Government landscaping contracts and government mowing contracts
Government landscaping contracts post on SAM.gov every week: groundskeeping at a VA national cemetery, mowing around an Army Corps of Engineers dam, weed control at FAA radar sites, snow removal at a lake project in New Hampshire, hazard tree work in a national forest. Most of them sit in a state your crews never drive to, ask for equipment you do not own or are set aside for someone else. FederalContracts reads each new federal grounds maintenance notice the day it posts, scores it out of 100 against your services, NAICS codes, set-asides and the states you cover, and sends one short list each morning with the best fits first.
A two crew lawn care company in North Carolina and a 60 person grounds contractor in Texas see the same notices on SAM.gov. They should not be reading the same list.
| Match | Solicitation and agency | NAICS | Set-aside | Place of performance | Response due |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 73 | S--Campbell Tract Facility Snow Plowing and Removal S | 561730 | Total small business | Not stated | 14 Oct 7 days left |
| 73 | Snow and Ice Removal Services at the SGT Catalin D. Dima AFRC, 910 RAZ Ave., New Windsor NY 12553 | 561790 | Total small business | Not stated | 14 Oct 7 days left |
| 73 | AFSBn Snow Removal | 561730 | Total small business | Not stated | 16 Oct |
| 73 | Snow Removal Services, Edward MacDowell Lake, Peterborough, NH | 561730 | Total small business | Not stated | 16 Oct |
| 73 | DCF Snow and Ice Removal Services | 561730 | Total small business | Washington, District of Columbia | 30 Oct |
Where do I find government landscaping contracts?
You find federal government landscaping contracts on SAM.gov under Contract Opportunities, filtered by NAICS 561730 (Landscaping Services) and product service code S208 (landscaping and groundskeeping). Snow removal often posts under 561730 or 561790, and forest fuels and hazard tree work under 115310. City parks, state DOT right of way mowing and school grounds are bid on each state, county and city portal.
| Where the work is | Typical buyers | What it looks like | How you get in |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAM.gov solicitations | VA cemeteries and medical centers, Army Corps of Engineers, military bases, FAA, Forest Service, BLM | Groundskeeping, mowing cycles, weed control, tree maintenance, snow and ice removal | |
| GSA federal buildings | GSA Public Buildings Service regions | Grounds care at courthouses and federal office buildings, often inside a larger facilities contract | |
| Military installations | Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine bases | Base wide grounds maintenance, IDIQ mowing, landscape repair | |
| State and local portals | Parks departments, state DOTs, school districts, housing authorities | Park mowing, right of way mowing, campus grounds, seasonal snow plowing | |
| Subcontracts | Facilities and base operations primes | Grounds scope carved out of a larger custodial or base support award |
The ranked list covers the SAM.gov side every morning, and on Capture it adds state, county and city bids, so a park district mowing bid and a VA cemetery contract land in the same list.
Landscaping, mowing and snow removal notices you will see
These are the kinds of grounds notices that sat on SAM.gov in a single two week window this fall, all public records. The mix tells you where the steady work is.
- Cemetery grounds. Grounds maintenance at Golden Gate National Cemetery and groundskeeping in North Carolina, both set aside for service disabled veteran owned firms by the Department of Veterans Affairs. VA also posts sod installation, holiday decor and total cemetery operations contracts.
- Army Corps of Engineers lake and dam projects. Snow removal, salting and sanding at flood control lakes in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, groundskeeping at the St. Marys Falls Canal in Michigan, IDIQ tree maintenance at an Arkansas project office.
- Weed control. The FAA buys consolidated weed control for navigation and radar facilities across several states at once, a good fit for a licensed applicator with a truck and a sprayer.
- Forests and public lands. Forest Service snow plowing in California, fuels reduction and site preparation, BLM snow plowing in Alaska, Fish and Wildlife landscape restoration.
- Federal facilities. Snow and ice removal at a Bureau of Engraving and Printing site in Washington DC, base grounds maintenance contracts and combined custodial, pest control and grounds IDIQs from the Navy.
Notice how much of it is snow and weed work. Crews that can sell mowing in summer and plowing in winter to the same buyer keep their people busy all year.
