Guides / How-to
How to find incumbent prices on a federal janitorial contract
Before you price a recompete, you can often see who cleans the building now and what the government has reported for that award. Those records are a sanity check. They are not the number you should bid.
What the records can tell you
An incumbent is the contractor performing the work today. Public award records can show the contractor's name, the agency, the place of performance, the period of performance, and one or more dollar figures. They usually do not show the hourly build-up, the staffing plan, or which wage determination applied when that firm priced the work.
The new solicitation sometimes names the current contractor in the background section. If a collective bargaining agreement covers the workforce, the wage determination attachments may name that employer too. That identifies the incumbent. It still is not the contract price. Wage rules are covered in how to read a solicitation and its wage determination.
SAM.gov award notices
- Open SAM.gov Contract Opportunities. Searching is free and does not need an account.
- Search the building, base, or a phrase from the old title, and try NAICS 561720 (Janitorial Services) and PSC S201 (Housekeeping: Custodial Janitorial). Cleaning is sometimes coded under a broader facilities code. The NAICS and PSC guide lists the other codes.
- Include award notices, not only active solicitations. An award notice often names the awardee. It sometimes shows an award amount, and sometimes it does not.
- Open the notice history. A later modification notice can change the contractor or the value. The latest notice is the one to read.
Our checked snapshot of open work is on the federal janitorial contracts page. Award records are separate from that list of bids you can still answer.
USAspending.gov
USAspending's award search is the public spending site. Filter by awarding agency, NAICS 561720, place of performance, and keywords from the building name. Open the award page and read the field labels rather than grabbing the largest number on the screen.
- Recipient is the contractor USAspending shows. Confirm the legal name against the SAM.gov notice. A parent company and a local subsidiary are not always the same firm.
- Period of performance tells you whether the award is in a base period or already in option years. A recompete often lines up with the end of that period, but the solicitation's own dates control.
- Obligated amounts and potential value are different. One can be only the money funded so far. The other can be a ceiling that includes unfunded options or unordered work. Neither is automatically the annual cleaning price.
SAM.gov Contract Data
SAM.gov Contract Data is the other official place to look up award records. Use it when the opportunities search shows the winner but not the dollar figure, or when you want the contract number that USAspending also uses. Cross-check the contractor name, NAICS code, and agency. If the two sites disagree, treat both as leads and rely on the solicitation package for the recompete you are actually bidding.
How to read the amount
- Base plus options. A five-year contract may show only the base period, or only what has been funded to date. Do not divide a ceiling by five and call that the yearly price unless the record says the value is spread that way.
- Indefinite-delivery contracts and blanket agreements. The figure may be a maximum, not the value of the janitorial orders issued under it. Look for the orders if the site shows them.
- Scope changes. The incumbent's number includes whatever scope that contract had. Added buildings, a different frequency, or a new wage determination can make a straight comparison misleading.
- Set-aside and location. A small-business price in one county is a weak comparison for a full-and-open job in another. Wage determinations are local.
Use it as a check, then price the work
Build the bid from the wage determination, the hours the work statement needs, supplies, supervision, insurance, and the rest of your costs. The janitorial bid estimator shows that math and does not ship wage rates of its own. You type in the rates from the determination.
Then look at the incumbent figure. If your total is far above or far below it, re-check the scope, the option years, and whether you compared an annual price to a multi-year ceiling. A low incumbent number can mean a smaller scope, an old wage determination, or an amount that was never the full price. It is not a reason to price under the wage determination.
For who may be looking for subcontractors on the larger contracts, see can you subcontract a federal janitorial contract.
General information from the Bid Brief team, not legal or contracting advice. Award systems change their labels, and the solicitation and its amendments control. We aren't affiliated with SAM.gov, USAspending, or any government agency. Last reviewed Nov 5, 2026.
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More guides
- How to find federal janitorial bids on SAM.gov: Step-by-step search: codes, filters, notice types, saved searches and amendments.
- How to read a federal solicitation and its wage determination: Where the scope, price schedule, instructions, evaluation and minimum wages are in the paperwork.
- Checklist: bidding your first federal janitorial contract: A printable checklist from registration to start-up, for small cleaning companies.
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- Weekly bid list vs checking SAM.gov yourself: When a free weekly facilities list helps, when to search SAM.gov yourself, and how Bid Brief fits.
- Sources Sought vs solicitation: what's the difference?: Side-by-side: market research notices versus real requests for offers, and what to do with each.
- How to register on SAM.gov so you can bid: High-level steps for a free Unique Entity ID and active entity registration before you submit an offer.
- NAICS codes for janitorial, grounds and facilities work: Common NAICS and PSC codes for cleaning, landscaping, snow, pest and facilities support, with search tips.
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- How to find incumbent prices on federal janitorial contracts: Where to look up the current cleaning contractor and reported award amounts, and why those figures are not your bid price.
- How to price SCA health and welfare in a federal cleaning bid: How to read the health and welfare fringe on the wage determination and put it in the bid without guessing a rate.
- How to bid federal cleaning work with no federal past performance: How commercial or local cleaning experience can answer a past-performance section, and when teaming is allowed.
- Can you subcontract a federal janitorial contract?: When a prime can subcontract federal cleaning work, the set-aside limits, and how wage rules reach the subcontractor.
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