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Office of Asset and Transportation Management | Updated September 2026
This guidance serves as a comprehensive reference for federal agencies managing U.S. government license plates and announces the transition to dateless plates as a way to streamline processes and save resources.
Requirement: 40 U.S.C.609 requires all federal government vehicles in the U.S. and its territories to be conspicuously identified with the agency’s name and purpose.
UNICOR’s exclusive role: The Office of Government-wide Policy, or OGP, maintains a formal agreement with the Federal Prison Industries — trade name UNICOR — to serve as the government’s sole provider for:
Applicability: This agreement applies to all authorized federal agencies, including the District of Columbia.
Limitation: UNICOR provides limited services only to authorized federal entities.
Requirements for vehicle identification and the process for license plate design include:
Federal vehicles are legally required to conspicuously display the following:
U.S. government license plates fulfill this requirement and are the preferred method of identification.
All license plate designs must be approved before UNICOR begins production by:
Requirements for vehicle identification and the process for license plate design include:
Note: Motor vehicles that have been exempted from the requirement to display official U.S. Government license plates must be registered and inspected in accordance with the laws of the state jurisdiction where the motor vehicle is regularly operated.
U.S. government license plates are issued in two sizes:
You will order and display a two-plate pair (an A and a B plate) for sedans, trucks and full-sized trailers (for visual reference, see Figure 1 and Figure 2 in the appendix).
You will order and display a single plate for trailers or motorcycles (the A plate only — refer to Figure 3 in the appendix)
The Federal Acquisition Service tracks the status of each plate from the date of manufacture until you return it for destruction. The plate is active until both plates are returned for destruction.
In FY 2025, GSA Fleet® began issuing license plates without the physical month or year expiration dates, or “dateless plates,” in the bar code for leased vehicles with G-plates (for visual reference, see Figure 5 in the appendix).
This change does not apply to agency-owned vehicles. They must follow their agency’s internal policies for license plate updates and replacements.
Agencies can continue using vehicles with expiring or expired dates visible on their plates during the transition period.
FAS will update the National Law Enforcement Telecommunication System, also known as NLETS, and GSAFleet.gov registrations to reflect that GSA Fleet license plates no longer expire.
Advancements in law enforcement sharing networks, including real-time plate status available through NLETS, makes expiration dates on federal license plates unnecessary. However, in case local law enforcement is unaware, agencies should ensure that the following message is printed and placed in the glove compartment of the vehicle to provide should a traffic stop occur.
This federal vehicle is registered in the Federal Motor Vehicle Registration System (FMVRS) which is part of GSAFleet.gov.
The information below is from the FMVRS vehicle record. Law enforcement agencies can validate this information through the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (NLETS). To perform a registration query (RQ) on a federal government vehicle or license plate, the state designation code is “GS” followed by the VIN or license plate number.
Note: Federal plates no longer require an expiration date. Expiration dates are being phased out by some federal agencies. Other federal agencies may choose to maintain expiration dates. License plates with expired, blank, or 00/00 expiration dates are all valid.
The U.S. vehicle identification card is not an actual registration card. This card states that the federal license plates and motor vehicle identification number are registered in GSAFleet.gov and provides vehicle, license plate, and insurance information.
The U.S. vehicle identification card may be downloaded at GSAFleet.gov — to download the VIN card, a new style license plate with a valid expiration date must be properly assigned to a vehicle and registered in GSAFleet.gov.
Coordinate with your GSA Fleet service representative, or FSR, for GSA Fleet vehicles that you need to:
Coordinate with your agency fleet manager and UNICOR for vehicles your agency owns in order to:
Currently, the only agencies who are authorized to order dateless plates are GSA Fleet, U.S. Coast Guard, Department of Transportation, Defense Logistics Agency, and USDA.
For GSA Fleet leased vehicles, where the license plate starts with “G” — contact your GSA Fleet service representative.
For Agency owned vehicles — contact your agency fleet manager or UNICOR license plate representative at cusgdlp@usdoj.gov.
UNICOR manufactures, sells and provides destruction services only to authorized federal entities through its online license plate store. UNICOR also offers design services, automated online ordering, and populates order and destruction information via GSAFleet.gov.
UNICOR must ensure federal entities only order license plates using their assigned agency prefix code.
Each agency must have an MOU with UNICOR outlining:
If an agency chooses to number their own plates, they are responsible for preventing duplicate numbers.
To set up an account and access the online license plate store, contact UNICOR at cusgdlp@usdoj.gov.
UNICOR shall provide a notification of receipt for each order to the ordering agency that includes at a minimum the following:
UNICOR will process agency orders, manufacture license plates, and ship completed orders within three business days of order placement.
UNICOR will announce price changes to customers at least 60 days before the new prices take effect.
Pricing for single plates for motorcycles and trailers will be quoted separately between the federal agencies and UNICOR.
UNICOR offers expedited processing and shipping for an additional cost. Expedited orders are manufactured and shipped within five (5) business days.
