U.S. GOVERNMENT INFORMATION:
STANDARDS & SPECIFICATIONS
Standards and specifications provide guidance and instruction
on how goods and services are to be designed, constructed, manufactured,
handled, conducted or tested. Specifications outline requirements for specific
items or services; standards provide guidance for more general applications.
Several United States Federal government agencies develop and issue standards
and specifications, including the following:
The General Services Administration and the Department
of Defense are the two primary agencies responsible for issuing procurement
standards and specifications. To identify those issued use the Index of Federal
Specifications, Standards and Commercial Item Descriptions (published by GSA) and The Index of Specifications and
Standards (published by the Department of Defense) or their electronic
equivalent. Both of these indexes are available for consultation in the
Government Documents and Information Center.
There are four basic categories of Federal standardization documents:
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Federal specifications describe essential and technical requirements
for items, materials, or services bought by the Federal government.
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Federal standards serve a variety of purposes and provide standard
data for reference in Federal specifications.
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Commercial item descriptions are simplified specifications intended
to be used in the acquisition of products available in the commercial
marketplace.
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Qualified products lists are lists of products, by plant, which have
been tested for conformance with the appropriate specification requirements.
Federal standardization documents are available either as a subscription
or on an ad hoc basis as needed. Businesses may obtain such documents from
the following address: General Services Administration, Federal Supply Service,
Bureau Specifications Section (3FBP-W), Suite 8100 470 L'Enfant Plaza, SW
Washington, DC 20407 Telephone: (202) 755-0325 or 0326.
Unrestricted and unclassified military specifications and standards may be
obtained by request from the following:
DODSSP - Customer Service
Standardization Documents Order Desk 700 Robbins Avenue, Bldg. 4D Philadelphia,
PA 19111-5094 Telephone: (215) 697-2179 or 2667. Visit the
Online Site.
Besides the U.S. Federal government, standards are issued by industry and
international organizations, including the
International Organization for Standardization
and the American National Standards
Institute. Each of these organizations provide online a catalog of
standardization documents which are available for purchase.
The National Standards System Network provides
a link to other standards information.
