By Jacob Grass · Last updated: September 13, 2026
You can get cleaning contracts from three sources: commercial property managers, subcontracts with national janitorial firms, and government agencies. The government source is bigger than most cleaning companies think. Federal agencies obligated $1.79 billion on janitorial services contracts (NAICS 561720) in FY2025, per USASpending.gov. Most owners chase only office managers and never bid on that money. This guide covers all three sources, with the exact data on where the government money goes.
I run Procura Federal, a contract intelligence platform for small federal contractors. I read janitorial solicitations every week. The pattern is consistent. The companies that grow learned how to get cleaning contracts from the government early. They keep the commercial work as a stable base and add multi-year federal awards on top.
What is the best way to get cleaning contracts?
The best way to get cleaning contracts depends on the size of your company and your tolerance for paperwork. Here is an honest comparison of the three channels:
| Channel | Deal type | Competition | Where to start |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct commercial outreach | Monthly service agreements, month-to-month or annual | High in most metro areas | Property managers and facility managers |
| Subcontracts with national firms | Per-building assignments under a prime firm | Medium | Vendor portals of national facility-services companies |
| Government contracts | Multi-year awards, often set aside for small businesses | Lower than the commercial market for certified firms | SAM.gov, state procurement portals |
Commercial work pays faster and starts sooner. Government work pays more per award and renews on multi-year cycles. A durable cleaning company builds the two in parallel. The commercial accounts cover payroll while the government evaluates your first federal bids on its long award timelines.
How to get commercial cleaning contracts
To get commercial cleaning contracts, sell to the person who controls many buildings, not to one tenant. That person is a property manager or a facility manager. One relationship there can put five or ten buildings on your schedule. Managers change vendors when service slips, so a professional pitch at the right moment wins accounts that never went to bid.
The steps that work:
- Get general liability insurance and a janitorial bond before your first pitch. Managers ask for the two documents in the first conversation.
- Contact property management companies in your area and ask who selects vendors.
- Offer a free walk-through, then quote per square foot in writing within 48 hours.
- Register as a subcontractor in the vendor portals of national janitorial firms. These firms win large accounts and then contract with local crews for the labor.
- Ask every satisfied client for a referral to one more building.
Two mistakes kill most new commercial bids. The first is a quote priced from guesswork instead of a measured walk-through. The second is a pitch aimed at a tenant who does not control the building budget. Correct these two habits and your close rate rises without new marketing spend.
This channel rewards persistence more than credentials. The government channel is the reverse. Credentials and compliance decide the winner, and that is why fewer companies compete there.
How can you get cleaning contracts for free?
You can find open bids for cleaning contracts for free on government sources. No lead broker or paid bid board is necessary for this list:
- SAM.gov posts every federal cleaning solicitation above $25,000. Access and bidding are free.
- Each state runs a free procurement portal for state building contracts.
- City, county, and school district websites post janitorial RFPs directly.
- USASpending.gov shows what each agency spent and with which companies, which tells you where to focus.
Paid tools save time on qualification, not on access. The opportunities themselves are public. Start with a free SAM.gov registration and you can bid on federal work in a few weeks.
Should you start with subcontracting?
Subcontracting is the fastest entry into large cleaning accounts, commercial and federal alike. National facility-services firms hold contracts for hundreds of buildings and staff few of them with their own crews. They contract with local companies for the labor. The margin is thinner than direct work, but the volume is steady and the sales effort is near zero after the first approval.
The same route exists in federal contracting. Large primes that win multi-facility janitorial awards often carry small-business subcontracting goals in their contracts. A subcontract under a federal prime gives you past performance, which is the credential agencies weigh most on your first direct bid. Search recent awards on USASpending.gov, find the primes that won cleaning contracts near you, and contact their small-business liaison offices. Two seasons as a subcontractor can qualify you for a direct award that a cold bidder cannot win.
How do government cleaning contracts work?
Government cleaning contracts work through open solicitations coded to a NAICS code, most often 561720 for janitorial services. Your company qualifies as a small business under that code if average annual receipts are $22 million or less. That ceiling comes from the SBA table of size standards, and almost every cleaning company in America is below it.
| NAICS code | Service | SBA size standard |
|---|---|---|
| 561720 | Janitorial services | $22.0M average annual receipts |
| 561740 | Carpet and upholstery cleaning | $8.5M average annual receipts |
| 561790 | Other services to buildings | $9.0M average annual receipts |
Source: SBA Table of Small Business Size Standards (13 CFR 121.201).
