How to Win Government Trucking and Moving Contracts: A Guide for Small Carriers and Movers

This guide is for owners of small trucking and moving companies, a few trucks and a crew, who want to haul or move for the government but have never bid on a federal job.

Agencies need freight hauled, equipment delivered, furniture and records moved, offices relocated, and surplus property picked up. Some of this runs through large programs with their own approval processes, but a lot of it is posted as individual jobs that a local mover or carrier can win.

You will learn the right NAICS codes, how to register for free, where to find trucking and moving bids, which federal transportation programs have their own carrier approval, how the Service Contract Act applies to moving crews, how to price a relocation with a worked example, how to submit, what happens after award, and why small carriers lose.

1. Pick the right NAICS code

Each solicitation carries one NAICS code that describes the work and sets the small business size limit for that job. List every code that fits in your registration.

These codes cover most trucking and moving work. Size standards are from the current SBA table and are measured in average annual receipts, generally averaged over your last five completed fiscal years.

• 484210 Used Household and Office Goods Moving: $34.0 million. The main code for office relocations, furniture moves, and household goods moving.
• 484110 General Freight Trucking, Local: $34.0 million.
• 484121 General Freight Trucking, Long-Distance, Truckload: $34.0 million.
• 484122 General Freight Trucking, Long-Distance, Less Than Truckload: $43.0 million.
• 484220 Specialized Freight (except Used Goods) Trucking, Local: $34.0 million. Used for things like heavy equipment, bulk materials, and other specialized loads.
• 488510 Freight Transportation Arrangement: $20.0 million, with special rules on how receipts are counted. Used for brokers and freight forwarders.

2. Decide: bid yourself or team with a prime

Small carriers and movers have two realistic ways in.

Bid as the prime: you register, find the job, price it, write the quote, and sign the contract. You keep the whole margin and build your own federal record, and you also handle every form, insurance certificate, and invoice.

Or subcontract to a prime that already has registrations and federal experience. You price the move or the haul, the prime bids, and if it wins, your trucks and crew do the work. It is a low-risk way to learn base access, government inventory rules, and federal invoicing.

Choose your path for each opportunity before you start, since it changes how much of the rest falls on you.

If you subcontract, the prime will usually ask for your price broken out by the solicitation's line items, proof of operating authority and insurance, a description of your trucks and crew, and references. Agree in writing on the scope, the price, how extra trips or delays are paid, who is responsible for damage claims, and when you get paid.

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

An active SAM.gov registration is required to hold a federal contract, and it is free. Anyone charging you to register is a private service, not the government.

SAM assigns a Unique Entity ID (UEI) and a CAGE code. You will need your legal name and address exactly as the IRS has them, your EIN, banking details, and your NAICS codes, and you will answer representations and certifications, including small business status.

New registrations can take a few weeks. Renew every year. If you qualify for SBA programs such as 8(a), HUBZone, women-owned small business, or service-disabled veteran-owned small business, apply with SBA as well.

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. Have your operating authority and insurance in order

Government buyers expect the same credentials a commercial shipper would, and often check them. For-hire interstate carriers need a USDOT number and FMCSA operating authority, and your drivers need the right commercial licenses for your equipment. Intrastate moves follow your state's rules.

Solicitations usually state required insurance, such as auto liability, cargo, and general liability, and may require certificates before award. Read the liability and loss or damage terms closely, because government furniture, records, and lab equipment can be costly to replace.

For work on military installations, expect driver background checks and base access credentials. Some jobs also require drivers or crew to be U.S. citizens or to pass specific security screening, so check before you bid.

Keep your safety record clean and current. FMCSA data on your carrier is public, and a contracting officer or prime contractor may look at it when deciding whether you are a responsible carrier.

5. Find trucking and moving bids

Search SAM.gov Contract Opportunities for NAICS 484210 and the 4841 freight codes, plus keywords such as relocation, moving services, freight, hauling, and transport. Filter by state and save the searches.

Know the federal thresholds that took effect October 1, 2025. The simplified acquisition threshold is $350,000. The micro-purchase threshold is $15,000 in general but only $2,500 for services covered by the Service Contract Act, which includes most moving services. Many office moves and equipment hauls fall between those amounts, where procedures are simpler and small business set-asides are common.

Some government transportation runs through programs with their own carrier approval. Defense freight generally requires carriers to register with the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC), which requires a Standard Carrier Alpha Code (SCAC) among other things. GSA runs a household goods program for civilian employee relocations that uses approved transportation service providers. If you want that steady work, check each program's current requirements directly; they are separate from bidding individual jobs on SAM.gov.

Do not ignore state and local work: universities, school districts, counties, and cities post moving and hauling jobs on their own portals.

Before you bid, look up past awards on USAspending.gov. Searching by agency and place of performance shows who did similar moves or hauling for that office, at what price, and when. It is a quick way to check whether your number is realistic.

6. Read the solicitation and the statement of work

A moving or hauling solicitation usually includes a Performance Work Statement (PWS) or Statement of Work, an inventory or load description, the pricing schedule, instructions to offerors, evaluation criteria, clauses, and often a wage determination.

For relocations, look for the item inventory (desks, cubicles, files, lab equipment, IT), floors and elevators at both ends, distance between sites, whether you must disassemble and reassemble furniture, crate or pack records, protect floors and walls, haul off debris, and work after hours or on weekends.

For freight, look for pickup and delivery locations, weights and dimensions, frequency, delivery windows, equipment type, tracking requirements, and how detention or accessorial charges are handled.

