Packaging and Marking Guide for DoD

This is an informational guide compiled by the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) in March 2014 that provides best-practice guidance on packaging and marking requirements for Department of Defense contracts and solicitations. The guide is not an officially adopted DoD standard but serves as a reference tool for understanding packaging compliance.

The guide covers the locations where packaging requirements appear within solicitation documents (Section D—Packaging & Marking), identification of applicable standards including MIL-STD-2073-1E for military packaging and ASTM D3951 for commercial packaging, and hazardous materials packaging requirements under Title 49 CFR, IMO/IMDG, ICAO/IATA, and AFMAN 24-204_IP. The document details five basic military preservation methods (Method 10—Physical Protection; Method 20—Preservative Coating; Method 30—Waterproof Protection; Method 40—Watervaporproof Protection; Method 50—Watervaporproof with Desiccant) and provides visual examples of military packing levels (Level A and Level B). Additional sections address packaging requirement codes (QUP, ICQ, MOP, CD, PM, WM, CUD, CT, UC, IC, UCL, OPI, PACK, SP MK), marking standards (MIL-STD-129), quality assurance inspection provisions, special markings (shelf-life, project code, fragile, Method 50, hazardous materials, ESD sensitivity), heat-treated wood packaging material requirements, palletization standards (MIL-STD-147), and RFID tag specifications. The guide includes sample worksheets, label examples, and references to key specifications and useful government websites for packaging code lookup and compliance verification.