Commercial and Government Entity code: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:30, 18 August 2018

Revision as of 07:10, 9 September 2018

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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]] (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 [[Defense Standard#Definition of document types|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 millon are US entities.{{cncitation needed|date=May 2018}}

Within the [[United States|US]], any organization wishing to be a supplier to the [[United States Department of Defense|DoD]] is issued a CAGE Code by [[Defense Logistics Information Service]] (DLIS), the organization serving as the US NCB. An entity issued a CAGE code must reapply annually to renew it.{{cncitation needed|date=May 2018}}

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).{{cncitation needed|date=May 2018}}

In the NCS metadata, the CAGE code's '''[[Data Record Number]]''' ('''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.{{cncitation needed|date=May 2018}}

== Syntax ==

CAGE codes are all five characters in length.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2018/08/18/19432/ |publisher=[[bellingcat]] |quote=The five-digit number ‘94271’'94271' is known as a Commercial And Government Entity (CAGE) number and can be searched on an online database of items listed by the US Department of Defense’sDefense's Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). |title=A Saudi War-Crime in Yemen? Analysing the Dahyan Bombing |date=August 18, 2018 |first=Michael |last=Cruickshank}}</ref> There is no meaning encoded in the code itself, other than the underlying NCB; it is simply a unique identifier.<ref>{{cite web|website=NATO|url=http://www.nato.int/structur/AC/135/main/links/codsp3-alt.htm|title=NATO Codification System Country Codes|date=January 2018|author=NATO AC/135 Committee (National Directors on Codification)}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|website=NATO|url=http://www.nato.int/structur/AC/135/main/pdf/NCS_codes_chart.pdf|author=NATO AC/135 Committee (National Directors on Codification)|title=NATO Codification System – NCS the Global Language of Logistics}}</ref>

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