The Commercial and Government Entity Code, or CAGE Code, is a
unique identifier
A unique identifier (UID) is an identifier that is guaranteed to be unique among all identifiers used for those objects and for a specific purpose. The concept was formalized early in the development of computer science and information systems. ...
assigned to suppliers to various government or
defense
Defense or defence may refer to:
Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups
* Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare
* Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks
* Defense industr ...
agencies, as well as to government agencies themselves and various organizations. CAGE codes provide a standardized method of identifying a given facility at a specific location.
CAGE Codes are used internationally as part of the
NATO Codification System
The NATO Codification System (NCS for short) is a Standardization Agreement approach to identify, classify, and number items of supply. This applies to repetitively used items and stocked (e.g., repair parts, equipment, food items, etc.). The Sy ...
(NCS), where they are sometimes called NCAGE Codes.
CAGE codes are referenced in various databases of the NCS, where they are used along with the supplier's part number to form a reference which is held on the
National Stock Number
A NATO Stock Number, or National Stock Number (NSN) as it is known in the US, is a 13-digit numeric code used by the NATO military alliance, identifying all the 'standardized material items of supply' as they have been recognized by all member s ...
(NSN) record. This reference enables users of the NCS to determine who supplies any given part.
The information associated with the entities - name, address, phone numbers, etc. - is catalogued in the
H4 and H8 Handbooks. The National Codification Bureau (NCB) of each NATO or NATO-sponsored Nation is responsible for maintaining the CAGE code information for entities in these respective countries. There are on the order of 3 million entities in this catalog, of which around 2.6 million are US entities.
Within the
US, any organization wishing to be a supplier to the
DoD is issued a CAGE Code by
Defense Logistics Information Service The DLA Logistics Information Service, or formerly the Defense Logistics Information Service provides logistics and information technology services to the United States Department of Defense, Federal agencies, and international partners. It is head ...
(DLIS), the organization serving as the US NCB. An entity issued a CAGE code must renew it every five years.
CAGE is sometimes expanded as "Commercial Activity/Government Entity", "Contractor And Government Entity", or other, similar variations. However, according to the DLIS website, "Commercial And Government Entity" is the proper term. CAGE was previously known as Federal Supply Code for Manufacturers, or FSCM, which was also the National Supply Code for Manufacturer, or NSCM. On older engineering drawings (pre-1980s) it was labeled simply as "Code Ident No" (Code Identification Number).
In the NCS metadata, the CAGE code's
Data Record Number
In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete Value_(semiotics), values that convey information, describing quantity, qualitative property, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of sy ...
(DRN) is 9250 (or 4140 for NSCM); information listed under this DRN identifies very specifically the semantics of CAGE, its syntax, and the procedures associated with it.
[ "Defense Logistics Agency Handbook"]
Syntax
CAGE codes are all five characters in length. There is no meaning encoded in the code itself, other than the underlying NCB; it is simply a unique identifier. The Code Chart provided by the NATO AC/135 committee (the group of National Directors on Codification) provides the syntax of CAGE codes in various countries.
See also
*
Data Universal Numbering System
The Data Universal Numbering System, abbreviated as DUNS or D-U-N-S, is a proprietary system developed and managed by Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) that assigns a unique numeric identifier, referred to as a "DUNS number" to a single business entity. It ...
(DUNS) - Issued by
Dun & Bradstreet
The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation is an American company that provides commercial data, analytics, and insights for businesses. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, the company offers a wide range of products and services for risk and financia ...
; required for certain US government contractors and Federal grant recipients
*
DoDAAC
The Department of Defense Activity Address Code (DoDAAC) is a six position code that uniquely identifies a Department of Defense unit, activity, or organization that has the authority to requisition, contract for, receive, have custody of, issue, o ...
- Issued by the US DoD
*
Employer Identification Number (EIN) - Issued by US
IRS
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...
, tax identification number for organizations and employers
*
Military logistics
Military logistics is the discipline of planning and carrying out the movement, supply, and maintenance of military forces. In its most comprehensive sense, it is those aspects or military operations that deal with:
* Design, development, acqui ...
*
Trading Partner Identification Number The Trading Partner Identification Number (or TPIN) is a confidential number assigned to organizations which are or intend to be contractors to the Federal Government of the United States. It is issued by the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) o ...
(TPIN)
References
External links
*
Commercial and Government Entity ProgramSAM.gov(
System for Award Management The System for Award Management (SAM) e-procurement system collects data from suppliers, validated and stored this data, and disseminated it to various government acquisition agencies.
Users and registrants
Users of SAM include contracting officia ...
)
*
* {{cite web, url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44490.pdf, title= Unique Identification Codes for Federal Contractors: DUNS Numbers and CAGE Codes, website=
Congressional Research Service
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a public policy research institute of the United States Congress. Operating within the Library of Congress, it works primarily and directly for members of Congress and their committees and staff on a c ...
NATO standardisation
Unique identifiers
Company identification numbers