Federal obligations in all other professional, scientific, and technical services (NAICS 541990)

How a residual professional-services NAICS works

NAICS 541990 is the catch-all for professional, scientific, and technical services that lack a more specific six-digit code. On USAspending.gov it tags contract awards classified that way. Weather-related professional services, some arbitration or appraisal-like technical work, and other specialized services that contracting officers place in the remainder line can appear here. It is not a quality judgment, and it is not “miscellaneous spending” in the budget-object-class sense.

Named neighbors include engineering services (541330), administrative and general management consulting (541611), the computer-service codes, and the R&D codes. Work that could have been tagged more specifically sometimes still lands in 541990. The $96.0 billion figure is whatever awards carry this residual code, not a complete map of federal professional services.

Reading $96.0 billion in obligations

USAspending records obligations on contract awards tagged 541990. Task orders and modifications feed $96,025,788,809.47. This packet has no fiscal-year split and no outlay total. Residual codes often mix large vehicles with many smaller actions, so the average award is a poor guide; read the table instead.

Outlays are payments. Quote $96.0 billion as USAspending contract obligations coded to all other professional, scientific, and technical services. Do not describe it as the federal professional-services budget.

19,175 awards in the remainder bin

The 19,175 award records sit between high-volume IT residual codes and low-count manufacturing primes. That middle volume is consistent with a professional-services remainder: enough actions to matter, not enough to look like spare-parts contracting. The count is not a headcount of scientists. Open the industry page for the recipient mix.

Catch-all professional services are a coding bin, not a mission. NAICS 541990 produced $96,025,788,809.47 in USAspending obligations on 19,175 awards. Work that could have been engineering, consulting, IT, or named R&D sometimes still lands here. When agencies tag more specifically, dollars leave 541990 without the work stopping. This packet cannot see those shifts after harvest. The 19,175 records are the remainder set, not a headcount of scientists. Cite USAspending, obligations, and all other professional, scientific, and technical services. Do not call the figure the professional-services budget. Do not add 541330 or 541611 to it. Outlays and grants are not in the facts. Use the industry page for recipients.

What 541990 does not capture

Assistance awards often lack NAICS and are outside this total. Engineering services, management consulting, computer systems design, and the R&D NAICS lines have their own pages. Adding those pages to 541990 without a tagging rule will overstate professional contracting.

SpendingVault aggregates USAspending.gov contract data. The $96,025,788,809.47 total and the 19,175 award count can change after corrections. The live industry page is the table of record.

Using the 541990 industry page

Open the ALL OTHER PROFESSIONAL, SCIENTIFIC, AND TECHNICAL SERVICES industry page for the award list under the headline. Compare the residual code with named 541xxx lines on All industries. Cite obligations, not outlays, and keep the 19,175 award count with the dollar figure.

Citing the professional-services remainder

Cite $96,025,788,809.47 in USAspending obligations on 19,175 awards tagged NAICS 541990. Call it the residual professional, scientific, and technical services code so readers do not hear all professional services. Engineering, consulting, IT, and named R&D lines are separate packets.

Remainder codes collect whatever did not fit a more specific six-digit. That makes $96.0 billion a tagging result, not a program. The 19,175 award count sits in the middle of services volume. Keep assistance out. Quote obligations, not outlays. Use the industry table when you need recipients rather than the rollup.

All other professional, scientific, and technical services is the remainder bin for the 541 group when a more specific six-digit was not used. Weather-related professional work, some specialized technical services, and awards an officer parked in the catch-all can sit in the $96,025,788,809.47 total. The 19,175 awards are that tagged set. They are not a census of scientists.

Remainder bins are sensitive to coding quality. If agencies get better at using 541330, 541611, or an R&D code, dollars can leave 541990 without the underlying work stopping. That is a tagging shift, not necessarily a program cut. This packet cannot distinguish those cases. Quote USAspending obligations on 19,175 awards coded 541990, and use the industry table before interpreting a year-to-year move you cannot see here anyway.

Questions

How much is obligated on NAICS 541990?

USAspending.gov contract awards coded NAICS 541990 show $96,025,788,809.47 in obligations across 19,175 awards. That total is obligations, not outlays, for the residual all other professional, scientific, and technical services code. USAspending.gov records the amount as contract obligations, not outlays, on awards tagged NAICS 541990.

Is 541990 the same as engineering services?

No. Engineering services is NAICS 541330. 541990 is the remainder category. The $96,025,788,809.47 figure does not include awards tagged 541330. The packet total is $96,025,788,809.47 across 19,175 awards; assistance awards often have no NAICS and stay outside the industry rollup.

Does this include R&D contracts?

Named R&D NAICS codes have their own tables. Awards tagged 541990 are residual professional, scientific, and technical services. Do not treat $96,025,788,809.47 as the federal R&D total. Treat the 19,175 figure as an award-record count, including orders and modifications, not as a physical inventory of products or sites.

Are grants in the 19,175 awards?

Assistance awards may not carry NAICS and are generally outside this industry total. The 19,175 figure counts contract award records tagged 541990. This guide does not add a fiscal-year split. Quote the live industry page if you need the current award list under ALL OTHER PROFESSIONAL, SCIENTIFIC, AND TECHNICAL SERVICES.