Navy Cognizance Symbols (COG Codes) — Complete Reference

A Navy Cognizance Symbol (COG) is a two-character alphanumeric code prefixed to a National Stock Number that identifies, in two characters, the cognizant inventory manager, the stores account, and the type of material for a Navy item. The first position is a number that identifies the stores account the material is carried in — and therefore how it is funded — and the second position is a letter that, with the first digit, identifies the inventory manager / inventory control point with cognizance over the item and the material type. COG is a Navy-unique management code defined in Naval Supply Procedures (NAVSUP P-485 Volume II, Appendix 18); reading it correctly is one of the first things a Navy storekeeper or supply officer does when handling a part.

At a glance

• What it is: A two-character alphanumeric prefix to a National Stock Number that identifies the stores account (and funding) and the cognizant inventory manager for a Navy-managed item.
• Length and format: Exactly two characters — position 1 numeric (stores account), position 2 alphabetic (inventory manager).
• Regulatory source: Naval Supply Procedures, NAVSUP P-485 Volume II (Supply Appendices), Appendix 18 — "Cognizance of Navy Material", under Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP).
• Managed by: NAVSUP; item cognizance is held by Navy inventory control points, principally NAVSUP Weapon Systems Support (NAVSUP WSS) — the organization formerly called the Naval Inventory Control Point (NAVICP). Requests for assignment of new cognizance symbols are addressed to NAVSUP WSS MECH.
• Where used: Navy requisitioning, inventory, and financial management; carried as the NSN prefix on Navy supply records.
• How to resolve a specific code: Read the first digit from the stores-account rule below, then look the full two-character code up in the complete cognizance symbol listing further down the page (or against NAVSUP P-485 directly).

What Navy Cognizance Symbols are

A cognizance symbol answers two questions at once about a Navy-managed item: "how is it carried and funded?" and "who has management cognizance of it?" Those two answers are packed into the two characters and prefixed to the National Stock Number, so a complete Navy material identifier is often written as the COG followed by the NSN.

The word cognizance is the key. In Navy supply usage it means management control — the combined technical and inventory-management responsibility for a family of material. The COG names the account the item lives in and the manager who exercises that control, which is why it drives so much downstream: funding, accountability, requisition routing, and reporting all key off the cognizance.

Critically, the COG is a Navy-unique code. The National Stock Number it prefixes is a joint, DoD-wide identifier (see WebFLIS / FLIS for the catalog data behind an NSN), but the cognizance symbol is the Navy's own management overlay on top of that NSN. The same NSN is identified DoD-wide by its stock number; the Navy adds the COG to say how the Navy carries and manages it.

How they're structured

A cognizance symbol is always two characters: a number then a letter.

First position — the stores account (and funding)

The first character is numeric and identifies the stores account the material is carried in. This single digit is the fastest funding tell in Navy supply:

• 0 — material not carried in a stores account.
• Even digits 2, 4, 6, 8 — material carried in the Appropriation Purchase Account (APA) — except for 2A and 8A, which are not carried in any stores account.
• Odd digits 1, 3, 5, 7 — material carried in the Navy Working Capital Fund (NWCF), the Navy's revolving stock fund.
• 9 — Navy-owned material carried in the NWCF and managed by the Defense Logistics Agency, with the exception of cognizance symbol 9Q material, which GSA manages. Nine-cognizance material is the large, centrally managed population sourced from DLA, GSA, and the other services.

The first digit fixes which account carries the material: the APA (even) carries material bought directly with appropriated funds, while the NWCF (odd, plus 9) is the Navy's revolving stock fund.

Second position — the cognizant inventory manager

The second character is a letter that, taken together with the first digit, identifies the inventory manager or inventory control point (ICP) with cognizance over the item — broadly the combined technical (Bureau or systems command) and inventory-management responsibility for that material family — and the type of material.