The money is real and it grows. Federal obligations on NAICS 561720 rose from $1.59 billion in FY2021 to $1.79 billion in FY2025, per USASpending.gov. Small-business set-asides received $644.7 million of the FY2025 total. That is 36 percent of the market reserved for companies like yours.
Which agencies buy the most cleaning services?
| Agency | FY2025 obligations |
|---|---|
| Department of Defense | $1.21B |
| Department of Homeland Security | $110.3M |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $109.2M |
| General Services Administration | $66.5M |
| Department of Transportation | $50.5M |
Source: USASpending.gov, FY2025 contract obligations on NAICS 561720, pulled September 2026.
The Department of Defense buys two-thirds of the market. If a military installation sits within driving distance of your crews, that base is your best federal prospect. Award sizes span a wide range. The largest FY2025 janitorial award reached $175.9 million across a multi-year period, per USASpending.gov, while single-building task orders run far smaller.
The steps for federal cleaning work
- 1. Register on SAM.gov and add NAICS 561720 to your profile. Registration is free.
- 2. Confirm your eligibility for small business set-asides such as 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, and WOSB. These certifications cut your competition sharply.
- 3. Write a one-page capability statement with your NAICS codes, certifications, and past performance.
- 4. Watch the solicitations for your region and attend the site visits. Many janitorial solicitations make the walk-through mandatory, and a missed visit disqualifies your bid.
- 5. Price with the wage determination. Federal service contracts include Department of Labor wage determinations, and your bid fails if your labor rates come in below them.
How do you price a federal cleaning bid?
Price a federal cleaning bid from the wage determination, not from your commercial rate card. Most federal janitorial contracts fall under the Service Contract Act. The Department of Labor publishes a wage determination for each contract, and it sets the minimum hourly wage and benefit rate for every labor category. Your commercial rates are usually below those floors, so a copied commercial quote produces an illegal bid.
The process is mechanical once you know it:
- Pull the wage determination from the solicitation attachments and list each labor category you plan to staff.
- Multiply the necessary wage and benefit rates by your estimated hours per week for the building.
- Add supplies, equipment amortization, overhead, and margin on top of that labor floor.
- Compare your total against the incumbent contract value on USASpending.gov as a sanity check.
Bids far below the wage floor signal an error to the contracting officer, and bids far above the incumbent value rarely win. The public data brackets the answer for you.
For a deeper version of this process, read the full guide on government cleaning contracts or the general playbook on how to win government contracts.
How much do cleaning contracts pay?
Cleaning contracts pay in two different patterns. Commercial accounts pay monthly, and the rate depends on square footage, frequency, and your local labor market. Quote from a walk-through, not from a national average, because averages hide the labor rates that decide your margin.
Government awards concentrate more revenue in fewer contracts. Federal janitorial awards in FY2025 ranged from small single-building orders to the $175.9 million award noted above, per USASpending.gov. Multi-year base-plus-option structures are standard, so one federal win can carry revenue for five years. That stability is the primary reason to accept the heavier paperwork.
The hard part is qualification, not discovery
Federal janitorial solicitations bury the decisive requirements in attachments. A typical package includes a performance work statement, a wage determination, floor plans, a site-visit notice, and past performance forms. Miss one mandatory requirement in those files and the government rejects your bid without a phone call. A trained person spends hours on one package, and dozens of packages post every month.
This is the exact problem Procura Federal solves. Procura reads every solicitation and every attachment, then scores each opportunity against your capability statement. You see which cleaning contracts match your certifications, your region, and your capacity before you spend a single hour on a dead bid. The platform costs $399/month, which is less than the labor cost of one wasted proposal.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need an LLC to get cleaning contracts?
No. The government awards contracts to sole proprietors, LLCs, and corporations alike. Federal work requires a Unique Entity ID and an active SAM.gov registration, not a specific entity type. Most owners still form an LLC for liability protection.
How long does it take to get a first cleaning contract?
Commercial accounts can close in days when a manager has an open building. Federal awards move slower. Plan on a few weeks for SAM.gov registration, then weeks to months from proposal to award. Bid on commercial work while your first federal proposals wait in the queue.
Is SAM.gov registration free?
Yes. SAM.gov registration is free, and no third party is necessary to complete it. Companies that charge for registration resell a free government process.
What certifications help you win cleaning contracts?
Small-business set-aside certifications help the most. In FY2025, small-business set-asides received $644.7 million in federal janitorial obligations, per USASpending.gov. The 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, and WOSB programs each reserve competitions for certified firms, so each one you hold removes competitors from your bids.
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