UNDERSTANDING DSA CODES

“DSA Codes,” or the "Procurement Instrument Identification" number, is a sequence of numbers with a few letters that can be read to understand the specifics about an individual item. Such as the department or agency that secured the "contract,"  the class of item, the fiscal year the contract was awarded, and the type.

If you’re familiar with US militaria, you will know that all clothing and equipment has some form of contract or manufacturer information. Whether it is a simple manufacturer name and date stamped as you would see with many WWI and WWII items or a full sequence like a DSA code that you see on items from the Vietnam War and later. 

Before the DSA code, there was the “DA” (Defense Agency) number that was placed on items manufactured from 1953 to 1961. The two-digit number located near the end of the code indicates the year of manufacture for that item. It is not uncommon to see Korean War era and early Vietnam War era militaria with DA codes stamped on them. In 1962, the DA number was changed to become more compact, introducing the DSA code and its era.

Not all DSA numbers are the same though, as some changes occurred in the sequence and presentation of the code throughout its reign from FY1962 to FY1977.

Pre-Fiscal Year 1966 DSA Codes:

From 1962 to 1964, DSA Codes were represented as such:

Prefix “DSA - 1” with the suffix following “E6Y” Y, meaning the year the contract was awarded/secured.

The Prefix of “DSA - 1” means “Defense Supply Agency” and “-1” indicates the type/class of item. (1 is most commonly seen as it indicates clothing/individual equipment such as field gear).

The following numbers would be the legitimate contract code ending with the suffix “E62”. The DSA code for either of the fiscal years 62-64, the suffix would be that year, for example:

“E62” 1962, “E63” 1963, so on and so forth. 

The alphabetic letter seen in DSA Codes indicates the type of contract.

“DSA - 1” Example on an M1956 ammunition pouch

DSA-1-487-E-62

A fairly common misconception among collectors involves mistaking the fiscal year date in the DSA code with the item's actual manufacture date. The year that is displayed in the code is the year the contract was secured or awarded, not necessarily the item's actual manufacturing date. The actual manufacturing of the item could’ve been up to years after that date.

Another “DSA - 1” example on an M1961 butt pack

Though faded it looks to read: DSA-1-1136-63-E

FY1965 DSA Codes:

In 1965, the DSA number sequence was changed by removing the last 3 characters in the code, those being the date and contract type indicators.

An FY65 DSA code would look similar to the previous type just without the alphabetic character followed by the year as the suffix. For example: 

The prefix would still be “DSA - 1”, but there would be no more “E6Y”. 

FY1966 - DSA Codes 

In 1966, the DSA Code was changed again. The prefix now implemented a new classification code most commonly seen as “DSA - 100” (100 replaced 1 as the classification for clothing and individual equipment). The same as FY1965 codes, the date and contract type characters are not added. 

This new prefix of “DSA - 100” remained the same until DSA codes were no longer used.

New “DSA 100” Prefix on an M1956 Ammunition Pouch

DSA 100-800

Post FY 1966 DSA Codes:

FY1967 DSA Codes:

FY 1967 was the year that the “DSA code” was designated as the PII “Procurement Instrument Identification” number. During FY67, the fiscal year date and contract type letter appeared back within the now PII number. 

Example of a typical post FY 1966 DSA code on an M1 helmet liner

DSA 100-69-C1774

FY1977:

From FY67 to FY77, the sequence and presentation of the PII numbers remained the same. FY 1977 was the last year “DSA” was in the prefix of the code, In January 1977, DSA was renamed to “DLA” (Defense Logistics Agency) marking an end to the DSA era. 

“DLA - 100” was now the prefix and essentially picked up where DSA left off, hence why the code sequence is the same. 

Example of the new “DLA 100” Prefix on an ERDL camouflage helmet cover.

DLA 100-78-F-U048

I hope this helps your understanding of PII numbers or “DSA Codes”. Thank you for visiting The Garrison Militaria.