrong, SBA has a NAICS appeal process with a short deadline, so move fast.

Being small doesn't make you eligible for every set-aside. Competing for 8(a), HUBZone, WOSB or SDVOSB set-asides also takes the SBA certification.

Look up your numbers in SBA's table of size standards or its size standards tool before you register.

How to find the right codes

1. Search the Census Bureau's NAICS site with plain words for what you do.
2. Read the full description, not just the title. The fine print often moves you to a neighboring code.
3. Check what agencies actually use. Look up past awards for work like yours on SAM.gov or USAspending.gov and note the NAICS code on each one. Treat that as research, not a promise the next one uses the same code.
4. Ask your local APEX Accelerator. The counseling is free.

Putting them in SAM.gov

• You add NAICS codes in your SAM.gov entity registration, and you can update them any time. Mark one as your primary.
• The Federal Service Desk says a NAICS change typically takes about 15 business days to show up, so don't wait for a bid to fix them.
• Registering in SAM.gov is free. Nobody needs to charge you for it.
• Registration has to be renewed every 365 days. Start early, and allow at least ten business days for a new or renewed registration to go active.
• NAICS gets revised every five years and SBA adjusts size standards, so re-check your codes now and then.

Then use them

Once your codes are set, build your SAM.gov saved searches around them so new notices come to you. Here's how.

Sources

• SBA: Size standards
• SBA: Size standards tool
• 13 CFR 121.201, size standards by NAICS code (eCFR)
• U.S. Census Bureau: NAICS
• SAM.gov Entity Registration Checklist (PDF)
• Federal Service Desk: updating NAICS codes
• FAR 19.102, size standards and NAICS on solicitations (eCFR)
• 13 CFR 121.1103, NAICS appeals (eCFR)
• SBA: Contracting assistance programs
• USAspending.gov