541511: Custom Computer Programming Services
Firms paid to write, modify and test software to a customer’s requirement, rather than to sell a product they already own, register under this code.
every state the same size, so DC is readable
NAICS 541511 in numbers
Everything behind these numbers for NAICS 541511
- Every buying office that awarded in this code, ranked by what they spent
- Every vendor that won, resolved to one record per business
- Every award back to FY2001, searchable and exportable
- Contracts ending soon, scored for how open the next round looks
- Every open notice on this code, with the buyer history beside it
The numbers above are open to anybody. The organized record behind them is what a plan pays for: every award, every buyer, every vendor, cleaned, resolved and read again every night.
Open right now under NAICS 541511
73 open notices right now, 9 closing within seven days. The newest 5:
| Posted | Notice | Buyer | NAICS | Set-aside | Due |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 9, 2026 | JURY MANAGEMENT SOLUTION (JMS) SYSTEMPresolicitation · Washington DC | AOUSC-PROCUREMENT MANAGEMENT DIV | 541511 | Oct 30, 2026 | |
| Oct 8, 2026 | High-Performance Computing Software Development and Technical ServicesSources Sought · Princeton NJ | DEPT OF COMMERCE NOAA | 541511 | Oct 27, 2026 | |
| Oct 8, 2026 | Enterprise Biometrics Matching SupportJustification | DEPARTMENTAL OPERATIONS ACQUISITIONS DIVISION I | 541511 | not stated | |
| Oct 8, 2026 | Web Support Operations and Maintenance (O&M)Award Notice · MD | NARA CONTRACTING OFFICE | 541511 | not stated | |
| Oct 8, 2026 | Venom Software and GARMIN System Sustainment Program for F-5 Aircraft Award NoticeAward Notice · Nashville TN | NAVAL AIR WARFARE CENTER AIR DIV | 541511 | not stated |
What this code covers
Census puts a firm in 541511 when its main business is writing, modifying, testing and supporting software to meet one customer’s needs. The distinguishing fact is that the customer owns the requirement. A company selling licences to software it built for the market belongs to a publishing code, and a company running somebody else’s systems day to day belongs in 541513.
In federal work this is the code on most application development, modernisation and sustainment contracts: writing new services, rewriting a system somebody wrote in the 1990s, maintaining an application already in production, and the testing and release work around all of it. The line against 541512 is genuinely blurred in practice, and buyers use both for similar work, which is why a firm selling development should watch the two together rather than picking one and filtering on it.
What federal buyers typically ask for
A software solicitation is written around people and process rather than around a part. Expect named labor categories with education and experience minimums, key personnel resumes, a technical approach and a past performance volume. Agile delivery is now the norm in the wording even where the contract is structured in a way that makes it difficult, so read the statement of objectives against the contract type before you believe the method.
Almost every award touches controlled unclassified information. On Defense work that means DFARS 252.204-7012, the NIST controls behind it, a score posted to SPRS, and increasingly a CMMC assessment requirement written into the solicitation itself. Those are Defense clauses: a civilian agency buying the same work carries FAR 52.204-21 and its own agency terms instead, which are lighter but not nothing. Section 508 accessibility applies across government to anything with a user interface, and it is one of the cheapest requirements to fail late.
Most of the money moves as task orders against a vehicle somebody won years ago rather than as open competitions. If you are not on the vehicle you will not see the order at all, which is why the vehicle end dates matter more to a software firm than the notice feed does.
Related codes
Product and service codes that often pair with this NAICS
| Code | What it is | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| DA01 | Application development support services | The main labor code for writing and supporting software. |
| DA10 | Application software as a service | When what is bought is the running service rather than the build. |
| DF01 | IT management support services | Programme and delivery management around the build. |
| DJ01 | Security and compliance support services | Security work priced as its own line. |
| 7A20 | Application development software licences | Perpetual licences, which is a product buy rather than a service one. |
The IT product and service codes were restructured with effect from 30 October 2020: sixty-eight of the old D3xx codes were end-dated and forty new ones activated in this DA to DK structure. A search of the record before that date has to use the retired codes and one after it has to use these, or it will miss years of awards.
Before you bid
Check which generation of IT product and service code your market search is using. Awards before 30 October 2020 sit under the retired D3xx codes and awards since sit under the DA to DK set, so a filter on one of them quietly hides the years covered by the other.
Related reading
- Vehicles and IDIQsMost federal software money moves as orders against these.
- CMMC for small shopsWhat the security requirement actually costs to meet.
- For services and IT firmsHow this product fits a firm that sells people rather than parts.
See who was last awarded in your NAICS
Every code, every buying office, every vendor and every recompete, organized from the federal record and read nightly. Open it with a plan.