Product Service Code (PSC)
A 4-character code that describes what the government is buying, from "R&D in weapons systems" to "janitorial services", used to categorize contract spending.
How It Works
While NAICS codes classify the contractor's industry of operations, Product Service Codes (PSCs) classify the specific product or service being purchased on a given contract action. The PSC system is maintained by GSA in the Federal Product and Service Codes Manual. There are over 3,700 PSC codes organized into major categories: services (2-character alphabetical prefixes A through Z, e.g., R for "Support Services (Professional/Administrative/Management)", D for "IT and Telecom Services", J for "Maintenance/Repair"); supplies and equipment (2-character numeric prefixes 10 through 99 under the Federal Supply Classification, e.g., 10 for "Weapons" and 70 for "General Purpose IT Equipment"); and research and development (2-character prefix starting with A, subcategorized by budget activity level 1-7 from basic research to operational system development). Specific codes get quite granular: D302 is "IT and Telecom - Systems Development," D316 is "IT and Telecom - Cloud Computing Services", R408 is "Program Management/Support Services", and R429 is "Specifications Development." PSCs are attached to every contract action in FPDS and appear on USASpending.gov alongside NAICS codes. The combination of PSC and NAICS gives a full picture: a contract might be awarded to a firm classified as NAICS 541511 (Custom Computer Programming) but purchasing PSC D310 (IT and Telecom - Cyber Security and Data Backup). TaxDollarData uses PSC codes to show the specific types of work the government buys from each contractor, an analytical view that pure NAICS aggregation cannot provide. Category Management, launched under OMB Memorandum M-19-13, groups PSCs into Best-in-Class (BIC) categories (IT, professional services, facilities, transportation, medical, etc.) and steers spending toward preferred vehicles. Roughly half of federal contract obligations now flow through Category Management Tier 2 or Tier 3 solutions.
Related Terms
- NAICS Code, The North American Industry Classification System code, a 6-digit number that classifies a business by the type of economic activity it performs, used to determine small business size standards.
- Federal Contract, A legally binding agreement between the U.S. government and a private company to provide goods or services, from fighter jets to IT consulting.
- USASpending.gov, The official U.S. government website that tracks all federal spending, contracts, grants, loans, and other financial assistance, searchable by agency, recipient, and location.
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About This Definition
This definition is part of the TaxDollarData Federal Spending Glossary, 46 terms explaining how the U.S. government spends taxpayer money. All definitions are written in plain language for taxpayers, journalists, contractors, and researchers.