Definitions and Concepts > Shipment Numbers

Defense contract shipments use a special format for the "number" that is associated with each shipment and some of its related data, such as UIDs, RFIDs, Invoices, etc.

The format of a Shipment Number is straightforward. They generally look like: ABC0023. But also like ABC0023Z. And rarely like ABCD001.

So generally speaking, the format is AAAnnnn[Z]. Except, of course, for the "ABCD001" use case that we will describe below.

Shipment Number Rules

1.The first three places must be alphabetic characters (capitalized) and are referred to as the Shipment Number Prefix. The contractor is free to select any combination they like, though generally they are derived from the company's name. We recommend avoiding the use of 'I' and 'O' (which are disallowed for position 4).

2.Shipment number sequences should start with xyz0001 (where xyz is a Shipment Number Prefix).

3.Each Delivery Order uses its own, sequence, starting at xyz0001.

4.When shipping from more than one location (having its own CAGE) a separate sequence should be maintained for each location, each using its own Shipment Number Prefix.

5.The last shipment of a contract/order should be indicating by appending a 'Z' to the Shipment Number, as in ABC0023Z. The Z may be stripped off when the shipment number is used in different contexts, however, that does not make it a different shipment. So, for instance, you would not have both a ABC0023 shipment and another that was ABC0023Z.

6.When submitting to Wide Area Workflow for acceptance Shipment Numbers do not have to be presented in order or contiguously. This would allow a delay in the preparation one order to hold up all that followed. That said, the more in order and contiguous shipment numbers are the easier it is to keep everything straight.

The AAAAnnn Format

For most contractors the 4th digit of the shipment number is always going to be zero, unless of course, your contract exceeds 999 shipments. Should it exceed 9,999 shipments, the 4th digit becomes an alpha, indicating tens-of-thousands with 'A' through 'Z' (but not 'I' or 'O').

Shipment Numbers	Range
xyz0001 - xyz9999	1 - 9,999
xyzA000 - xyzA999	10,000 - 10,999
xyzB000 - xyzB999	20,000 - 20,999
. . .	. . .