What NAICS 561210 Covers
NAICS 561210 — Facilities Support Services — covers firms that operate and maintain buildings and sites for clients on a contract basis. The contractor takes over day-to-day responsibility for one or more support functions: janitorial, security, grounds maintenance, utilities management, HVAC operation, waste disposal, and similar services, often delivered as a bundled package rather than a single trade.
Federal agencies buy this broadly. The work ranges from full base operations support (BOS) at a military installation — where a single contractor manages everything from vehicle dispatch to utilities — down to individual facility management contracts at a federal office building. Both end up coded 561210 when they involve integrated support services rather than a single commodity.
Distinct from 561110 (Office Administrative Services) or 236220 (Commercial and Institutional Building Construction), 561210 is specifically about ongoing operations management, not administrative staffing or capital construction.
Annual Federal Spend and Trend
USASpending.gov data shows annual federal obligations under NAICS 561210 consistently exceeding $10 billion. DoD is the dominant buyer, accounting for roughly 60–70% of that total through Army Installation Management Command (IMCOM), Air Force Civil Engineer Center (AFCEC), and Navy Installations Command (NAVFAC). The Department of Veterans Affairs is the second-largest civilian buyer, with hundreds of medical center and regional office facilities under long-term facilities contracts.
Spend has trended upward since 2020 for two reasons. First, DoD has been consolidating base operations support work into larger performance-based contracts, which inflates the dollar value per award. Second, VA facility modernization has added contract volume as the agency upgrades aging medical centers.
The flip side of larger contracts: they are harder to win as a prime. Most initial entry for small businesses happens on the sub side.
Set-Aside Activity Under 561210
Set-aside activity under this NAICS is significant. Searching beta.SAM.gov for active and recent awards under 561210 shows:
8(a) sole-source and competitive: SBA's 8(a) program is well-used here. DoD regularly places base support task orders under 8(a) competitive pools, particularly for smaller installations where the total contract value falls below the competitive threshold ($25M for manufacturing, $7M for services — though DoD 8(a) competitive awards in this category routinely run $5M–$50M). If you hold an 8(a) certification, 561210 is one of the most active categories to pursue.
SDVOSB set-asides: VA is required by the Veterans First Contracting Program (38 U.S.C. § 8127) to give priority to SDVOSB and VOSB vendors. VA facility management contracts are frequently set aside for SDVOSBs before they go to the open market. This is the single most direct path for veteran-owned firms in this NAICS.
HUBZone: DoD and GSA both use HUBZone set-asides for facilities work in areas near military installations that qualify geographically. Worth checking whether your primary place of business falls in a HUBZone — the overlap with military installation proximity is real.
WOSB/EDWOSB: WOSB set-asides appear in this category, though less frequently than 8(a) or SDVOSB. Facilities support is not formally designated as underrepresented for EDWOSB purposes, which limits mandatory WOSB routing. Still, contracting officers have discretion, and WOSB certifications count on competitive evaluations.
Small business set-asides (unrestricted small): Many mid-size awards go to small businesses under the standard size threshold without a specific program designation. This is where MBE firms without a federal program certification still compete.
SBA Size Standard
The SBA size standard for NAICS 561210 is $47 million in average annual receipts (as of the 2024 NAICS size standards table). That is a revenue-based standard, not employee count. A firm grossing under $47M annually qualifies as small, making it eligible for all small business set-asides.
For 8(a) program eligibility, the personal net worth ceiling ($850K), business net worth ceiling ($6.5M for initial entry), and three-year average adjusted gross income limits apply separately from the size standard. Confirm current thresholds on sba.gov — SBA adjusts them periodically.
Contract Vehicles That List 561210
Several contract vehicles are worth knowing by name:
OASIS+ (One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services): GSA's OASIS+ is now the primary GWAC for complex professional and facilities services. It replaced the original OASIS contract. NAICS 561210 is eligible under OASIS+ Facilities pools. Awards under OASIS+ run into the hundreds of millions. Getting on OASIS+ as a prime requires meeting specific experience thresholds — difficult for new entrants — but task orders issued under it create subcontracting opportunities.
GSA Schedule 03FAC (Facilities Maintenance and Management): GSA's Schedule 03FAC directly covers facilities services including 561210. Getting on Schedule 03FAC is achievable for a small firm with some commercial past performance. Schedule does not guarantee work, but it is required for some agency buys and demonstrates compliance readiness. The relevant Special Item Numbers (SINs) include SIN 561210 (Facilities Support) and related maintenance SINs.
Army IDIQ contracts (LOGCAP and installation-specific): LOGCAP (Logistics Civil Augmentation Program) is the Army's large overseas logistics contract, coded partly under 561210. Domestic installation support goes through installation-specific performance-based IDIQs. These are large, long-term vehicles with multiple award task order contracts (MATOC) that include mandatory small business subcontracting plans.
NAVFAC SEAPORT: Navy facilities engineering work uses SEAPORT Next Generation (NxG), a multiple award vehicle. Some 561210 work flows through SEAPORT, particularly at Navy and Marine Corps installations.