The FMVRS, which is accessible via GSAFleet.gov, is the home for federal vehicle registrations and license plate inventory management and destruction.
U.S. government license plates must be ordered through UNICOR.
FMVRS is accessible via GSAFleet.gov.
Agencies are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of vehicle and license plate data in GSAFleet.gov throughout the vehicle and plate lifecycle.
FMVRS is used to:
A complete vehicle registration in FMVRS requires:
If any of these key identifiers are missing, the vehicle is listed as “Incomplete.”
Updating the status of GSAFleet.gov license plate records is the responsibility of the agency. We will only update records for you in extraordinary circumstances. If you believe you have an extraordinary circumstance, your request must come from your agency/bureau fleet manager.
If you have U.S. government license plates that are expired, removed, replaced, damaged or unneeded, your agency must return them to UNICOR for destruction. There is no charge for the return shipment of excess license plates.
U.S. government license plates (of all types and sizes) that have been “attached” to a vehicle cannot be reused.
When a vehicle is disposed of, the attached license plates must be returned to UNICOR for destruction.
U.S.Government license plates that are expired, removed, replaced, damaged, or unneeded must be returned to UNICOR for destruction.
The following procedures emphasize the importance of protecting GSAFleet.gov license plate and registration data and restricting its release to NLETS only. Agencies can access their own data within the system but should not share it externally to maintain security and protect law enforcement operations.
NLETS is the sole recipient: GSAFleet.gov registration information is only released to NLETS.
Safeguards in NLETS: GSA Fleet has built in several precautions to its responses to NLETS inquiries to protect federal law enforcement agents and their mission.
No external sharing: These safeguards are compromised if you provide GSAFleet.gov data outside of the NLETS system. Therefore, agencies and users should not share GSAFleet.gov data outside of NLETS.
Agency access: Agencies and their authorized users have full access to their own data within the GSAFleet.gov system and can examine information as needed within the system itself.
Once “attached” to a vehicle, the license plate stays with that vehicle until the vehicle is disposed of by the owning agency. However, sometimes, agencies elect to transfer vehicles to new agencies or transfer vehicles between activities and/or locations within the same agency.
The GSAFleet.gov user guide explains how to transfer a vehicle from one agency to another within the GSAFleet.gov entity. The original license plates attached to the vehicle that is being transferred to a new agency must be dissociated from that vehicle within GSAFleet.gov, have their status updated within the GSAFleet.gov as “Pending Destruction.”
The actual license plates should be removed from the vehicle and returned to UNICOR following the SOP (found on the GSAFleet.gov main page). The new agency will be responsible for purchasing license plates for the transferred vehicle and updating GSAFleet.gov to confirm the new agency, new POC, and the new license plate number.
When a vehicle is transferred within the same agency (from one bureau to another, or from one location to another), internal agency policy should determine if the tags remain with the vehicle or should be replaced.
Off-road identification plates are only for equipment that never operates on public roads. If the equipment ever operates on a public road, it must have official U.S. government license plates (see Figure 4 in the appendix).
U.S. government sample plates are invalid: U.S. government sample license plates are no longer authorized, produced, or valid.
Security risk: Even the remote possibility of a sample plate being illegally used and mistaken for a valid plate is enough to prohibit their use.
Access control: Display of a federal license plate is a key to gaining access to federal facilities or conducting certain activities.
U.S. government license plates for agency-owned vehicles begin with the agency prefix and may contain an agency name or logo in the lower left corner of the license plate. GSA Fleet-leased vehicles use the prefix “G.” For more information see federal government license plate prefix codes.
If you find any errors in the list of license plate codes or if you would like to request a copy of the Desk Reference Guide for U.S. government License Plates and the GSA-UNICOR Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU, please send your requests to vehicle.policy@gsa.gov.
This guidance is effective immediately and remains in effect until rescinded or superseded.
Send any questions or comments to vehicle.policy@gsa.gov.
To order license plates, reach out to cusgdlp@usdoj.gov or GSAFleet.gov.
Below are visual representations of types of license plates referenced in this guide.
Since FY 2025, GSA Fleet-leased vehicle license plates have been produced without expiration dates. GSA Fleet made this change only for the G-plated vehicles for our leasing customers. Agency-owned vehicles must follow the respective agency’s processes for updating license plate.
You may continue to operate your vehicles with nearing expiration and expired dates visible during this transition.
As of August 6, 2024, both NLETS and GSAFleet.gov registrations have been updated to indicate that license plates no longer expire.
If you have a compelling need for a new license plate, please contact your Fleet Service Representative.
Regular-sized trailer license plates end with the letter “T.”
Motorcycle-size license plates end with the letter “M.”
In September 2025, GSA Fleet updated the following vehicle and license plate information printed on the vehicle registration card from GSAFleet.gov fed into NLETS. Names of individuals will be replaced with “Motor Vehicle Fleet Manager.”
NLETS messaging will:
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U.S. General Services Administration