Landscaping NAICS and service codes the matching reads
Federal grounds notices almost always carry one of these codes. Put every code you can perform on your profile, because one office may post the same snow contract under 561730 one year and 561790 the next.
| Code | What it covers | Typical federal notice |
|---|---|---|
| NAICS 561730 | Landscaping services, lawn care, mowing, tree and shrub care | Groundskeeping, mowing cycles, cemetery grounds, weed control |
| NAICS 561790 | Other services to buildings and dwellings | Snow removal at reserve centers and field offices |
| NAICS 115310 | Support activities for forestry | Fuels reduction, hazard tree removal, site preparation |
| NAICS 561710 | Exterminating and pest control | Pest and vegetation control bundled with grounds |
| NAICS 238990 | All other specialty trade contractors | Hardscape, fencing and landscape repair work |
| PSC S208 | Landscaping and groundskeeping services | The service code on most VA, GSA and base grounds notices |
Each NAICS code has an SBA size standard measured in average annual receipts, and that limit decides whether you count as small for a set-aside. Check the current SBA table for every code you list before you bid, because the receipts limits were raised for inflation and some vendor guides still quote the old ones.
Who awards government mowing and lawn care contracts
The biggest landscaping buyers are the agencies that own a lot of land and a lot of buildings, not the ones you hear about most.
| Buyer | What they post | Why it suits a small grounds company |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Veterans Affairs | National cemetery grounds, medical center campuses, sod and decor | Many set aside for veteran owned firms, recurring multi year work |
| US Army Corps of Engineers | Mowing, groundskeeping, tree work and snow removal at lakes, dams and recreation areas | Hundreds of rural projects that big firms do not bother with |
| Military installations | Base grounds, IDIQ mowing, landscape repair | Large steady volume, often small business set-asides |
| FAA | Weed and vegetation control at radar and navigation sites | Spread across states, rewards a licensed applicator who travels |
| Forest Service, BLM, National Park Service | Fuels reduction, plowing, hazard trees, restoration | Seasonal work near rural crews |
| GSA and federal field offices | Grounds care and snow removal at federal buildings | Short contracts that build past performance |
What decides whether you win a grounds maintenance contract
Most grounds companies lose federal bids on paperwork and pricing logic long before they lose on the quality of their mowing.
- SAM registration. An active SAM.gov registration with your Unique Entity ID and the right NAICS codes is required for every federal award.
- Service Contract Act wages. Grounds maintenance contracts carry a wage determination for the county, which sets the minimum hourly rate and fringe benefits for each laborer and equipment operator. Price from the wage determination attached to the notice, not from your commercial pay scale.
- Pesticide licensing. Weed control and turf treatment scopes ask for a state certified applicator, and many notices require your pesticide use records each month.
- Site visits and acreage. Read the acreage table and attend the site visit. A bid priced per mowing cycle on the wrong acreage is the most common way small firms lose money on a federal contract.
- Set-aside status and size. Small business, SDVOSB, 8(a), WOSB and HUBZone set-asides are common on grounds work. Your size is measured against the size standard of the NAICS code on the notice.
- Price for the whole term. Most grounds contracts run a base year plus four option years. Fuel, insurance and wage determination increases land inside that term, so bid what year five will cost.
Government snow removal contracts for landscapers
Snow removal is the second half of the grounds business, and the federal government buys a lot of it. The Army Corps of Engineers plows and salts its lake and dam projects across New England and the Midwest, Army Reserve centers buy plowing site by site, and the Forest Service and BLM plow access roads and facility lots.
Snow notices are priced in one of three ways: per push or per event, per season as a fixed fee, or as a combination with a fixed standby fee plus a per event rate. Read which one the notice uses before you price, and check whether salt and sand are yours to supply. Many snow contracts post in late summer and fall for the coming winter, so this is the season to watch for them.
How landscaping bid matching works
- Describe your services in one line. Mowing, groundskeeping, tree care, weed control, snow removal, landscape installation. The matcher reads the full notice text against it, so a cemetery contract called "total cemetery operations" still reaches you.
- Add your codes, states and set-aside. NAICS 561730, 561790, 115310 and any others you perform, the states your crews can reach and your small business certification.
- Get one ranked list each morning. Every new notice gets a score out of 100 and a one line reason, such as "groundskeeping in your state, SDVOSB set-aside, due in 9 days" or "outside your region".
- Track deadlines and site visits. Save a bid and its response and question deadlines go on your board, updated when the agency posts an amendment.
Prior awards from the same buying office sit beside each bid, so you can see who mows that cemetery today and roughly what it paid. Before you price, measure the site yourself: landscaping estimating software that measures the property from satellite imagery turns an acreage table into crew hours in minutes. More detail on our side is on how it works.