Then read how offers are evaluated, lowest price or best value, and exactly what to submit.

If the inventory is vague, price only what you can see and ask a written question about the rest. Some relocation solicitations let you propose unit prices for extra items or additional crew hours. Fill those in carefully, because they often decide who makes money when the real move is bigger than the inventory.

7. Understand the Service Contract Act and wage determination

Moving and many hauling contracts over $2,500 are covered by the McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act. You must pay at least the wages and fringe benefits in the wage determination attached to the solicitation.

Match your crew to the job titles in the wage determination. Common ones are Material Handling Laborer and the truck driver titles, which are listed by vehicle size: Truckdriver, Light; Truckdriver, Medium; Truckdriver, Heavy; and Truckdriver, Tractor-Trailer. Note the health and welfare amount, paid vacation, and holidays.

Some freight shipments are exempt from the Service Contract Act, such as carriage under published tariff rates. If a wage determination is attached to your solicitation, price from it.

8. Do a walk-through

For any relocation, ask for a walk-through even if one is not scheduled, and go to every one offered. Count items, check freight elevators and their reservation rules, loading docks, truck clearance, parking, stairs, and distance from the dock to the work areas at both ends.

Ask how much will be packed by agency staff versus your crew, whether IT equipment needs special handling, and what the move-in deadline is. Send questions in writing by the deadline, and acknowledge every amendment when you submit.

Take photos and notes at both locations. They are invaluable when you write your move plan and when you price long carries, stair work, and elevator time. If the agency cannot reserve the freight elevator for your crew, build the extra waiting time into your hours.

9. Price the job (a worked example)

Build your price from crew hours at the wage determination rate, fringe, payroll taxes and insurance, trucks, fuel, packing materials, equipment rentals, overhead, and profit.

Example only. These numbers are made up to show the math. Use the real wage determination and your actual costs.

Say an agency is relocating an office across town, and you plan a six-person crew working 10 hours a day for 3 days, or 180 labor hours. Suppose the wage determination shows $18.00 an hour plus $5.00 health and welfare, and payroll taxes and workers' compensation add $2.50. Loaded labor is $25.50 an hour, so labor is 180 x $25.50 = $4,590.

Add two trucks at $300 a day for 3 days ($1,800), $500 in fuel, $800 in packing materials, and $600 for crate and dolly rental. Direct costs are $8,290. Add 15 percent overhead ($1,243.50) to reach $9,533.50, then 10 percent profit ($953.35). Your price is about $10,487.

Note that this example is above the $2,500 micro-purchase level for services, so it would normally be competed rather than bought on a purchase card. In a real bid, use the wage determination's actual titles, add vacation and holiday costs, and check past awards for similar moves on USAspending.gov.

Many recurring hauling and freight contracts run as a base year plus option years. Price each year when asked, and think about fuel, insurance, and wage increases over the full term. Read whether the contract has a fuel adjustment clause before you build fuel into a fixed rate.

Watch for line items for storage, packing materials, or extra crew hours. If the schedule asks for unit prices for additional work, price them at a level you would be happy to perform, because relocations often grow once the agency sees the plan.

10. Write and submit a clear quote

Follow the instructions to offerors exactly. A typical moving or hauling quote includes the signed solicitation form (often an SF 1449), the completed price schedule, amendment acknowledgments, proof of insurance and operating authority if requested, and, for best value jobs, a short technical approach and past performance.

A strong technical approach for a relocation explains your crew size and supervision, equipment, a day-by-day move plan, how you label and track items, how you protect the buildings, and how you handle damage claims. For freight, explain your equipment, scheduling, tracking, and backup trucks.

Submit early and by the method stated. Late quotes are generally rejected. Confirm your SAM registration is active and every line is priced.

11. After award: CO, COR, and invoicing

The Contracting Officer (CO) is the only person who can change your contract. The Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) or move coordinator directs the work on site but cannot add scope. If you are asked to move an extra floor or make another trip, get a written modification from the CO first.

Keep signed delivery receipts, inventory sheets, and photos of item condition. They protect you in a damage dispute and support your invoice.

Invoices are electronic. Defense agencies use Wide Area Workflow in 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 applies.

Your performance is usually rated in the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS). Evaluators read those ratings on future bids, so an on-time move with no damage claims is worth more than its dollar value.

12. Why small carriers and movers lose

Most losses are preventable.

• Pricing a relocation without a walk-through, then missing elevator limits, long carries, or after-hours work.
• Pricing crew labor below the wage determination.
• Missing proof of insurance or operating authority the solicitation asked for.
• No plan for base access or driver screening on a military job.
• Leaving a line item blank or missing an amendment acknowledgment.
• Submitting late, or by the wrong method.

Two ways to win your first trucking or moving contract

You can bid under your own name using the steps above, starting with local office moves and hauls. If you want help writing the quote, XL Eagle writes proposals for vendors who bid themselves, for $19.99 (www.xleagle.com/proposal-writing/).

If you would rather not take on federal registrations and paperwork yet, 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 trucks and crew do 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 facility relocation for the U.S. Navy at Puget Sound and forklift maintenance for the U.S. Coast Guard.

Frequently asked questions

Conclusion

Government trucking and moving work goes to carriers who show up with the right credentials, price from the wage determination, plan the job carefully, and document every delivery. A small, reliable company can do that as well as a national van line.

Register in SAM.gov, confirm your authority and insurance, and set up saved searches for your codes. Walk the next relocation in your area and price it fully. That is how the first win starts.