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Federal obligations in administrative management and general management consulting services (NAICS 541611)

Federal contract awards coded NAICS 541611, administrative management and general management consulting services, carry $77,847,180,996.71 in obligations in the USAspending.gov records indexed here. The total spans 30,772 awards. These are obligations, not outlays. The code is management consulting—advice on administration, organization, and general management—not engineering design, not computer systems design, and not facilities-support operations.

Key figures

  • Management consulting (NAICS 541611) shows $77,847,180,996.71 in USAspending contract obligations.
  • Those dollars sit on 30,772 contract awards, not a count of studies or firms.
  • 541611 is general management advice, not engineering, IT design, or facilities operations.
  • Figures are obligations, not outlays or assistance.

What management consulting covers on federal awards

NAICS 541611 classifies establishments that provide advice and assistance on administrative and general management. On USAspending.gov the code tags contract awards classified that way: organizational studies, program-management support that is coded as consulting, and similar professional advice. It is not a headcount of consultants, and it is not every advisory board or FFRDC. The NAICS follows the award’s industry classification.

Engineering services (541330) is a different professional line. Computer systems design (541512) is IT architecture, not general management advice. Facilities support (561210) is operating a site, not consulting on how to manage it. A program office can buy all four. The $77.8 billion figure is only awards tagged 541611.

How to read $77.8 billion in consulting obligations

USAspending records obligations on contract awards. Consulting vehicles often issue many task orders. Each order can add to $77,847,180,996.71. This packet has no fiscal-year split and no outlay total. The headline is the industry aggregate, not an annual “advisory services” budget line.

Outlays are invoice payments for hours or deliverables. Quote $77.8 billion as USAspending contract obligations coded to NAICS 541611. Do not describe it as lobbying, as political activity, or as cash already paid.

30,772 awards on a consulting code

The 30,772 award records fit a professional-services pattern: many task orders and modifications rather than a few production lots. The count is not 30,772 consulting firms and not 30,772 studies. One government-wide vehicle can generate hundreds of rows. Use the industry table to see how dollars concentrate among recipients.

Consulting totals attract policy arguments this table cannot settle. What it can settle is the tagged amount: $77,847,180,996.71 in USAspending obligations on 30,772 awards coded NAICS 541611, administrative management and general management consulting services. Engineering design is 541330. Systems design is 541512. Residual professional services are 541990. Facilities operations are 561210. Advice coded as R&D sits on an R&D line. The 30,772 award count is task-order volume, not 30,772 studies and not 30,772 firms. Cite USAspending, obligations, and consulting. Do not describe the figure as lobbying. Do not describe it as cash already paid. Open the industry page for recipients.

What 541611 excludes

Assistance awards often lack NAICS and are outside this total. Residual professional services (541990) and the named R&D codes are separate tables. Human-resources consulting and marketing consulting, when tagged to their own NAICS lines, also sit elsewhere. This page does not score whether a given award was well spent; it restates the USAspending industry rollup.

SpendingVault aggregates USAspending.gov contract data. The $77,847,180,996.71 total and the 30,772 award count can change after corrections. The live industry page is the working table.

Using the management-consulting industry page

Open the ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGEMENT AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT CONSULTING SERVICES industry page for the award list under the headline. Compare 541611 with engineering, IT, and residual professional codes on All industries. Cite obligations, not outlays, and keep the 30,772 award count with the dollar figure.

Citing consulting without calling it engineering or IT

Cite $77,847,180,996.71 in USAspending obligations on 30,772 awards tagged NAICS 541611, administrative management and general management consulting services. Keep consulting in the sentence. Design work, systems integration, and base operations are other codes.

The 30,772 award count is task-order volume, not 30,772 studies. This packet has no outlay total and no grant total. Do not describe the figure as lobbying. Public records here are contract obligations on a NAICS line. For the vendor mix, open the industry page rather than compressing the table into the headline.

Management consulting on federal awards is advice and assistance on administration and general management, as tagged 541611. Program-management support that an officer codes as consulting lands here; program-management support coded as engineering or IT lands elsewhere. The $77,847,180,996.71 total follows the tag, not the org chart. The 30,772 awards are mostly task-order volume.

Public debate often treats consulting totals as a proxy for outsourcing policy. This packet will not support that leap. It has no headcount of federal employees replaced, no quality score, and no outlay total. It has obligations on 30,772 contract awards. Cite USAspending and the NAICS name. Leave advocacy out. Use the industry page for recipients.

Questions

How much is obligated on NAICS 541611 management consulting?
USAspending.gov contract awards coded NAICS 541611 show $77,847,180,996.71 in obligations across 30,772 awards. That total is obligations, not outlays, for administrative management and general management consulting services. USAspending.gov records the amount as contract obligations, not outlays, on awards tagged NAICS 541611.
Is management consulting the same as engineering services?
No. Engineering services is NAICS 541330. This table’s $77,847,180,996.71 is awards tagged 541611 only. Design and engineering work coded 541330 does not roll into this consulting total. The packet total is $77,847,180,996.71 across 30,772 awards; assistance awards often have no NAICS and stay outside the industry rollup.
Do 30,772 awards mean 30,772 consulting contracts with unique firms?
No. The 30,772 figure counts contract award records, including task orders and modifications tagged 541611. One vehicle can generate many rows. The industry page lists the records. Treat the 30,772 figure as an award-record count, including orders and modifications, not as a physical inventory of products or sites.
Are grants for technical assistance included?
Assistance awards may not carry NAICS and are generally outside the $77,847,180,996.71 industry total. This page is a USAspending contract-award rollup. This guide does not add a fiscal-year split. Quote the live industry page if you need the current award list under ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGEMENT AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT CONSULTING SERVICES.

NAICS from USAspending contract awards. Assistance awards may not carry NAICS.