NAICS Code and the NDA

When you say NDA, do you mean a Non-Disclosure Agreement, or are you speaking of a teaming agreement?   Or maybe something else? 

Assuming you mean a teaming agreement or something like it (since you mentioned "when pursuing government RFP" and "scope of work" vs the scope of information to protect), no, I would not use the NAICS code as anything beyond a *maybe* a reference to the RFP.  

NAICS codes are notoriously vague, overlapping and non-prescriptive - they are used primarily to create economic 'buckets' for reporting purposes, and of course become the basis for small business size determinations.    They are NOT good (IMHO) at describing specific tasks, expectations or even boundaries of work to be performed.    Worse still, if you were to use a specific NAICS code in a teaming agreement and the underlying procurement changed NAICS codes (this does happen), you may have voided your teaming agreement or at least caused it to become questionable.

The only way I might use a NAICS code in a TA or subcontract might be to condition the agreement on the other company's continuing to qualify as a small business under NAICS code X...but even there, I'd rather use more direct language like "continuing to qualify as a small business in accordance with the requirements of the contract" or something like that.

Bottom line:  I would not do as you've proposed.

Thanks Jay

but I used the NAICS - I think it's appropriate for NDA, not teaming agreements

general_correspondence said:

Thanks Jay

but I used the NAICS - I think it's appropriate for NDA, not teaming agreements

Thanks for the update and good luck.