Defense Supply Center on a combined basis for all
Federal Government. Each item of supply is
military services.
classified in one, and only one, four-digit Federal
supply class. The first two digits denote the group or
NAVY MATERIAL
major division of commodities while the last two
digits denote the class or subdivision of commodities
C o g n i z a n c e s y m b o l s a r e t w o - c h a r a c t e r,
within a group. As presently established, the FSC
alphanumeric codes prefixed to national stock
consists of 76 groups (some currently unassigned).
numbers. The first character of the cognizance symbol
These stock groups cover rather broad categories of
i d e n t i fi e s t h e s t o r e s a c c o u n t . T h e f o l l ow i n g
material. Therefore, they are subdivided into classes.
information refers to the first character of the
There are approximately 600 classes assigned to the
cognizance symbol:
76 groups.
1, 3, 5, 7
Material is held in the Navy Stock Account
The number of classes within each group varies.
(NSA). When this material is issued, it
Each class covers a particular area of commodities, in
must be paid for by the requisitioner.
accordance with their physical or performance
characteristics, or based on the fact that the items in
9
Material purchased by the Defense Stock
the class are usually requisitioned or issued together.
Fund and held in NSA. When this material
You will learn the frequently used classes within the
is issued, it must be paid for by the
groups by using them. Examples of how the classes
requisitioner.
are used to divide types of material are shown in
2, 4, 6, 8
Material held in the Appropriations
figure 2-1. Together, the stock group and class are
Purchase Account or nonstores account.
known as the FSC.
This material is issued without charge to
The Defense Logistics Agency Cataloging
the requisitioner.
H a n d b o o k s , H2-1, H2-2, and H2-3, contain a
0
Material is not carried in the stores
complete listing of assigned federal supply
account.
classification classes.
The second part of the cognizance symbol is a
You will notice that the Federal supply groups
single-letter code that designates the inventory
start with group 10. The Navy uses the groups 01
manager or inventory control point (ICP) that has
through 09 for forms and publications, which are not
cognizance, or control, of the material. These
included in the Federal Catalog System (see table
i nve n t o r y m a n a g e r s m a y b e N av y o r D e f e n s e
2-1).
activities.
FEDERAL CATALOG SYSTEM
Learning Objective: Identify materials using
the Federal Catalog System.
The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA),
administers the Federal Catalog System. This
includes naming, describing, classifying, and
numbering of all the items carried under centralized
inventory control of the Federal Government. The
publication of related identification data is also part
of this task. North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO) countries also use the Federal Catalog
System.
FEDERAL SUPPLY CLASSIFICATION
SYSTEM
The Federal Supply Classification (FSC) system
SKf02001
Figure 2-1.--Examples of supply classes within a stock group.
is designed to classify all items of supply used by the
2-2
