Federal market intelligence
Who spends $52.7B a year on federal building construction
Every year the U.S. government obligates tens of billions of dollars on commercial and institutional building construction under NAICS 236220. This hub breaks that spending down by awarding agency, state, NAICS code and set-aside program, using data from USAspending.gov. No estimates, no modeled figures.
FY2026 at a glance
- $52.7BObligated in FY2026 on NAICS 236220 federal construction
- #1Rank of NAICS 236220 among all federal contract NAICS codes by FY2026 obligations
- $31.8BDepartment of Homeland Security, the largest awarding agency
- $19.2BTexas, the largest state by place of performance
Explore the data
By awarding agency
See which departments obligate the most on 236220.
By state
Where the work is performed, from Texas to Guam.
By NAICS code
How construction compares with every other federal market.
By set-aside
Small-business programs as a share of construction dollars.
Why this matters
NAICS 236220 is not a niche. In FY2026 it was the single largest NAICS code in all of federal contracting by obligated dollars, ahead of aircraft manufacturing and health insurance carriers. For a builder, that concentration is an opportunity: a handful of agencies account for most of it, and the work is performed in every state.
Small-business set-asides account for $4.7B of construction dollars across 3,802 awards, while full-and-open competition carries the remaining $48.0B. Understanding which agencies and set-aside programs fit your business is the difference between bidding blind and bidding to win.
Analysis guides
How to Read Federal Construction Spending Data
Obligations, awards and fiscal years explained, so the numbers on this hub actually mean something.
Who Spends the Federal Construction Dollar: Agency by Agency
A concentration analysis of the agencies that award the most building-construction work, and what it means for bidders.
Where Federal Construction Money Goes: A State-by-State Read
Why a handful of states capture most federal building-construction spending, and how to think about geography when bidding.
NAICS 236220 Explained for Federal Contractors
What commercial and institutional building construction covers, how the size standard works, and how to use the code to win.
Small-Business Set-Asides in Federal Construction
The set-aside programs that reserve federal construction work, and what the most recent data says about the size of that pool.
How to Find Federal Construction Opportunities
A practical workflow that combines USAspending market data with SAM.gov solicitation search.
Frequently asked questions
What is this market intelligence hub?
It is a free, permanent set of pages that break federal contract spending into the cuts a contractor actually cares about: awarding agency, state, NAICS code and set-aside program. Construction (NAICS 236220) is covered in the deepest detail.
How current is the data?
The figures are pulled from the USAspending.gov API when the page is rebuilt, and each page shows the fiscal year it covers. Federal spending data continues to be reconciled after a fiscal year closes, so small revisions are normal.
Can I reuse these figures?
Yes. The underlying data is public-domain U.S. government data from USAspending.gov. Please credit FCEXperts and USAspending.gov as the original source.
Does this hub teach me how to win a contract?
It shows you where the money is. The FCEXperts Pro membership teaches the process end to end, from SAM registration and NAICS selection to pricing and proposals.
Related guide: How to read federal construction spending
Turn this data into wins
The same federal-contracting fundamentals behind this analysis are taught in the FCEXperts Pro Membership. The full federal-contracting training library, templates, and member-only expert briefings.