# How to Get Cleaning Contracts: Bids, Portals, and Paperwork That Wins Canonical URL: https://www.simplywise.com/blog/how-to-get-cleaning-contracts/ Plain text: https://www.simplywise.com/blog/how-to-get-cleaning-contracts/llms.txt Publisher: SimplyWise, Inc. (https://www.simplywise.com) Published: November 6, 2026 Updated: November 6, 2026 Category: Business & Growth Summary: How to get cleaning contracts: build a target list, walk the site, bid on SAM.gov, a state list, and a school portal, and carry the insurance buyers need. --- Log in (https://simplywise.com/login) ## How to Get Cleaning Contracts: Bids, Portals, and Paperwork That Wins How to get cleaning contracts: build a target list, walk every site before you bid, and register on SAM.gov, your state’s bidders list, and each school district’s portal. Add SimplyWise as a preferred source (https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=simplywise.com) Getting cleaning contracts, at a glance 1. Recurring work comes from two lanes: direct outreach, and public bids on SAM.gov, a state bidders list, and school district portals. 2. SAM.gov says a registration “allows you to bid on government contracts and apply for federal assistance”. 3. Texas posts its fee in writing: the Centralized Master Bidders List “annual registration fee is $70”. 4. St. Johns County School District in Florida says “it is the vendor’s sole responsibility to monitor this site for all bidding opportunities”. 5. The SBA guarantees surety bonds on small contracts: up to $9 million for non-federal work and up to $14 million for federal work. 6. Walk every space before you bid it. A floor-plan price is a guess. A walkthrough price is a bid. ## How do you actually get cleaning contracts? Work both lanes at once. Pitch facility managers on a target list directly. Register where janitorial work gets posted: SAM.gov if you want to bid as the prime, your state’s bidders list, and each district’s portal. Then bring insurance, a bond if the job needs one, and references to the walkthrough, before price comes up. ## Build the target list first Rank reachable facilities that already pay for janitorial: office buildings, medical suites, gyms, and churches. Local government buildings count too. Ask for whoever signs the janitorial line, not the front desk. ## The walkthrough and the bid Never price a commercial account from a floor plan alone. Walk every space you would service, note frequency and square footage by area, and write the scope as walked. Price the visit and the month separately, and attach your insurance certificate and references before the buyer asks. ## Public bids: SAM.gov and your state’s list SAM.gov’s Contract Opportunities page is direct. It says “Contract opportunities are procurement notices from federal contracting offices”. It also says “anyone interested in doing business with the government can use this system to search opportunities”. To bid as the prime, SAM.gov’s registration page is just as direct. It says “a registration allows you to bid on government contracts and apply for federal assistance”. It also assigns “a Unique Entity ID” as part of that process. States run the same idea under their own name. Texas calls its version the Centralized Master Bidders List. Its own page states the purpose plainly: “Manufacturers, suppliers, and other vendors wishing to furnish materials, equipment, supplies, and services to the state should register for the Centralized Master Bidders List (CMBL) to receive bidding opportunities”. Registration is not free: “the CMBL annual registration fee is $70”. Look up your own state’s version. ## School districts run their own portal, not a shared board Districts post bids on their own channels, so check each one directly. St. Johns County School District in Florida puts it on the vendor. It says “it is the vendor’s sole responsibility to monitor this site for all bidding opportunities”. “All solicitations are published exclusively on VendorLink,” it adds. Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland runs its own supplier portal. It tells vendors to “visit pgcps.org/isupplier and fill our Vendor registration”. Review takes “1 week, if all material provided is complete and acceptable”. ## Insurance and bonding, before price Expect to show proof of insurance, and some contracts require a surety bond. The SBA explains why bonding matters. “Surety bonds help small businesses win contracts by providing the customer with a guarantee that the work will be completed”. Its Surety Bond Guarantee Program covers small contracts, up to $9 million for non-federal work and up to $14 million for federal work. On performance and payment bonds, the SBA fee is “0.6% of the contract price”. ## Getting the contract, from target list to signature 1. Build and rank the target list List reachable facilities that already pay for janitorial, and rank by square footage and renewal likelihood. 