Veterans Affairs set aside 56% of its open construction notices for SDVOSBs

Veterans Affairs set aside 56.2% of its open construction notices for SDVOSBs — no other top agency comes close.

This snapshot covers open notices across 6 construction NAICS codes only — not federal contracting overall. All counts are as of 2026-08-10.

Which agency actually sets aside construction work for SDVOSBs?

Veterans Affairs had 146 open notices as of 2026-08-10. Of those, 82 carried an SDVOSB set-aside — a 56.2% rate. The next closest was the Department of the Interior at 3.7% (3 of 82 open notices), followed by the General Services Administration at 3.2% (1 of 31). The Dept of Defense had 484 open notices — the most of any agency — but only 13 were set aside for SDVOSBs (2.7%). Agriculture, State, Homeland Security, Commerce, Health and Human Services, and the International Boundary and Water Commission each showed 0 SDVOSB set-asides among their open notices.

If you are an SDVOSB general contractor, Veterans Affairs is where the set-aside volume is.

How many of these 981 open notices are actually set aside for my business type?

Of the 981 open notices as of 2026-08-10:

• 573 (58.4%) are set aside for small businesses broadly
• 100 (10.2%) are SDVOSB set-asides specifically
• 308 (31.4%) fall into other categories

That means roughly 1 in 10 open notices in this dataset is exclusively reserved for SDVOSBs.

Which NAICS code has the most open federal construction work right now?

Commercial & Institutional Building Construction (236220) dominates with 596 open notices as of 2026-08-10 — more than double the rest of the codes combined. Plumbing, Heating & Air-Conditioning (238220) is second at 243. Roofing (238160) sits at 89. Painting & Wall Covering (238320) and Residential Remodelers (236118) are each at 21 and 20, respectively. Other Foundation, Structure & Building Exterior Contractors (238190) has 12 open notices.

How much time do I have to respond to an open solicitation?

The overall average response window is 28.3 days as of 2026-08-10. But it varies by trade:

• Residential Remodelers (236118): 40.8 days avg
• Commercial & Institutional Building Construction (236220): 30.6 days
• Other Foundation, Structure & Building Exterior (238190): 26.4 days
• Roofing (238160): 25.2 days
• Plumbing, Heating & Air-Conditioning (238220): 23.5 days
• Painting & Wall Covering (238320): 19.8 days

Painting and HVAC contractors are working with the tightest windows. Note that 353 open notices have deadlines within the next 7 days — check those first.

Where is the open work located, for notices that list a state?

Of the 656 open notices that list a place-of-performance state, here are the top locations as of 2026-08-10:

• NC: 88
• TX: 50
• IL: 35
• CA: 28
• FL: 26
• DC: 26
• OK: 26
• Virginia: 22

For the DC/Maryland/Virginia region specifically: of the 656 open notices that list a state, 60 are in the DMV — DC (26), Virginia (22), and Maryland (12) — representing 9.1% of located open notices.

Keep in mind: 325 open notices carry no place-of-performance state at all, so these counts do not represent the full picture.

Is the number of open notices going up or down?

This is the first week-over-week reading available, based on 16 days of observed snapshots (2026-07-26 through 2026-08-10). The count moved from 873 open notices on 2026-08-03 to 982 on 2026-08-10. That is an early signal only — one week-over-week reading across 16 observed days is not enough to call a direction. The rolling cache also drops notices as they age, so apparent changes can reflect the window as much as the market. Do not read trend into it yet.

By the numbers

• 981 total open notices across 6 construction NAICS codes — as of 2026-08-10
• 100 SDVOSB set-aside notices open — as of 2026-08-10
• 56.2% of Veterans Affairs' 146 open notices are SDVOSB set-asides — as of 2026-08-10
• 596 open notices under NAICS 236220 (Commercial & Institutional Building Construction) — as of 2026-08-10
• 353 open notices with deadlines in the next 7 days — as of 2026-08-10
• 309 notices posted in the last 7 days — as of 2026-08-10
• 28.3 days average response window overall — as of 2026-08-10
• 60 open notices in DC/Maryland/Virginia, of the 656 open notices that list a state (9.1%) — as of 2026-08-10
• 873 → 982 open notice count, week-over-week (2026-08-03 to 2026-08-10), based on 16 observed days — early signal only

Methodology and limits

Source: SAM.gov opportunity notices, ingested daily into our own cache.

What is counted: A notice is "open" if its response deadline is in the future as of the snapshot timestamp. All counts here are a point-in-time read of a rolling ~60-day cache taken at a single instant on 2026-08-10. They are not a historical series — the cache silently drops notices as they age, so comparing counts across different readings reflects the rolling window as much as actual market activity.

Scope: These 6 NAICS codes only — 236118, 236220, 238160, 238190, 238220, 238320. This is not a measure of federal construction contracting overall.

Missing state data: 34% of all cached rows carry no place-of-performance state. Every geographic figure in this post is calculated only against notices that do carry a state, and says so explicitly. Geographic counts are a partial view.

No contract values: The value column is NULL on every cached row. No dollar amounts exist in this dataset. None are reported here.

Trend history: Trend data is available but limited. There are 16 days of observed snapshots. The week-over-week change (873 on 2026-08-03 to 982 on 2026-08-10) is the first such reading — an early signal, not an established trend. A reliable trend picture will require more observed days.

Note: "Veterans Affairs" in the agency figures refers to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. "Virginia" in the geographic figures refers to the state. They are different counts from different parts of the dataset.