Government staffing contracts for staffing agencies and temp agencies
Government staffing contracts are posted on SAM.gov every week, but very few of them say "staffing" in a way a keyword search catches. On October 24, 2026 the public SAM.gov file held 5,173 open federal solicitations, and only 4 were coded as temporary help or staffing. Yet in the 30 days before, agencies posted 18 staffing notices and 90 healthcare service notices, most of them clinician coverage at VA medical centers and Indian Health Service clinics, filed under physician, laboratory, imaging or therapy codes. FederalContracts reads every new federal notice the morning after it posts, scores it out of 100 against your service lines, codes, set-asides and states, and sends one short list with the best fits first.
A travel nurse agency in Minnesota and a clerical temp firm in Virginia should not be reading the same list.
| Match | Solicitation and agency | NAICS | Set-aside | Place of performance | Response due |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 76 | RFP-797-FSS-00-0115-R4: 621I Professional & Allied Healthcare Staffing Services | 561320 | Full and open | Not stated | 23 Dec |
| 68 | Boxelder JCC Medical Services | 621111 | Total small business | Nemo, South Dakota | 5 Nov |
| 64 | EMT Paramedic & EMT Basics Services, Eagle Butte, South Dakota | 561320 | Full and open | Eagle Butte, South Dakota | 27 Oct Closes today |
| 59 | ORTHOPEDIC PHYSICIAN SERVICES - WICHITA VAMC | 561320 | Full and open | Wichita, Kansas | 12 Nov |
| 58 | Bemidji Area Wide Teleradiology Services for Diagnostic Interpretation of Radiologic Studies | 621512 | Total small business | Bemidji, Minnesota | 13 Nov |
Where do staffing agencies find government contracts?
Staffing agencies find federal contracts on SAM.gov under Contract Opportunities, filtered by NAICS 561320 (temporary help services) and the healthcare codes that hold clinician staffing, mainly 621111, 621399, 621511 and 621512, plus service codes in the Q group. Two schedules matter as much as SAM.gov: GSA MAS SIN 561320SBSA for temporary staffing and the VA Federal Supply Schedule 621I for professional and allied healthcare staffing.
| Where the work is | Typical buyers | What it looks like | How you get in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clinician and nurse staffing | VA medical centers, Indian Health Service, Defense Health Agency, Bureau of Prisons | Physicians, advanced practice providers, RNs, CRNAs, therapists and techs for a clinic or a service line | |
| Locum and specialty coverage | VA networks, IHS service units, military treatment facilities | Teleradiology, pathology, oncology, perfusion and medical physicist coverage | |
| Administrative and clerical temp help | Civilian agencies, VA, Commerce, Agriculture | Clerks, data entry, call center staff, schedulers, short term surge support | |
| Recruiting and placement | USPTO, Commerce, Interior | Executive recruitment, job fair support, hiring event services | |
| Seasonal and site staffing | National Park Service, Forest Service, Job Corps centers | Seasonal drivers, visitor service staff, counselors and support roles |
The ranked list covers the SAM.gov side every morning. On Capture it adds New York City bids from the City Record, so a city agency temp services contract and a VA nurse staffing notice land in the same list. Other states and cities are not covered, and orders placed only through GSA eBuy or the VA schedule ordering system do not reach SAM.gov.
Staffing contracts for bid in a typical month
In the 30 days before October 24, 2026, federal buyers posted 18 notices coded as staffing or temporary help, or titled as staffing, deduplicated by agency and solicitation number. Ten of them were sources sought notices, which is the moment to answer with a capability statement before the set-aside decision is made.
- Indian Health Service. Health and Human Services posted 8 of the 18, all from IHS: a multiple award IDIQ for physician, advanced practice provider and allied health staffing in the Billings Area, optometrist staffing, OB/GYN physician and nursing coverage in South Dakota, dental oral surgeon staffing and EMT and paramedic services in Eagle Butte.
- Veterans Affairs. VA posted 6: a lab staffing contract for fiscal year 2027, hematology and oncology provider and RN coverage at St. Cloud, orthopedic physician services in Wichita, network teleradiology staffing, a locum medical physicist and security staffing on a medical center campus.
- Civilian agencies. The Patent and Trademark Office asked for an executive recruitment contractor, Commerce posted job fair support, the Park Service posted staffing for visitor transportation at Glacier National Park and a Job Corps center asked for a mental health consultant.
