How to Win Government Landscaping and Grounds Maintenance Contracts

This guide is for owners of small lawn care and landscaping businesses, the kind with one to twenty people, a couple of trucks, and a trailer full of mowers, who want to bid on government grounds maintenance work but have never done it.

Federal, state, and local agencies all pay someone to mow, trim, edge, blow, and clean up their grounds: office complexes, ranger stations, lake parks and campgrounds, cemeteries, research stations, military housing, and reserve centers. A lot of this work is small enough for a local crew, and it repeats every season.

Below you will learn which NAICS codes to use, how to register for free, where to find grounds maintenance bids, how to read a statement of work and a wage determination, how to price per cut with a worked example, how to write and submit a quote, what happens after award, and the common mistakes that cost small landscapers the job.

1. Pick the right NAICS code

Each government solicitation is assigned one NAICS code. It describes the work and sets the size limit for being considered a small business on that job. You list your codes in your registration so that agencies, and their market research, can find you.

These are the codes grounds maintenance businesses should know. The size standards come from the current SBA table and are measured in average annual receipts, generally averaged over your last five completed fiscal years.

• 561730 Landscaping Services: $9.5 million. The main code for mowing, trimming, edging, planting, mulching, tree and shrub care, and general grounds maintenance.
• 561790 Other Services to Buildings and Dwellings: $9.0 million. Often used for snow removal and some exterior cleaning work.
• 561210 Facilities Support Services: $47.0 million. Used when grounds work is bundled with building maintenance, custodial, and other services into one larger contract.

2. Decide: bid yourself or team with a prime

There are two practical ways for a small landscaping company to break into government work.

You can bid as the prime contractor. You register, find the job, price it, write the quote, and sign the contract. You keep the full margin and build your own federal track record, but you also own every form, every clause, and every deadline.

Or you can subcontract to a prime contractor that already has its registrations and knows the paperwork. You give the prime your price for the mowing and maintenance, the prime submits the bid, and if it wins, your crew does the work. This lets you earn government revenue and learn how inspections and invoicing work before you go it alone.

Many landscapers start as a subcontractor on one or two sites and then bid directly on small local jobs. Decide which route you are taking now, because it shapes the rest of the steps.

If you subcontract, a prime will usually ask for a written price broken out the way the solicitation's line items are, proof of insurance, a short description of your crew and equipment, and a couple of references. Put the arrangement in writing: the scope, the price, how changes are handled, and when you get paid.

3. Register in SAM.gov (it is free)

To hold a federal contract, your business needs an active registration in SAM.gov, the System for Award Management. It costs nothing. Companies that charge to register you are private services, not the government.

During registration you receive a Unique Entity ID (UEI) and a CAGE code. You will need your legal business name and address exactly as the IRS has them, your EIN, a bank account for electronic payment, and your NAICS codes. You will also complete representations and certifications, including your small business status for each code.

Allow a few weeks for a new registration to activate. Renew it every year; an expired registration can stop an award. If your firm qualifies for SBA programs such as 8(a), HUBZone, women-owned small business, or service-disabled veteran-owned small business, apply with SBA too, since some grounds contracts are set aside for those firms.

Have this ready before you start the registration:

• Your legal business name and physical address, exactly as they appear with the IRS.
• Your EIN (or SSN for some sole proprietors).
• Bank routing and account numbers for electronic payment.
• Your NAICS codes and a point of contact for government business.
• Answers to the representations and certifications, including small business status.

4. Find grounds maintenance bids

Most federal opportunities are posted on SAM.gov under Contract Opportunities. Search for NAICS 561730 and filter by state. Save the search so new postings come to your email. Typical buyers include the Army Corps of Engineers at its lakes and recreation areas, the National Park Service, the Forest Service, VA national cemeteries, and military installations.

Know the dollar thresholds. Since October 1, 2025, the federal micro-purchase threshold is $15,000 in general, but only $2,500 for services covered by the Service Contract Act, which includes most grounds maintenance. The simplified acquisition threshold is now $350,000. Purchases above the micro-purchase threshold and up to the simplified acquisition threshold generally must be set aside for small businesses when the contracting officer expects offers from at least two capable small businesses at fair prices. That range is where most small landscapers should be looking.

