Site visits on federal cleaning contracts: what they are and why to attend
Many federal janitorial and grounds solicitations name a date when the agency will walk interested companies through the buildings or grounds. It is usually the only time before the due date that you can see the floors, restrooms and conditions you are about to price. This page explains what the rules say about site visits, what to look at, and what happens to the questions you raise. For the overall bidding steps, see how to bid on federal janitorial contracts.
It explains how the process works. It is not legal advice; your state's free APEX Accelerator can help with a specific solicitation.
1. What the solicitation says about it
For service contracts performed on government installations (other than construction), the contracting officer puts the Site Visit provision in the solicitation (FAR 37.110(a)). Its text is short (FAR 52.237-1):
- Offerors are "urged and expected" to inspect the site and satisfy themselves about the general and local conditions that may affect the cost of performance, to the extent that information is reasonably obtainable.
- "In no event shall failure to inspect the site constitute grounds for a claim after contract award."
So the provision itself urges a visit rather than requiring one. The cost of what you would have seen is yours either way: if you skip the visit and the floors turn out to need stripping every month, that is not grounds for a price increase. Some solicitations go further and make attendance a condition of bidding; read the instructions to offerors to see which applies.
2. Site visits and pre-proposal conferences
The FAR lists pre-proposal conferences and site visits among the ways agencies exchange information with companies before offers are due (FAR 15.201(c)). A conference is a briefing, often in a meeting room or online; a site visit is the walk-through. Some notices combine them. Find in the notice or its attachments:
- The date, time and meeting place, and whether you must register or send attendee names in advance.
- What ID or base access the installation requires. Military bases and federal buildings often need advance notice to get visitors through the gate.
- The deadline for written questions, which is often a few days after the visit.
3. What to check on a cleaning or grounds walk-through
The work statement gives square footage and frequencies. The visit tells you what those numbers mean in labor hours. Useful things to note:
- Floors: carpet, tile, sealed concrete or wood, and their condition. Floor care is where hours and supplies vary most.
- Restrooms and break rooms: how many, how many fixtures, and how heavily used.
- Occupancy and hours: how many people use the space, and when your crew can work (after hours, escorted, around patients or secure areas).
- Storage and utilities: janitor closets, water and drains, where equipment and supplies can be kept, and where trash and recycling go.
- Grounds: acreage that matches the drawings, slopes, fencing, obstacles to mow around, irrigation, and where clippings and debris go.
- Differences from the work statement: anything that doesn't match the square footage, room counts or site map. Write these down as questions.
Take notes and photos only where the agency allows it; secure facilities often don't.
4. Questions, answers and amendments
What you are told on the walk-through is not the same as what is in the solicitation. To rely on something, ask it in writing by the questions deadline.
- If the agency gives specific information needed to prepare offers to one or more companies, it must make that information public as soon as practicable, and materials handed out at a conference should be available to all potential offerors on request (FAR 15.201(f)). In practice, answers usually come back as a questions-and-answers document or an amendment on SAM.gov.
- When the government changes its requirements or terms, the contracting officer amends the solicitation, and amendments issued before the due date go to everyone who received it (FAR 15.206(a) and (b)).
- For commercial solicitations, the instructions at FAR 52.212-1(b) list acknowledgment of solicitation amendments among the things every offer must include. Check SAM.gov for amendments after the visit and up to the due date.
5. If you can't attend
Read the instructions first: if attendance is required, missing it can rule you out. If it isn't, you can still read the attendee list and Q&A when the agency posts them, ask your own questions in writing by the deadline, and look at whatever public areas you can reach. You carry the risk of anything a visit would have shown (FAR 52.237-1), so price that uncertainty or pass on the bid.
Where we fit
Site visit dates are often the first deadline in a solicitation, sometimes only a week or two after it posts. The free weekly list sends you the open janitorial and grounds solicitations plus upcoming rebids, your state first, so you see them in time. The bid desk ($149 a month, 14-day trial) adds a go/no-go note on each one, and we can draft the response when you decide to bid.
Checked October 20, 2026 against the linked FAR pages (FAC 2026-01). The solicitation you are bidding is the authority on whether attendance is required.