The wider healthcare services group is where most clinician staffing money sits. In the same 30 days, agencies posted 90 notices under healthcare service codes, and VA posted 42 of them, followed by IHS with 10, the Bureau of Prisons with 7 and the Defense Health Agency with 6. A notice titled "Q522, VISN Teleradiology Services" never says "staffing agency", which is why the matcher reads the full notice text, not only the title and the code.
Who staffing contracts are set aside for
Of the 18 staffing notices, 6 were set aside under the Buy Indian Act for Indian Small Business Economic Enterprises or Indian Economic Enterprises, 2 were total small business set-asides and 2 were set aside for service disabled veteran owned small businesses. Seven were open to any size of company, mostly VA clinical coverage.
The SBA size standard for NAICS 561320 is 34 million USD in average annual receipts, and the GSA schedule SIN 561320SBSA is itself a small business set-aside, so most staffing firms bid as small. If you are veteran owned, government contracts for veterans explains how VA Veterans First set-asides work, since VA is the biggest buyer of clinical staffing. If you hold 8(a), 8(a) and minority owned contracts shows how few 8(a) notices post and what else to bid.
Staffing NAICS and service codes the matching reads
Put every code you can perform on your profile. The same nurse coverage can post under 561320 at one office, under 621399 at another and under a hospital code when it is written as a service line.
| Code | What it covers | Typical federal notice |
|---|---|---|
| NAICS 561320 | Temporary help services | Clerical temp help, staff augmentation, IHS nursing and optometry coverage |
| NAICS 561311 and 561312 | Employment placement and executive search | Executive recruitment, job fair and hiring event support |
| NAICS 621111 | Offices of physicians | Physician coverage, medical exams, occupational health clinics |
| NAICS 621399 | Offices of all other miscellaneous health practitioners | Advanced practice provider, allied health and perfusionist staffing |
| NAICS 621511 and 621512 | Medical laboratories and diagnostic imaging centers | Lab staffing, pathology, teleradiology and mobile imaging |
| PSC Q401 to Q403 | Nursing, home health and medical services | RN, LPN and nursing assistant coverage, medical and dental services |
| PSC Q5 group | Medical specialty services | Oncology, orthopedics, radiology and other specialist coverage |
| PSC R4 group | Support services | Administrative and recruiting support, seasonal staffing |
What decides whether you win a government staffing contract
- Personal or non-personal services. FAR 37.104 limits personal services contracts, where government staff supervise your people directly. IHS writes most notices as non-personal healthcare services, so your agency supervises, schedules and replaces clinicians. VA has its own statutory authority for some personal services clinical contracts. Read which one the notice says before you price supervision.
- Credentialing and licenses. Clinical notices ask for current licenses, board certification, BLS or ACLS, primary source verification and often a credentialing packet per provider before start. An agency that can submit names with complete packets beats one that promises to recruit later.
- Wage determinations. Staffing contracts are services, so the Service Contract Act applies above 2,500 USD. Price each labor category from the attached wage determination, including health and welfare fringe, because clerks, nursing assistants and medical assistants have set minimum rates.
- Schedules and vehicles. A lot of federal staffing is ordered off GSA MAS SIN 561320SBSA or the VA FSS 621I schedule, not posted as an open solicitation. The VA solicitation for 621I, "RFP-797-FSS-00-0115-R4", was open on SAM.gov with a December 23, 2026 date, so getting on the schedule is itself a bid.
- Fill rate and start dates. Evaluations weigh how fast you can put a qualified person on site and replace one who leaves. Past performance with fill rates, time to fill and retention carries more weight than a general capability statement.
- Small jobs first. Contracts under the simplified acquisition threshold, now 350,000 USD, use faster procedures and are usually set aside for small business. A single provider coverage order builds the past performance that IDIQs ask for.
How staffing bid matching works
- Describe your service lines in one line. Nurse staffing, physician and advanced practice provider staffing, locum tenens, allied health, clerical temp help, recruiting. The matcher reads the full notice text against it, so a notice titled by a VA project number still reaches you when the scope is RN coverage.
- We read every new notice. Each federal solicitation, presolicitation and sources sought notice is read in full the morning after it posts, not only the title and the NAICS code.
- Each notice gets a score out of 100 with a reason. Scope fit, set-aside eligibility, place of performance and days left to respond, so a clinic in your recruiting area ranks above an overseas medical services contract.
- You get one short list. The best fits first, with the due date and the award history of similar contracts, so you know which agency held the last staffing contract at that medical center before you price the next one.
