NAICS codes and small-business size standards
What NAICS codes are, how they decide whether you count as small for a federal contract, and how to pick the codes for your business.
What a NAICS code is
The North American Industry Classification System gives each industry a six-digit code: 541512 is computer systems design services, 236220 commercial building construction, 561720 janitorial services. Every federal solicitation names one NAICS code, and every contract award records it.
Size standards
The SBA sets a size standard for each NAICS code: a maximum number of employees (common in manufacturing) or of average annual receipts (common in services and construction). Whether your business is small is decided per contract, against the size standard of the NAICS code on that solicitation. A company can be small for one code and large for another.
Picking your codes
- List the codes for everything you actually do; you can register several in SAM.gov, with one primary.
- Look at the codes on the contracts your competitors win and on the notices you'd answer.
- Use past awards in a code to see who buys it, how much and how big contracts usually are.
On SpendQuery
Questions people ask
How many NAICS codes can I have?
As many as fit what you do; SAM.gov lets you list several and mark one as primary.
Who decides the NAICS code of a contract?
The contracting officer, when writing the solicitation, picks the code that best describes the main purpose of the purchase.
More guides
Updated 2026-10-05. General information, not legal advice; the solicitation and the FAR govern each purchase.