Nov 11 Brief: 24 New Federal Construction Bids and a Big Drop in Home Building Spend

If you price work for a living, today's data pulls two ways. Federal buildings work is posting steadily, with 24 new construction solicitations since Monday. Residential spending is sliding, down 5.4% in a month. Put your hours where the money is moving.

New to bid on

Since Monday, Nov 9, 24 new construction solicitations have posted, and 21 of them are commercial and institutional building work. California leads with 3, and Illinois, Texas and Connecticut have 2 each. Here is a look at Illinois and six others worth opening today. Overall, 4,501 solicitations are open and 2,014 close this week.

• Energy, Wilson Hall Floor 16 electric and elevator machine rooms fire rating and mechanical upgrade, IL. Closes December 9. Small Business Set Aside, Total (SAM.gov)
• Veterans Affairs, EHRM infrastructure upgrades, Montgomery, AL. Closes January 5. Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business set-aside (SAM.gov)
• Veterans Affairs, EHRM infrastructure upgrades at the Dallas CMOP, Dallas, TX. Closes December 23. Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business set-aside (SAM.gov)
• Public Buildings Service, general contractor for the seismic retrofit at the Clemente Ruiz Nazario U.S. Courthouse, San Juan, PR. Closes December 15. Open to all (SAM.gov)
• Army, B422 breakroom and B300 BDOC, Mansfield, OH. Closes December 10. Small Business Set Aside, Total (SAM.gov)
• Forest Service, South Fork Bunkhouse well abandonment, South Fork, CO. Closes December 9. Open to all (SAM.gov)
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, seawater pump renovation, Milford, CT. Closes December 7. Small Business Set Aside, Total (SAM.gov)

The number that moved

Residential construction spending came in at $861.2B for September 2026, a seasonally adjusted annual rate. The prior month was $910.2B. That is down 5.4% in one month and down 8.8% from a year ago. The source is the U.S. Census Bureau, via FRED.

For bidding this month, I would not count on home building to carry your backlog. Private work is soft, and the open-solicitation chart above shows federal postings holding up at 4,501 now, after 4,892 in October. If you carry residential crews, quote shorter and keep your overhead honest. Housing starts and building permits both release November 18, so check them before you commit to fall pricing.

Three worth two minutes

• New Mycon CIO will focus on cybersecurity, AI, Construction Dive. A general contractor is hiring a tech chief. Small shops should at least back up their estimating files.
• Honda to invest $3B in new Ohio hybrid vehicle plant, Construction Dive. The plant will create 2,000 jobs, and big plants mean years of site, utility and trade work around them, so start talking to the local GCs.
• Study Finds Asphalt Pavement Emissions 250 Times Lower Than Previous Estimates, For Construction Pros. Paving contractors may get a better answer the next time an owner asks about emissions.

Pick one of the seven bids above that matches your trade and open the solicitation today. Closing dates run from December 7 to January 5, so you have time to get real numbers from your suppliers.