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North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Codes and Business Descriptions

When your business becomes certified with the OMWBE, its assigned NAICS codes and approved business description will be listed in OMWBE’s directory of certified firms. Entities looking for certified firms use this database to find businesses that have the NAICS codes and business description that match the goods and services they want to contract for or buy.

The certification application will ask you what NAICS codes and business description you would like to request. Please be as specific and accurate as possible when writing out your business description.

How do I look up NAICS Codes?

NAICS codes are defined by the United States Census Bureau. You can find more information on their web site.

To look up NAICS codes, click here. You will see this screen:

 

Click on this search tool to look up NAICS codes and their definitions and index entries:

You will see this screen. Scroll to find various industry categories:

Once you click on a category, you will see a screen like below.

 

This example is from the Construction category. OMWBE assigns six-digit NAICs codes according to the business description, professional licenses, verified training, resumes, and invoices/contracts that are submitted to OMWBE.

    • Use keywords that are specific to your business. Review your scope of work and write accurately so that your business can be found by keyword search.
    • You can use the Index Descriptions attached to your requested six-digit NAICS codes (see above), and add or modify details as needed.
    • Look up business descriptions of other firms in similar field of work, listed in OMWBE’s directory of certified firms.
    • Once you submit the application, a certification analyst will help you finalize the description. Please be responsive to their additional information requests.