Respond to Sources Sought notices. It is free, it takes an hour, and it is how agencies decide whether there are enough small businesses to set a job aside.

Also check state, county, city, school district, and park district portals. Many local agencies buy mowing on per-cut or seasonal contracts, and they are often easier first wins. Be aware that some federal grounds contracts are on the AbilityOne Procurement List and are bought from nonprofit agencies, so they will not be competed.

Before bidding, look up who held the contract last time on USAspending.gov. Search by agency and place of performance, and you will usually see the incumbent's name, the award amount, and the period of performance. That tells you whether your price is in the right range and when the contract is likely to come up again.

5. Read the solicitation and the statement of work

A grounds maintenance solicitation usually includes a Performance Work Statement (PWS), a site map, a pricing schedule broken into line items, instructions to offerors, evaluation criteria, clauses, and a wage determination.

The PWS defines the acreage or areas, mowing frequency or a growth-height trigger, cutting heights, trimming and edging standards, how clippings and leaves are handled, debris pickup, weed control in beds and pavement cracks, shrub pruning, and sometimes irrigation, fertilization, and tree work. Pay close attention to whether mowing is a fixed number of cycles or as-needed, because it changes how you price.

Check whether herbicide or pesticide work is included. Applying them commercially usually requires a state applicator license, and many federal sites require you to submit product labels and application records.

Note the season dates, working hours, the inspection process in the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP), and what counts as a deficiency. Then read how the offers will be evaluated: lowest price, or best value with technical and past performance factors.

6. Understand the wage determination (Service Contract Act)

Grounds maintenance is a service, and federal service contracts over $2,500 fall under the McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act. You must pay each worker at least the wage and fringe benefits in the wage determination attached to the solicitation, for the county where the work happens.

Find the job titles that match your crew. Common ones include Laborer, Grounds Maintenance, and Tractor Operator. Note the hourly rate for each, then read the fringe section: a health and welfare amount per hour, plus paid vacation and holidays. Health and welfare can be paid as benefits or as cash added to the wage.

Wage determinations are posted on SAM.gov and are revised from time to time. Price your option years with the expectation that the rates may rise, and read the contract's price adjustment clause so you know how increases are handled.

Every bidder has the same wage floor, so you do not win by paying less. You win by running efficient routes, matching equipment to the site, and keeping your overhead lean.

7. Visit the site

If the solicitation offers a site visit, go. Satellite images and acreage tables miss the details that drive cost.

Walk the property and look at slopes that need a string trimmer or a slope mower, fence lines, ditches, guard rails, signs, and other obstacles; how much hand trimming there is around buildings; sidewalk and curb edging length; where you can unload equipment; and how far the site is from your shop. Ask about access hours, security checks for your crew, and where clippings or debris can be dumped.

Submit your questions in writing by the stated deadline. Answers usually arrive as an amendment, and you must acknowledge every amendment in your quote.

8. Price the work (a worked example)

Grounds contracts are usually priced per cut, per month, or per season, broken into line items. Build your price from crew hours, the wage determination, fringe, payroll taxes and insurance, equipment and fuel, disposal, overhead, and profit.

Example only. These numbers are made up to show the calculation. Use your own crew productivity and the real wage determination for your county.

Say a site has about 12 acres of mowable turf, plus trimming and edging, and the PWS calls for 28 cuts a season. You estimate a two-person crew at 6 hours per visit, or 12 labor hours a cut, so 336 labor hours a season. Suppose the wage determination shows $16.00 an hour plus $5.00 health and welfare, and your payroll taxes and workers' compensation add $2.50. Loaded labor is $23.50 an hour, so labor is 336 x $23.50 = $7,896.

Add equipment, fuel, and trailer costs of $40 per visit (28 x $40 = $1,120) and $500 for debris disposal and small materials. Direct costs are $9,516. Add 12 percent overhead ($1,141.92) to reach $10,657.92, then 10 percent profit ($1,065.79). Your season price is about $11,724, or roughly $419 per cut.

