NAICS and SIC

April 13, 2006

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The NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) and the SIC (Standard Industrial Class) codes identify products and services by type of industry and are used by the government to evaluate economic performance. The NAICS codes, which replaced the SICs in October 2000 as the codes the government uses to classify businesses and industries, were developed jointly by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico to provide new comparability in statistics about business activity across North America.

You will need to know the NAICS codes that apply to your business in order to register with the government. You should also be able to identify all the NAICS and SIC codes that apply to your capabilities in order to help ensure your chances of success in doing business with the government. For example, government buyers looking for contractors use the codes of the products and services they wish to buy when searching for businesses profiled on the CCR and Pro-Net systems.

You can access the NAICS/SIC manual at the Small Business Administration's web site (http://www.sba.gov). Or you can search for your products and services by keyword at the NAICS web site.

Although NAICS codes are now the official codes being used by the government, SIC codes may continue to be used by some agencies for some time during the transition.