Federal Construction & Facilities Contracts for Small-Business and SDVOSB Set-Asides
Every week, thousands of new federal contract opportunities post to SAM.gov. For a small construction or facilities firm, the problem is not finding opportunities — it is finding the *right* ones. Which contracts fit your set-aside status? Which are realistically winnable for a firm your size? Which are already wired for an incumbent?
lu-hen tracks over 2,000 live federal construction and facilities opportunities and scores each one for how well it fits a small or mid-size firm — so you spend your time bidding, not scrolling.
Where small construction firms find federal work
The biggest federal buyers of construction and facilities work are predictable, and most of them run active small-business programs:
- **NAVFAC** (Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command) — the Navy's construction and facilities arm, and one of the largest single sources of small-business construction opportunities in the federal government.
- **The Department of Veterans Affairs** — constantly renovating, maintaining, and building out medical facilities nationwide, with a strong SDVOSB and Veteran-Owned preference.
- **The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers** — civil works, military construction, and facilities projects across every region.
These three alone account for a large share of the winnable construction work on SAM.gov at any given time.
Which set-asides apply to construction firms
Set-aside status is the single biggest filter for a small construction firm, because it determines which contracts you are even eligible to compete for. The ones that matter most for building trades:
- **Total Small Business Set-Aside (FAR 19.5)** — the broadest category. If you qualify as a small business under your NAICS size standard, these are open to you, and they are the largest pool of construction opportunities.
- **Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)** — a substantial and growing share of federal construction, especially at the VA. If you hold SDVOSB certification, this is often your strongest lane, with less competition than full-and-open.
- **8(a), WOSB, and HUBZone** — narrower programs that, where you qualify, dramatically reduce the competitive field.
A firm that filters by its own set-aside eligibility cuts the noise immediately — you stop seeing contracts you can't bid and start seeing the ones built for firms like yours.
Filtering thousands of opportunities down to the winnable ones
Eligibility is the first filter. The second is *fit*. Not every contract you're eligible for is worth pursuing — some are effectively locked to an incumbent, some have unrealistic scope for a small firm, some are genuinely open.
Every opportunity in lu-hen carries an **AI fit score from 0 to 100** — our model's estimate of how realistically a small or mid-size firm could compete, weighing set-aside type, scope clarity, competition signals, and barrier to entry. It is a triage signal to focus your effort, not a guarantee of winning. The point is simple: instead of reading 2,000 solicitations, you start with the ones the score flags as the best fit for a firm your size, then apply your own judgment.
What you get
lu-hen returns current federal construction and facilities opportunities — the agency, NAICS code, set-aside type, response deadline, place of performance, and a direct SAM.gov link — filtered to what's live and scored for fit. Full coverage across every other federal category is there too, but the catalog is built sharpest for the construction and facilities trades: the set-asides, the agencies, and the work that small building firms actually win.
If you build, renovate, or maintain facilities for the federal government, this is the shortest path from "thousands of notices" to "the handful worth bidding this week."