In a real bid, add the paid vacation and holidays from the wage determination, extra cycles for wet seasons if the contract pays for them, leaf removal, and any line items for shrubs, mulch, or herbicide. Then compare against what the agency paid in past years, which you can look up on USAspending.gov.

Most federal grounds contracts are written as a base year plus option years. Price each year separately when the schedule asks you to, and think about fuel, equipment replacement, and wage increases over the full term, not just the first season.

9. Write a quote that is easy to evaluate

Follow the instructions to offerors exactly. Use their forms, their order, and their headings. If the solicitation asks for three things, give three things, clearly labeled.

For a lowest price job, your package may be the pricing schedule, a signed cover form such as an SF 1449, and acknowledgment of amendments. For best value jobs, add a short technical approach and past performance.

A good grounds maintenance approach says who will be on the crew and who supervises, what equipment you will use on each area, how you will schedule cuts around weather and growth, how you handle inspections and correct deficiencies, and how you protect sprinkler heads, vehicles, and windows from damage.

For past performance, list similar properties: HOAs, commercial campuses, churches, schools, or municipal parks, with a contact who will answer. Prior government work is not required to show you can maintain grounds well.

10. Submit on time and exactly as instructed

Federal deadlines are firm, and late offers are generally rejected, so check the time zone and submit at least a day early.

Use the method the solicitation names, whether email to the contracting officer, a portal upload, or a SAM.gov response. Put the solicitation number in your subject line and file names, and keep your confirmation.

Before you hit send, confirm your SAM registration is active, every required form is signed, every amendment is acknowledged, and every line item is priced. A blank line item can make an offer unacceptable.

11. After award: who you work with and how you get paid

Your contract is signed by a Contracting Officer (CO), the only person who can change the scope or price. Day to day you will likely work with a Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) or site contact who inspects your work. If they ask for something extra, such as clearing a new area, get a written modification from the CO before you do it.

Expect a start-up meeting, site access paperwork for your crew, and inspections after cuts. Keep a log of each visit with dates and photos. It protects you in a dispute and makes invoicing easy.

Invoices are submitted electronically. Defense agencies use Wide Area Workflow within the PIEE system, and many civilian agencies use the Treasury's Invoice Processing Platform (IPP), which is free for vendors. Your contract will say which one to use and how often to bill.

Your performance is usually rated in the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS). Those ratings are read by evaluators on future bids, so a clean first contract is worth more than its dollar value. Ask the COR for feedback during the season, not just at the end.

12. Why small landscaping companies lose

Most losses are avoidable.

• Pricing a site from a map without walking it, then missing slopes, ditches, and hours of hand trimming.
• Leaving a line item blank or misreading per-cut versus seasonal pricing.
• Paying, or pricing, below the wage determination.
• Missing an amendment acknowledgment or a required signature.
• Writing a generic company brochure instead of answering the evaluation factors.
• Bidding sites too far from the shop to service reliably during peak growing season.

Two ways to win your first grounds maintenance contract

You can do it all yourself using the steps above, starting with small local jobs. If you want help writing a quote you submit under your own name, XL Eagle writes proposals for vendors who bid themselves, for $19.99 (www.xleagle.com/proposal-writing/).

If you would rather skip the federal paperwork, you can team with a prime. XL Eagle LLC (UEI K6SYWSWZAMY9, CAGE 11R42) is a federal prime contractor: you give us your price, we write and submit the bid under our registrations, and if we win, your crew does the work as our subcontractor. It is free to you; our margin is added on top of your price. We have won $2.3 million across 47 federal awards from 7 departments, including grounds maintenance for NOAA in Texas.

Frequently asked questions

Conclusion

Government grounds maintenance rewards the same things your best commercial customers do: showing up on schedule, doing clean work, and fixing problems fast. The difference is the paperwork, and that is learnable.

Register in SAM.gov, set up a saved search for 561730 in your state, and walk your first site this season. Price it carefully from the wage determination up, and submit early.