Product Service Code (PSC)
Also called: PSC, product and service code, FSC code, federal supply class
A Product Service Code is the four-character code the federal government uses to classify what is being bought, products by Federal Supply Class and services by letter-led codes, independent of who sells it.
PSCs come from the Product and Service Codes Manual published on acquisition.gov and are used in SAM.gov notices, FPDS award records and USAspending. Where NAICS describes the industry of the seller and sets the size standard, the PSC describes the item or service itself, which makes it the better filter for award research: pull every award in your PSC for the last few years and you have a buyer list.
What to check: the PSC on a notice when the NAICS looks generic, and the PSCs your competitors' awards carry in FPDS. DLA buys are organized by Federal Supply Class, the four-digit numeric PSC that also appears in NSNs.
What it is not: an eligibility code. There is no PSC size standard, no PSC registration and no PSC set-aside; it classifies the purchase, nothing more.
See also: NAICS code, FPDS and USAspending, DIBBS and DLA, SAM.gov
Questions that use this term
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