How a security company bids federal work.How to bid

Bidding on a federal contract needs an active SAM.gov entity registration, which comes with your Unique Entity ID. Registration is free; allow at least ten business days for it to go active, and renew it every 365 days. You never have to pay anyone to register.

Guard work is listed under NAICS 561612 (Security Guards and Patrol Services) and product service code S206 (Housekeeping, Guard). Our open notices page shows both, daily. On SAM.gov, a free login lets you save the same search and get emailed when new notices post.

A sources-sought notice is market research: answering it tells the contracting officer capable companies exist, and it can decide whether the work is set aside for small businesses. A presolicitation is advance notice that a solicitation is coming. A solicitation, or a combined synopsis/solicitation, is the request for bids itself.

Many guard contracts are reserved for small businesses, or for programs within them: service-disabled veteran-owned, women-owned, HUBZone and 8(a). Whether you count as small depends on the SBA size standard for NAICS 561612, measured in average annual receipts.

Federal service contracts over $2,500 fall under the Service Contract Act: every guard on the contract must be paid at least the wage and fringe benefits in the wage determination for their classification and locality, which is written into the contract. Build your bill rate from that floor, not from your commercial rates.

A few guard contracts need a facility security clearance (FCL). A company cannot sponsor itself: the government contracting activity or a cleared prime contractor has to sponsor it, so a notice that requires one at bid time is usually out of reach for a company without one.

Federal evaluations weigh past performance. If you have none, subcontracting to the company that holds a contract is the usual way in. Our contracts ending soon page shows who holds each guard contract and when it ends.