Who pays for a staffing bid list
- Healthcare staffing agencies. Nurse, physician and allied health agencies that already staff private hospitals add VA, IHS and military clinics where the same clinicians can work.
- Locum tenens firms. Specialty coverage firms see teleradiology, pathology, oncology and anesthesia notices that never use the word staffing.
- Clerical and light industrial temp agencies. Commercial temp firms see the clerical, call center and seasonal support work agencies set aside for small business.
- Native owned and veteran owned staffing firms. An ISBEE or SDVOSB firm sees the Buy Indian Act and Veterans First set-asides ranked above notices it cannot bid.
- Owners and recruiters writing their own proposals. A firm that answers three federal notices a month needs the right three with the due date, not a hundred healthcare notices to sort.
Ways to find staffing bids compared
| Option | What you get | What it costs | Where it falls short |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAM.gov saved searches | Every federal notice by keyword or code, emailed raw | Free | |
| GSA eBuy and the VA schedule | Orders open only to schedule holders | Free once you hold the schedule, months of work to get it | |
| Bid aggregators | Federal, state and local notices in one feed | From about 599 USD a year for one state on BidNet Direct to five figures nationally | |
| Research databases | Award history, forecasts, contacts | GovTribe from 1,500 USD a year, GovWin IQ quoted in five figures | |
| FederalContracts | Federal notices scored out of 100 against your service lines, codes and set-asides, with the reason and the deadline | 129 USD a month, or 768 USD a year on Bid Desk |
If most of your federal staffing already comes through a GSA or VA schedule, watching eBuy and the schedule ordering system matters more than anything we do. If the problem is catching the few open staffing and clinical coverage notices a week that fit your recruiting footprint before the response date, the ranked list is what saves the time. Government bidding sites compared lists the official portals and paid services side by side.
What staffing agencies 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, deadline reminders and 3 years of competitor award history, so you see who held the last staffing contract at that facility before you price.
- Capture, 349 USD a month or 2,088 USD a year. Federal solicitations plus New York City bids from the City Record, 5 business lines (for example nurse staffing, physician and locum coverage, and clerical temp help as separate lines), 15 seats, per business line digests and full award history with exports.
Every plan feature is on our plans and pricing page. Annual billing costs half of twelve monthly payments.
How do staffing agencies get government contracts?
Staffing agencies get government contracts by registering in SAM.gov with NAICS 561320 and the healthcare or placement codes they perform, claiming every set-aside they qualify for and answering sources sought notices with a capability statement. Most then pursue a GSA MAS SIN 561320SBSA or VA FSS 621I schedule while bidding open coverage orders on SAM.gov.
What is the NAICS code for staffing agencies?
The NAICS code for staffing agencies is 561320, Temporary Help Services, with an SBA size standard of 34 million USD in average annual receipts. Permanent placement uses 561311 and executive search uses 561312. Federal clinical staffing often posts under healthcare codes instead, mainly 621111, 621399, 621511 and 621512.
Who buys the most federal staffing?
Veterans Affairs and the Indian Health Service post the most staffing notices on SAM.gov. In the 30 days before October 24, 2026, IHS posted 8 of 18 staffing coded notices and VA posted 6, and VA posted 42 of 90 healthcare service notices, most of them clinician coverage at medical centers.
Are government staffing contracts profitable?
Government staffing contracts can be profitable because payment is reliable, terms often run a base year plus four option years and credentialing requirements keep out unprepared bidders. Margins depend on pricing the wage determination correctly, keeping a bench of credentialed people and filling positions fast enough to avoid gaps the agency can hold against you.
What is a non-personal services contract?
A non-personal services contract is one where your agency, not the government, supervises, schedules and manages the people you place. The agency defines the work and checks results, but does not direct your staff day to day. Indian Health Service writes most clinical staffing this way, so you carry supervision, replacement and liability.
Do I need a GSA schedule for staffing contracts?
You do not need a GSA schedule to bid open staffing solicitations on SAM.gov, and many VA and IHS coverage contracts are open to any registered firm. A schedule matters because many agencies order temporary staffing straight off GSA MAS SIN 561320SBSA or the VA 621I schedule, and those orders never post publicly.
See today's staffing contracts ranked for your company
Choose the staffing profile above, or type your own service lines, state and NAICS codes. Bid Match ranks a dated snapshot of public federal solicitation records against them, so you see the list you would get each morning before you pay anything.
Related reading: government security contracts, government consulting contracts, small business government contracting opportunities, GSA contract opportunities, government contract alerts, set-asides explained.