UNSPSC 81151705: Archaeological services

UNSPSC 81151705 Archaeological services is a Commodity code encompassing comprehensive cultural resource assessment, site evaluation, and mitigation work that state and local governments solicit when development projects, land transactions, or infrastructure modernization trigger archaeological compliance requirements. Recent solicitations show governments buying Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments, prehistoric and historic site testing and data recovery, artifact curation and laboratory analysis, historic building inventories and preservation planning, and public education materials such as interpretive kiosks and presentation decks. The issuing bodies include city planning and procurement offices (Tucson, Savannah), water and land management districts (Washington County Water Conservancy District), and occasionally special-purpose authorities managing brownfield or cultural preservation programs. Work is performed on an as-needed basis under contract vehicles spanning one to five years, with multiple consultants often selected to distribute workload based on availability and expertise.

Recent activity clusters in the Southwest and Southeast. The City of Tucson issued RFP 230036 for cultural resources and archaeological services with a March 10, 2026 posting, historically spending $300,000 to $3,000,000 annually on an as-needed basis; the City of Savannah solicited archaeological services (Event No. 11964) due April 7, 2026, via electronic submission through its procurement portal; and the Washington County Water Conservancy District in Utah issued a Request for Proposals for cultural resource mitigation services across 17 prehistoric archaeological sites due April 3, 2026, requiring Secretary of the Interior professional qualifications, state and federal archaeology permits, and expertise in Virgin Branch Ancestral Puebloan and Southern Paiute archaeology. Proposals for the Washington County work are evaluated on qualifications (30 points), knowledge and experience (30 points), management plan (20 points), and cost appropriateness (20 points), with minimum liability insurance of $3,000,000 aggregate per occurrence for general and professional liability combined. Most awards are firm fixed price or task-based structures with no guaranteed minimum volume, and Section 3 Program labor-hour requirements (25% of hours by low-income workers, 5% by targeted workers) apply to federally funded projects such as brownfield assessments.