Unlike the first digit, the second-position letter is not a value a reader can decode unaided — it is a registry key into the Navy's cognizance assignments, and the same letter resolves to different managers depending on the first digit (for example, the manager behind 2F is not the manager behind 9F). The full set of cognizance symbols, and the specific manager each designates, is enumerated in NAVSUP P-485 Volume II, Appendix 18 (Part A by inventory-manager sequence, Part B by cognizance-symbol sequence) and carried in the Navy's master cognizance listings (for example, the Navy ERP master COG / SLOC references). Because manager assignments are administrative and shift as commands reorganize, the authoritative meaning of a cognizance symbol is whatever the current Navy listing says it is.

How they're used

The cognizance symbol does its work as the management overlay on the NSN across the Navy supply and financial systems:

• Funding and accountability. The first digit fixes which stores account carries the item — APA (even), NWCF (odd, plus 9), or no stores account (0) — and therefore the funding and accountability that apply. This is read before requisitioning so the right funds apply.
• Routing management responsibility. The second-position letter routes the item to the correct inventory manager / ICP, so requisitions, allowance decisions, and technical questions reach the activity that actually manages the material.
• Requisitioning and records. The COG is carried with the NSN on Navy supply records and is read alongside the item's other management data — unit of issue, unit price, material control code, and the Acquisition Advice Code — when ordering or managing a part.
• Stratification and reporting. Material is grouped and reported by cognizance, so the COG is a primary axis for inventory stratification, financial reporting, and allowance management across the Navy supply system.

First-position stores-account reference

The first character is the part of the COG you can read directly. The table below is the authoritative first-position rule set.

Complete cognizance symbol listing

The full set of Navy cognizance symbols from NAVSUP P-485 Volume II, Appendix 18 (Part B — Cognizance Symbol Sequence Listing) is reproduced below: every two-character COG, the stores account fixed by its first digit, the material it designates, and the inventory manager that holds cognizance. Read each row as first digit = stores account (per the table above), second letter = the cognizant inventory manager and material type. Sort or filter to find a specific code. For the full administrative detail behind a code — technical responsibility, source of identification, and any exclusions — consult NAVSUP P-485 directly, since assignments change as commands reorganize.

How to read a cognizance symbol

To read any COG, take the two characters in order:

1. Read the first digit as the stores account. 0 = not in a stores account; even (2/4/6/8) = Appropriation Purchase Account (APA), except 2A/8A; odd (1/3/5/7) = Navy Working Capital Fund (NWCF); 9 = NWCF, Navy-owned material managed by DLA (except 9Q, managed by GSA). This immediately tells you the account and funding.
2. Read the second letter as the inventory manager. Resolve it against NAVSUP P-485 or the Navy master COG listing to identify the specific ICP / inventory manager with cognizance.
3. Read the COG together with the NSN and the rest of the management data. The COG prefixes the NSN; pair it with the unit of issue, price, material control code, and Acquisition Advice Code for the full management picture before requisitioning.

Worked example

A storekeeper pulls a part and the Navy record shows cognizance symbol 2C on the NSN.

Reading the COG: the first digit 2 is even, so the material is carried in the Appropriation Purchase Account (APA) — funded by appropriation. Resolving the full symbol 2C against Appendix 18 identifies it as Major Construction and Civil Engineering Equipment, for which the Civil Engineer Support Office (CESO) is the inventory manager and NAVFAC holds technical responsibility.

Had the same part instead shown 9C, both the account and the manager change: the 9 means Navy-owned material carried in the NWCF and managed by DLA, and 9C resolves to Navy-owned stocks of Defense Construction Material, for which DLA Land and Maritime is the inventory manager. The lesson is that the letter is not a stand-alone manager code — 2C and 9C share a C but resolve to different managers and material; you read the full two-character symbol, not the letter alone. A 0-cognizance item would tell the storekeeper the part is not carried in a stores account at all, which changes how it must be obtained.