Who pays for a landscaping bid list
- Lawn care and mowing companies with one to five crews that want recurring multi year work instead of chasing residential accounts.
- Commercial grounds contractors that already run office parks and campuses and want every federal and municipal grounds notice in their states without a full time person on SAM.gov.
- Snow and ice management companies that want winter contracts lined up before the first storm.
- Tree care and vegetation management firms that bid hazard tree, fuels reduction and right of way work.
- Veteran owned and 8(a) landscapers that want the set-asides they qualify for at the top. Veteran owners can read more on government contracts for veterans.
- Facilities companies that bundle grounds with custodial work. The custodial side is covered on government cleaning contracts.
Ways to find government landscaping bids compared
| Option | What you get | What it costs you |
|---|---|---|
| SAM.gov saved searches | Every notice that matches your filter, by email, in date order | No fee, plus the hours to read all of it |
| State and city portals | Parks, DOT and school grounds bids, one portal per buyer | No fee, one registration per buyer |
| Generic bid alert services | Keyword alerts from many portals | From a few hundred USD a year, plenty of near misses |
| Lead list sellers | Lists of "landscaping contracts" | Varies, often stale or already awarded notices |
| FederalContracts | Federal notices scored against your crews, with a reason, deadlines and award history | 129 USD a month or 768 USD a year, state and local on Capture |
Where others win: a SAM.gov saved search costs nothing if you have an hour a day to read it, and a single city that only posts on its own portal will not show up anywhere else. For a side by side of paid bid sites, see government bidding sites compared.
What grounds companies get on each plan
- Bid Desk, 129 USD a month or 768 USD a year. Federal solicitations, 1 company profile, 3 seats, 5 saved searches, a daily ranked digest with the reason for each match, deadline reminders and 3 years of award history.
- Capture, 349 USD a month or 2,088 USD a year. Federal plus state, county and municipal bids, so park, DOT and school grounds notices land in the same list, with 5 business lines, 15 seats and full award history with exports.
- Enterprise, annual and invoiced. Unlimited profiles and seats, SSO, webhooks and a full API.
Every feature is listed on pricing. Monthly plans run to the end of the month you paid for and stop when you cancel.
How to get government landscaping contracts?
To get government landscaping contracts, register in SAM.gov with NAICS 561730 and your other grounds codes, then bid the groundskeeping, mowing and snow removal notices near your crews. Start with small recurring contracts at a VA cemetery, Corps of Engineers project or field office to build past performance, and claim every set-aside you qualify for, such as small business or SDVOSB.
How to get government mowing contracts?
You get government mowing contracts by registering in SAM.gov, listing NAICS 561730, and bidding mowing and groundskeeping notices from the VA, Army Corps of Engineers, military bases and city parks departments. Price each mowing cycle from the acreage table and the Service Contract Act wage determination in the notice, and attend the site visit before you commit to a number.
How to get government contracts for lawn care?
A lawn care company gets government contracts the same way a larger landscaper does: SAM registration, the right NAICS codes, and bids on local recurring work. Federal turf and weed control often requires a state certified pesticide applicator, so have that license in place. Small business set-asides keep many lawn care contracts open only to firms your size.
Are government landscaping contracts profitable?
Government landscaping contracts are steady rather than high margin. You get a fixed price for a base year and up to four option years and you get paid on time, but wages are set by the Service Contract Act and fuel and insurance rises land on you. Firms that price the whole term carefully and keep the same crews earn reliable margins.
Do I need to be a small business to win landscaping contracts?
No, but it helps a lot. Many federal grounds contracts are set aside for small businesses, SDVOSBs, 8(a) firms or HUBZone firms, which removes large competitors from the bid entirely. Whether you count as small depends on your average annual receipts against the SBA size standard for NAICS 561730, so check the current limit before you bid.
Can I get government snow removal contracts as a landscaper?
Yes. Snow removal is posted by the Army Corps of Engineers, Army Reserve centers, the Forest Service, BLM and federal facilities, usually under NAICS 561730 or 561790. Many snow notices post in late summer and fall, priced per push, per season or as a standby fee plus a per event rate, so landscapers with plows can fill the winter months.
See today's landscaping contracts ranked for your crews
Type your services, home state and NAICS codes. Bid Match ranks a dated snapshot of public federal solicitation records against them, so you see the kind of list you would get each morning before you pay.
Related reading: government cleaning contracts, government contract alerts, state and local government bids, small business government contracting opportunities, government construction contracts.