NAICS 541614 logistics consulting obligations in USAspending

What $15.3 billion of logistics consulting means

NAICS 541614 is a professional-services code. The Census title groups process consulting with physical distribution and logistics consulting. It is not the code for operating a trucking company or running a warehouse as a transportation carrier. Freight transportation, warehousing, and courier services use other NAICS codes. The $15,316,157,935.88 on this hub is the consulting tag, which can include advice, process design, and related professional work that contracting officers classified here.

Three thousand eight hundred eighty awards sit under that dollar figure. The mean obligation is about $3.9 million. That is large for a pure hour-by-hour advisory task order and modest compared with major hardware programs. The packet does not split labor hours from other cost elements. Some 541614 awards may be broad logistics-support vehicles that a reader would not call “consulting” in casual speech; the official tag is still 541614.

Because professional-services firms often hold many federal contracts, the same recipient can appear under 541614 and under neighboring codes such as other management consulting or scientific consulting. Only the actions tagged 541614 add to this $15.3 billion.

Professional-services NAICS codes are a frequent mix-up with operations codes. Logistics consulting (541614) advises on process and distribution. Deep sea freight (483111) moves cargo. Truck trailer manufacturing (336212) builds equipment. The $15,316,157,935.88 on this hub is the consulting tag. Adding those other pages would mix advice, carriage, and manufacturing the source keeps in different six-digit classes.

Obligations on services contracts

Services contracts obligate funds as work is ordered. An indefinite-delivery vehicle can show a high ceiling-related obligation while actual tasking — and cash outlays — run lower. Conversely, a fully used vehicle can have outlays close to obligations. This packet publishes obligations only. The $15.3 billion is the commitment total USAspending attributes to tagged 541614 awards, not a payroll of consultants paid to date.

The 3,880-award count can include multiple vehicles per vendor and multiple orders rolled into awards, depending on how USAspending groups actions. It is not a headcount of consultants and not a count of warehouses redesigned. Use the industry page to see award-level descriptions rather than inferring operational output from the NAICS title.

Consulting versus doing the logistics

A common mix-up is to treat 541614 as federal spending on shipping. Deep-sea freight, air charter, and trucking have their own codes and their own hubs. This page does not include those transportation NAICS totals. It includes process, physical distribution, and logistics consulting as tagged on contracts.

Assistance awards that fund supply-chain programs at state or local recipients usually lack NAICS and therefore do not enter $15,316,157,935.88. The source note on the packet draws that line clearly.

How to compare 541614 with other service codes

On the all-industries index, sort by obligations to see where logistics consulting sits against other professional-services NAICS. Sort by award count to see whether 3,880 awards is a thick or thin book relative to neighbors. Either sort is a ranking of tagged contracts, not a ranking of logistics performance.

The overlay table at /industries/541614/ is the detail surface for this code. This guide restates the two facts in the packet — dollars and award count — and explains what they are not.

When ranking 541 consulting codes, look at both dollars and award counts. Logistics consulting’s 3,880 awards describe this tagged contract book, not which consulting specialty is more important. Neighboring 541 codes have their own hubs and their own award counts.

Limits of the consulting tag

Principal-purpose coding can place mixed logistics-and-operations work in 541614 or in an operations code. Readers should not treat $15.3 billion as a complete map of federal logistics. They should treat it as the USAspending contract total for this six-digit code.

If the extract updates, 3,880 and $15,316,157,935.88 will change with it. SpendingVault does not freeze a vintage beyond what the current aggregate holds.

How to keep freight out of the consulting total

Search queries for “federal logistics spending” often want carrier dollars. This page will not answer that question. It answers how much USAspending attributes to process, physical distribution, and logistics consulting on tagged contracts: $15.3 billion across 3,880 awards.

If a later extract retags a mixed logistics-support vehicle from 541614 to a transportation NAICS, this hub’s dollars will fall and the transportation hub’s dollars will rise. SpendingVault does not freeze a vintage beyond the current aggregate. Assistance without NAICS remains outside either total.

Questions

How much federal logistics consulting is in USAspending?

Contracts tagged NAICS 541614 show $15,316,157,935.88 in obligations across 3,880 awards. That is process, physical distribution, and logistics consulting as coded on contracts, not freight bills or warehouse leases tagged to transportation NAICS. The total is obligations, not outlays. Assistance without NAICS is excluded.

Is NAICS 541614 the same as federal shipping spending?

No. Code 541614 is a consulting-services classification. Deep-sea freight, air transportation, and trucking use other NAICS codes. A logistics consulting contract can mention shipping without moving cargo. Use the transportation industry pages for carrier-tagged obligations and this page for the 541614 consulting tag.

What is the average 541614 award?

Dividing $15,316,157,935.88 by 3,880 awards yields about $3.9 million. That mean mixes small task orders with large logistics-support vehicles. The packet does not include a median or a labor-hour total. Award-level amounts live on the industry page. Award-level amounts and descriptions on the industry page are the check against treating the mean as a typical task-order size.

Why might a logistics grant not show up here?

Assistance awards often do not carry NAICS codes. This industry aggregate is built from USAspending contract awards tagged 541614. A grant that funds distribution capacity at a non-federal recipient would typically appear on program or recipient pages, not under this consulting NAICS.