Common errors and gotchas

• Reading the two characters as one code. A COG is digit + letter: the digit is the stores account (funding), and the digit-plus-letter together resolve to the cognizant inventory manager and material type. Read the first character for the account first.
• Assuming the first digit is reimbursable-versus-free-issue. Appendix 18 frames the first digit by account, not by reimbursable/free-issue: even (2/4/6/8) is APA, odd (1/3/5/7) is NWCF, 9 is NWCF (DLA- or, for 9Q, GSA-managed), and 0 is no stores account. Map the digit to the account, not to a pay/no-pay rule.
• Treating the second letter as a stand-alone manager code. The same letter resolves to different managers under different first digits (2C = CESO; 9C = DLA Land and Maritime). Resolve the full two-character symbol against NAVSUP P-485 / the master COG listing rather than reading the letter alone.
• Treating the COG as a DoD-wide code. It is Navy-unique. The NSN it prefixes is joint; the cognizance symbol is the Navy's own management overlay and is not used the same way by the other services.
• Assuming a COG never changes. Cognizance can be reassigned as commands reorganize or as an item's management moves; a COG that was correct on an old record may have changed. (A newly assigned cog is "effective at a minimum of 120 days from the assignment date.")

Related codes and cross-references

• Acquisition Advice Codes (AAC) — the DoD-wide management-data code for how an item is acquired, read alongside the Navy COG on the item record.
• Unit of Issue (U/I) — how the item is requisitioned and issued, and the basis for its unit price.
• Supply Condition Codes (SCC) — the serviceability classification of the material the COG identifies.
• WebFLIS / FLIS — the federal catalog data behind the National Stock Number that the COG prefixes.
• NAVSUP P-485 Online — the Naval Supply Procedures publication that governs the cognizance symbol.
• Navy ERP and the Navy ERP master COG / SLOC listings — where the live Navy cognizance and stores-account-location assignments are carried.

Authoritative references

• Naval Supply Procedures, NAVSUP P-485 Volume II (Supply Appendices), Revision 9 — Appendix 18, "Cognizance of Navy Material." The governing Navy supply manual section that defines the cognizance symbol and the stores-account structure.
• Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP). The Navy supply management policy authority; see navsup.navy.mil.
• NAVSUP Weapon Systems Support (NAVSUP WSS). The principal Navy inventory control point (formerly the Naval Inventory Control Point, NAVICP) that holds cognizance over large populations of Navy material; new cognizance-symbol assignments are addressed to NAVSUP WSS MECH.

Last verified

This reference was source-verified against NAVSUP P-485 Volume II (Supply Appendices), Revision 9, Appendix 18 — "Cognizance of Navy Material" (2026-04-14). The two-position structure, the first-position stores-account rules (0 = no stores account; even = APA; odd = NWCF; 9 = NWCF, DLA-managed except 9Q/GSA), and the assignment process were confirmed on 2026-06-21. On 2026-06-26 the complete cognizance symbol listing above (all 126 codes, 0A–9Z) was added, extracted directly from the Appendix 18 Part B PDF and verified code-by-code against it; five codes carried by an older edition (2N, 4C, 6F, 6S, 6Z) were dropped because they do not exist in Rev 9, and a handful (5N, 5P, 6C, 6D) were corrected where the older source disagreed with Rev 9. During verification the earlier draft's first-position model was also corrected: odd digits and 9 are carried in the Navy Working Capital Fund (NWCF), not a "Navy Stock Account (NSA)," and Appendix 18 does not characterize the first digit as reimbursable versus free issue. A final proofread on 2026-07-10 confirmed the live navsup.navy.mil URL and corrected the 0J listing to "1H cognizance material" — the Rev 9 PDF itself prints a lowercase "l" there, a publication typo, since Appendix 18's own rule makes the first position numeric and 0J's description matches cognizance 1H. The one remaining open item is administrative rather than substantive: the formal NAVICP→NAVSUP WSS redesignation order. To suggest a correction, use the site's correction path.