Government contracting for machine shops and resellers
Selling parts to the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) means finding the right part, reading a few codes, and sending a quote. Start here. Each step below links to a plain-English guide or tool.
Five steps, in the order most newcomers need them
Learn how DLA buys parts
A walk through DIBBS, the DLA Internet Bid Board System where DLA posts the parts it wants to buy: registering, reading a solicitation (the request for quotes), getting drawings and sending a quote.
Read: DIBBS for machine shops and resellersLook up a part
Type in a National Stock Number (NSN, the 13-digit number DLA uses to identify a part) or a manufacturer part number. You see who controls the design, which companies are catalogued for it, and DLA's catalog reference price. It is not an award price. Free.
Use the free NSN and part number lookupFind out if a new source can win it
When DLA has an acquisition method on file for a part, it is recorded as two codes. The AMC says how DLA may buy the part, competitively or not, and the AMSC gives the reason. Together they show whether a new source can compete. This guide reads them in plain English.
Read: AMC and AMSC codes explainedGet access to restricted drawings
Some drawings are export-controlled. To open them in cFolders, DLA asks for a Joint Certification Program (JCP) certification and a separate step called DLA Enhanced Validation. The DD Form 2345 is the agreement you apply with, and once certified it is your JCP certificate.
Read: DD Form 2345 and JCP certificationHave the bid desk check a solicitation
Send us the part or the solicitation. An AI drafts a short memo from DLA's own data, and a person reviews it before it reaches you: can a new source win it, who controls the design, what DLA's catalog says it costs, and which shops in our directory could make it.
See the bid desk
Three terms you will see everywhere
- DLA
- Defense Logistics Agency. It buys spare parts for military equipment.
- SAM and CAGE
- SAM.gov is the federal registration every bidder needs. Registering there gets you a CAGE code, the five-character ID for your company.
- Solicitation
- DLA's request for quotes on a specific part and quantity.
MachineShop.Directory is not affiliated with DLA. The data comes from DLA PUB LOG public cataloging data and covers aircraft parts and mechanical power transmission parts (Federal Supply Groups 15, 16, 17 and 30) today. The solicitation always governs.