NIGP Codes (National Institute of Governmental Purchasing Commodity Codes)

What is NIGP Codes?

NIGP codes are the dominant commodity classification standard for US state and local government procurement. Administered by NIGP (originally National Institute of Governmental Purchasing, now known as NIGP: The Institute for Public Procurement), the system uses a 5-digit or 11-digit hierarchical structure: the first 5 digits identify the commodity class and item; extended digits provide further specification.

Unlike federal procurement which uses NAICS and PSC codes, most US state, county, and municipal purchasing offices — and many procurement portals such as BidNet, DemandStar, and Public Purchase — use NIGP codes as the primary categorization mechanism. Vendors registering on these portals select NIGP codes to receive automated tender notifications for relevant commodity categories.

For vendors targeting US state and local government markets, NIGP code selection is the single most important step in bid alert setup. Selecting too few codes misses opportunities; selecting hundreds of irrelevant codes generates noise and flags the vendor as non-specialist. A targeted approach — identifying the 5 to 15 NIGP codes that genuinely match your offering — combined with geographic filters by state or county, optimizes the opportunity pipeline. NIGP codes are also used by procurement departments to benchmark spend, identify maverick purchasing, and consolidate contracts.