MIL-STD-2073.pdf

This is an informational guide prepared by the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) on packaging and marking requirements for Department of Defense contracts and solicitations, as of March 2014.

The guide provides comprehensive guidance on military packaging and preservation standards applicable to DoD contracts. It identifies that packaging requirements may be specified in various contract sections including the solicitation form, supplies and services section, description/specifications/statement of work, packaging and marking section, inspection and acceptance section, deliveries or performance section, contract clauses, and attachments. Packaging requirements can also be found in Commercial Item Descriptions (CIDs), military or federal specifications, aperture cards and drawings, special packaging instructions, DLA master solicitations, FAR and DFARS clauses, product specifications, military standard drawings, industry standards (ASTM), and packaging requirement codes. The guide emphasizes that the standard military packaging specification is MIL-STD-2073-1E with Change 1 (effective January 7, 2011), which applies to items requiring military packaging for operational demands including wartime deployment, reusable containers, delivery-at-sea, and items entering the Defense Transportation and Distribution System with storage exceeding six months. For hazardous materials, packaging must comply with Title 49 CFR for land, IMO/IMDG for water, ICAO/IATA for commercial air, and AFMAN 24-204_IP for military air, with MIL-STD-129 markings required. The document details five basic military preservation methods (Methods 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50), specific packing methods (Methods 31-33, 41-43, 44-45, 51-52), marking requirements including identification, bar codes, address markings, and special markings, and quality assurance provisions including preservation and packing inspections with specified test procedures. Additionally, the guide covers commercial packaging standards (ASTM D-3951), palletization requirements (MIL-STD-147), and includes sample worksheets for translating packaging requirement codes from contracts.