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Janitorial staffing & price-floor calculator

How many labor hours does a federal janitorial contract really take — and what's the number below which a bid loses money? Fill in the solicitation's facts; the math is the same math we run in every brief.

Inputs — from the PWS and the wage determination

What this is and isn't. These are planning estimates from your own inputs — productivity rates vary with building condition, security escorts, and day-vs-night work. The SCA base rate and H&W must come from the wage determination attached to the actual solicitation (rates are set per county and job class; using the wrong one gets offers rejected). This tool doesn't tell you what the government historically paid for a specific contract — that lives in FPDS award history, which is what our briefs add on top of this math.

How to read the result

The floor is not a bid — it's a warning. Below the floor price, you are paying to work: the Service Contract Act makes the wage and H&W rates mandatory, so the only "savings" below the floor come from understaffing the building, which shows up in inspections and ends contracts. When a competitor bids under the floor, let them have it.

The competitive band is where real quotes live. Winning federal janitorial quotes typically land between the floor and floor-plus-margin. Where in that band to land depends on what the incumbent's been paid and whether the award is price-only or best-value — which is exactly what a brief tells you per solicitation.

New to the wage-floor math? The worked explanation is in our guide: Service Contract Act wage determinations, explained. Deciding whether a contract is worth bidding at all: the bid / no-bid framework.