How to bid janitorial work in Maryland

1. Before you can bid at all

The entry ticket: the registrations buyers check, the licence the law requires for this trade, the certifications that change who can win, and the wage floors that set your labour line.

Registrations

• Register the business with the State Department of Assessments and Taxation and keep it in good standing; every certification below checks SDAT first.Source: dat.maryland.gov/businesses/Pages/default.aspx
• Get a federal EIN, then file Maryland's Combined Registration Application through Maryland Tax Connect for withholding and sales-and-use accounts.Source: www.marylandcomptroller.gov/content/dam/mdcomp/tax/filing...
• Register as a vendor on eMaryland Marketplace Advantage (eMMA): a two-step form, then pick every UNSPSC commodity code that could apply, because notifications only go out for checked codes.State agencies and most counties post formal solicitations there; Carroll, Harford, Howard and Baltimore County also run their own portals.Source: procurement.maryland.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2020...
• Keep a W-9, a certificate of insurance and a one-page capability statement ready; they are asked for on nearly every submission.Source: procurement.maryland.gov/how-to-do-business-with-the-stat...

The licence the law requires for janitorial

• Maryland has no state trade licence for janitorial or custodial work. What replaces it is wage compliance: the state Living Wage on state contracts, and the county wage laws in Montgomery and Prince George's, apply to cleaning contracts more than to any other trade because the work is almost all labour.Source: labor.maryland.gov/labor/prev/livingoverview.shtml
• Green-cleaning language is common in school and county specifications; expect product lists and safety data sheets to be part of the submission.Source: procurement.maryland.gov/how-to-do-business-with-the-stat...

Certifications that change who can win

• Small Business Reserve (SBR): a free self-certification inside eMMA, renewed yearly; SBR-designated state solicitations are open only to certified firms.Source: gomdsmallbiz.maryland.gov/Pages/SBR-Registration.aspx
• Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) through MDOT: at least 51% owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, with a personal-net-worth cap; plan on 60 to 90 days from a complete application. MBE participation goals appear on many county and school bids.Source: www.mdot.maryland.gov/tso/pages/index.aspx?pageid=91
• Veteran-Owned Small Business Enterprise (VSBE): 51% veteran-owned, SBA size standards, no fee, renewed every three years; designated agencies aim 3% of spend at VSBE firms.Source: gomdsmallbiz.maryland.gov/Pages/VSBE-Program.aspx
• Montgomery County's Local Small Business Reserve Program (LSBRP) and Prince George's County-based business preference are separate county registrations that decide who may bid set-aside county work.Source: www.montgomerycountymd.gov/PRO/Programs/LSBRP/LSBRP.html

Wage floors

• Maryland Living Wage Law covers state service contracts of $100,000 or more ($500,000 for employers with 10 or fewer employees). Tier 1 (Anne Arundel, Baltimore City, Baltimore, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George's) is $17.54 an hour from September 29, 2026; Tier 2 is the rest of the state at a lower rate set yearly.Source: labor.maryland.gov/labor/prev/livingoverview.shtml
• Montgomery County's Wage Requirement Law sets $18.55 an hour on county service contracts from July 1, 2026.Source: www.montgomerycountymd.gov/office-procurement/division-bu...
• Prince George's County's living wage for county contractors is $18.10 an hour from July 1, 2026.Source: www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/boards-commissions/wage-det...

2. How buying works in Maryland

• Thresholds decide the form: small purchases are quotes by phone or email, formal sealed bids start at each county's own line (Carroll formalises above $25,000; St. Mary's above $50,000). Ask each buyer for their small-procurement list; that is where a new firm gets its first work.Source: www.carrollcountymd.gov/government/directory/comptroller/...
• An IFB (invitation for bids) goes to the lowest responsive, responsible bidder; an RFP (request for proposals) is scored on approach and price; an RFQ for qualifications shortlists firms before price. Read which one you are answering before you write a word.Source: procurement.maryland.gov/how-to-do-business-with-the-stat...
• Bid opening day is public: bids are read aloud and the tabulation is recorded. That sheet is the single most useful document in public bidding, and this site collects them.Source: procurement.maryland.gov/how-to-do-business-with-the-stat...
• Addenda can arrive any time before the due date and must be acknowledged on the bid form; an unacknowledged addendum is the most common reason a low bid is thrown out.Source: www.carrollcountymd.gov/government/directory/comptroller/...
• Late bids are returned unopened. Sealed paper bids must be at the purchasing office, not in the mail, by the minute stated.Source: www.carrollcountymd.gov/government/directory/comptroller/...

3. What Maryland buyers actually ask for in janitorial

Counted from the bids we have read in full. Thin where the count is low; it grows as we read more.

4. How to price it

The craft, then the evidence: what this work actually went for at Maryland bid openings, and who has been winning.

• Price from the building, not from a per-square-foot rule of thumb: square feet by space type, cleanable area, frequency schedule, and the hours it produces per shift. Then labour at the wage floor that applies to that buyer, plus burden, supplies as a share of labour, supervision, equipment, overhead and margin.
• Multi-site and zone bids (Montgomery County's custodial zones, library systems) price per site; the tabulation shows per-item lows, so a firm can win one zone without being low overall.
• Day-porter hours are priced differently from night crews; specifications usually state both.
• The sheets on file below show what buyers accepted; the debrief on a lost bid shows the gap to the low in dollars and percent.

5. Starting from zero: the first 90 days

For someone who wants to start a janitorial business and sell only to government. The order matters: the licence and the registrations gate everything else.

1. Weeks 1 to 2: entity, EIN, Combined Registration, general liability and workers' compensation quotes, a janitorial bond quote (buyers ask for fidelity bonds when staff have keys).
2. Weeks 2 to 4: eMMA registration with the cleaning commodity codes; SBR self-certification the same day; MBE or VSBE application if eligible.
3. Weeks 4 to 8: small purchases first, under the formal threshold: town halls, libraries, fire stations, senior centres. Ask each purchasing office how they buy under the line.
4. Weeks 8 to 12: bid the first formal IFB with a mandatory pre-bid you can attend; attend the bid opening even if you did not bid, to hear the numbers.