2. Register on the portals your targets use Register your business in SAM.gov, which assigns your Unique Entity ID, then join your state’s bidders list and each target district’s vendor portal. 3. Walk the site and write the bid to match it Walk every area, note frequency and square footage by area, and price the visit and the month as separate line items. 4. Attach the paperwork before the buyer asks Send your certificate of insurance, a bond if required, and references with the bid itself. ## SimplyWise Cost Estimator for cleaning contract bids SimplyWise Cost Estimator turns a walkthrough photo into an itemized estimate in about 6 seconds. Build separate material, labor, and fee lines for each area you walked. Then send a branded quote the client signs to approve. It is $29.99/mo or $239.99/yr, about $20/mo on annual, with a 7-day free trial. ## Keep reading - How to Start a Cleaning Business (https://www.simplywise.com/blog/how-to-start-a-cleaning-business/). - Best Cleaning Business Software (https://www.simplywise.com/blog/best-cleaning-business-software/). ## Sources ### Federal bid system - SAM.gov, Contract Opportunities (https://sam.gov/content/opportunities) - SAM.gov, Entity Registration and Unique Entity ID (https://sam.gov/content/entity-registration) ### State and school district portals - Texas Comptroller, Centralized Master Bidders List (https://comptroller.texas.gov/purchasing/vendor/cmbl/) - St. Johns County School District, Florida, Purchasing (https://www.stjohns.k12.fl.us/purchasing/business/) - Prince George’s County Public Schools, How to Do Business With Us (https://www.pgcps.org/offices/purchasing/how-to-do-business-with-us) ### Insurance and bonding - U.S. Small Business Administration, Surety Bonds (https://www.sba.gov/loans/additional-funding-opportunities/surety-bonds/) ### Product - SimplyWise Cost Estimator on the App Store (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/simplywise-cost-estimator/id6670619664), 4.8 rating. ## Frequently asked questions about getting cleaning contracts ### Finding the work **Where do commercial cleaning contracts actually get posted?** Three common places: SAM.gov for federal work, your state’s own bidders list, and each school district’s own vendor portal. Facility managers are a separate lane, reached by direct outreach, not a bid board. **Do I need to register separately for each school district?** Yes. St. Johns County School District in Florida posts its bids on VendorLink. Prince George’s County Public Schools runs its own iSupplier portal, with roughly a one week review. Register on every district’s own portal. ### Registration and paperwork **What does SAM.gov registration actually get me?** SAM.gov’s registration page states that a registration allows you to bid on government contracts and apply for federal assistance. It also assigns your business a Unique Entity ID. To bid as the prime, you must register first. **Do I need a bond to bid on a cleaning contract?** It depends on the solicitation, so read the bid package first. If one is required, the SBA’s Surety Bond Guarantee Program covers contracts up to 9 million dollars for non-federal work and up to 14 million dollars for federal work. On performance and payment bonds, the SBA fee is 0.6 percent of the contract price. ### Pricing the bid **Can I quote a cleaning contract from a walkthrough photo?** Yes. Walk the site and snap a photo of each area. SimplyWise Cost Estimator turns it into an itemized estimate in about 6 seconds, with editable material, labor, and fee lines. **Does SimplyWise Cost Estimator help with commercial cleaning bids?** It builds material, labor, and fee line items from a walkthrough photo, each with unit, quantity, and price per unit. Send a branded quote the client signs to approve. Pricing is $29.99/mo or $239.99/yr, with a 7-day free trial. 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It is free to try with a 7-day free trial, then $29.99 per month or $239.99 per year (about $20 per month on the annual plan), and one subscription includes every app in the SimplyWise suite. - Download: https://www.simplywise.com/download - App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/simplywise-cost-estimator/id6670619664 - Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simplywise.costestimator - Every SimplyWise page as plain text: https://www.simplywise.com/blog/llms.txt