VA T4NG and VECTOR: VA's T4NG is primarily IT, but VA also awards facilities-specific IDIQs. VECTOR (VA Electronic Contract Task Order Requisition) is a VA-specific system for task order issuance — worth monitoring if you are targeting VA work.
Certifications That Give an Edge
Beyond the federal program certifications (8(a), SDVOSB, HUBZone), some credentials matter at the evaluation stage:
Facility Management Professional (FMP) from IFMA or Certified Facility Manager (CFM) — both are recognized in past performance and capability evaluations for facilities contracts. Having credentialed staff listed in a proposal strengthens technical factors.
ISO 41001: Facilities management system standard. Increasingly referenced in large DoD BOS solicitations as a preferred or required quality standard.
NMSDC MBE certification: Corporate prime contractors (Sodexo, Aramark, Jacobs, AECOM) that hold large government facilities contracts have supplier diversity commitments and Tier 2 reporting requirements. An NMSDC MBE certification puts you in front of their supplier diversity teams when they need subcontractors to meet DoD-mandated small business subcontracting plans.
WBENC WBE certification: Same logic as above for corporate primes. Primes report WBE subcontract dollars to contracting officers, so WBE status has direct utility.
CVE verification for SDVOSB: For VA work, CVE (Center for Veteran Enterprise) verification is required before a firm can receive SDVOSB preference. SAM.gov and CVE verification are now integrated, but confirm your status is current before pursuing VA set-asides.
Finding Active Solicitations
Start with beta.SAM.gov. Filter by NAICS 561210, set type to "Solicitation," and set the award notice date range to the past 90 days to build a baseline sense of volume and agency mix. Then switch to active solicitations only.
Beyond keyword searching, these agency-specific channels matter:
IMCOM (Army Installation Management Command): Posts installation support solicitations on SAM.gov and through regional contracting offices. The IMCOM Acquisition Center in San Antonio is the central contracting hub for Army installations.
NAVFAC: navfac.navy.mil/contracts lists current and upcoming solicitations. NAVFAC divides work by region (NAVFAC Atlantic, Pacific, SW, SE, etc.).
AFCEC: Air Force civil engineer contracting is handled through AFCEC at Tyndall AFB. Check AFCEC's contracting office pages and SAM.gov notices.
VA Office of Construction & Facilities Management: cfm.va.gov posts upcoming facility projects. VA also publishes an annual Forecast of Contracting Opportunities.
GSA's Forecast Tool: acquisition.gov/procurement-forecasts links to agency forecast tables. GSA publishes its own acquisition forecast for Schedule and non-Schedule buys.
Set up SAM.gov email alerts for NAICS 561210 with your target agencies. The pipeline is active enough that new notices appear weekly.
What a First Contract Looks Like
For most firms entering this space, the first contract is a subcontract, not a prime award.
Here is a realistic path. A large prime — say, Vectrus or PAE — wins a 5-year base operations support contract at Fort Campbell worth $200M. The solicitation required a small business subcontracting plan committing 25% of subcontract dollars to small businesses, with specific targets for SDB, WOSB, and SDVOSB categories. The prime now needs to find and qualify subcontractors.
Your play: before that contract was awarded, you identified the solicitation on SAM.gov, reviewed the small business subcontracting plan requirements in Section H, and contacted the prime's supplier diversity or subcontracting office during the proposal phase. Primes actively recruit capable subs during proposal preparation — a qualified MBE or SDVOSB sub helps them score points on the small business evaluation factor.
For the first year, your firm handles landscaping and grounds maintenance at two installation sites under a teaming agreement. The work is valued at $800K. You build past performance. You get a CPARS rating. You ask the prime's PM to document your performance.
That CPARS rating and the dollar value of the subcontract now count as relevant past performance on your next proposal — either as a sub on a larger contract or, eventually, as a prime bidding on a smaller installation set-aside.
Set a 24-month target: first subcontract by month 12, first prime proposal submitted by month 18, first prime award by month 30. Compress that timeline by going after 8(a) sole-source awards first if you hold the certification — those are the shortest path from registration to contract.
The Practical Entry Checklist
Before pursuing any 561210 work:
- Confirm SAM.gov registration is active with 561210 in your NAICS list
- Verify size standard compliance (under $47M average annual receipts)
- Register with SBA's dynamic small business search (DSBS) — primes search it
- Get federal program certification if eligible: 8(a), SDVOSB via CVE, or HUBZone
- Obtain GSA Schedule 03FAC if you have commercial past performance to qualify
- Contact at least three prime contractors' supplier diversity offices and register in their supplier portals (Jacobs, Amentum, Leidos, Sodexo GS are active in this space)
- Attend at least one AFCEC, NAVFAC, or IMCOM industry day — they are posted on SAM.gov as "Special Notices"
The federal facilities market does not reward passive registration. Work the subcontracting pipeline first. Build CPARS. Then go after your own prime contract with documented past performance behind you.
