What is a National Stock Number (NSN)
The concept of the NSN was established by the U.S. Military more than 60 years ago. It gives the military services (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, etc.) the ability to accurately describe an item of supply using a common name and description. This standardization allows the services to share stock and accurately procure an item which is repeatedly used within their supply system using a single number “The NSN”.
NSN’s describe every imaginable item from the simple metal washer to complex military hardware and systems used in military aircraft and vehicles etc. There are millions of NSNs used within the current U.S. military supply system. Each NSN contains a set of data fields such as Item Name, part number, technical characteristics etc. Within the BidLink database you can look up any NSN by NSN, Part Number, etc. Go to the section labeled “NSN Lookup” to try.
The structure of an NSN can be thought of in two ways:
With three (3) distinct parts:
First four (4) numbers represent the Federal Supply Class (FSC)
5th and 6th numbers represent the Country of Origin – All US NSN’s will be either 00 or 01
Numbers 7 through 13 are sequentially assigned and are unique to each NSN
With two (2) distinct parts:
First four (4) numbers represent the Federal Supply Class (FSC)
Last nine (9) numbers represent the National Item Identification Number (NIIN)
For example take the NSN 5305-01-142-6280
Just by looking at the first four (4) numbers (the FSC) you can make a quick determination that this item is some kind of screw since the FSC 5305 is the code for Screws.
Try this yourself in the ‘NSN Lookup’ to see the kind of details a NSN can provide.
Look this number up by either the full NSN: 5305-01-142-6280 or the NIIN: 011426280.
After looking up the NSN or NIIN note all the data associated to this single NSN, you will see the Item Name, Part number cross-reference, Procurement history, NSN Status, Management data, Technical characteristics, Packaging data, Forecast data, etc.
The first block of data shows the “Item Name” for this specific NSN
It is labeled “SCREW,CAP,SOCKET HE”
Just by knowing the FSC for Screws is “5305” you have determined that this NSN is some sort of Screw, as that is the reason behind the FSC coding; giving the ability to categorize an item of supply with just 4 specific numbers. There are lookup tables in BidLink that will cross-reference FSC’s to their specific titles and descriptions, so use them.
The official Item Name, in this case is “SCREW,CAP,SOCKET HE”. This is how the Government describes this item using a name. You might find the commercial industry describing the same item it in a catalog something like this “Socket Head Cap Screw”. Remember, when looking at Government data either when searching for Bids or looking to source items – Be sure to use the Government terminology, such as Item Names and FSC’s. See the examples within the help section, other news articles or contact your BidLink representative for assistance when searching for Bids.
DLIS a division of the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) is the agency responsible for the creation and management of NSN’s. They are the only organization authorized to assign NSN’s; requests for the creation of new NSN’s can only come from a military service, not a commercial company or individual. When a new product is introduced to the military, the military will initiate their own request from within, for the creation of new NSN’s. This process can take time as each item is carefully reviewed by the Cataloging department assigned to that specific classification of item.
Note: An official Item Name will be a maximum of 19 characters. Click on the INC code number to see the details and a short description for the Item Name, in this case click on the number “16282” in the first bock of information after looking up the NSN in “NSN Lookup”
http://www.dlis.dla.mil/PDFs/NSN.pdf
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