FED-STD-595C - Color Standards
GSA's role in defining color standards for federal agencies dates back to the 1949 legislation that created GSA. The file Federal Standard 595, Colors Used in Government Procurement provides a listing of color coordinate data in an Excel file organized by a 5-digit color chip number. (See note below on international standard.)
A companion narrative document is also available. It explains the associated instrumentation, scanning process and sets user expectations regarding repeatability and reproducibility.
Note on standards: CIE L*a*b* (CIELAB) is the most complete color space specified by the International Commission on Illumination (in French the Commission internationale de l'éclairage, hence CIE). It describes all the colors visible to the human eye and was created to serve as a device-independent reference model.
In the past, GSA's Federal Acquisition Service has provided Fed-Std-595 media in the form of physical color reference chips and chip-sets, the Fed-Std-595 color book and a color fandeck. The color reference chips were used for color calibration, while the color book and fandeck were used as representations of the color.
GSA will continue to provide Fed-Std-595 color data in digital format, but will no longer provide physical media once existing supplies are depleted..
To purchase any of the remaining color samples, please contact either Mary Crawford at (202) 619-8927 and mary.crawford@gsa.gov or LaFreda McLean at (202) 619-8925 and lafreda.mclean@gsa.gov. If you have questions about the standards themselves, please submit these to fedstd595@gsa.gov.
The shortcut for this page is www.gsa.gov/colorstd.
