Melwood Horticultural Training Center, Inc.

Melwood Horticultural Training Center, Inc., a tax-exempt non-profit AbilityOne organization headquartered in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, delivers custodial, grounds maintenance, facilities repair, and administrative support services to federal agencies as a prime contractor across a diversified portfolio of 2,229 prime awards valued at $7.18 billion combined potential value. Melwood competes exclusively full-and-open; its AbilityOne certification exempts it from small business set-aside competition and establishes its core mission of creating meaningful employment for individuals with disabilities.

Melwood's capability footprint centers on facilities operations and grounds maintenance. Across the prime award portfolio, the top five NAICS categories are Janitorial Services (892 awards), Facilities Support Services (452 awards), Landscaping Services (171 awards), Other General Government Support (60 awards), and Other Business Service Centers (11 awards). PSC coding confirms this focus: 966 awards fall under Housekeeping-Custodial Janitorial, 223 under Housekeeping-Landscaping/Groundskeeping, 189 under Maintenance of Office Buildings, 82 under Housekeeping-Facilities Operations Support, and 65 under Housekeeping-Snow Removal/Salt. Representative work includes a $4.1 billion single-award IDIQ with the Defense Health Agency for healthcare environmental cleaning services (awarded September 30, 2024, through May 31, 2031); an $86.1 million IDIQ with Naval Facilities Engineering Command covering custodial and grounds maintenance at Navy and Marine Corps installations nationwide; a $24.9 million single-award IDIQ with GSA Public Buildings Service for complete facilities maintenance at U.S. Secret Service headquarters (950 H Street NW, Washington, D.C.); and a $24.6 million definitive contract with the Department of Interior for custodial and landscaping services at Interior headquarters in Washington, D.C. (awarded September 1, 2024, through August 31, 2029). Smaller representative awards include a $6.2 million definitive contract with the Northeast Area for janitorial services in Calverton, Maryland (January 1, 2024, through December 31, 2028), and ongoing delivery orders for snow and ice removal, floor maintenance, carpet cleaning, and specialized facilities repairs across GSA-managed federal buildings in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

Customer concentration is moderate but regionally intense. The top five agencies by award count account for 50% of awards: GSA Public Buildings Service National Capital Region (479 awards, $368.5 million potential value), Department of Homeland Security Coast Guard (274 awards, $34 million), Department of the Navy Bureau of Naval Personnel (167 awards, $118.4 million), GSA Public Buildings Service (124 awards, $56.7 million), and Naval Facilities Engineering Command (75 awards, $556.7 million). The top five by potential value tell a different story: Naval Facilities Engineering Command ($556.7 million, 75 awards), Department of the Army Installation Management Command Northeast Region ($531 million, 17 awards), GSA National Capital Region ($368.5 million, 479 awards), Navy Bureau of Naval Personnel ($118.4 million, 167 awards), and Department of Agriculture Office of Operations ($90.1 million, 74 awards). This divergence signals that Melwood places many small task orders at GSA-NCR facilities while anchoring substantially larger dollar volume through fewer, high-value Navy and Army contracts.

Melwood holds five top parent vehicles that together account for substantial ordering activity. The Defense Health Agency Indefinite Delivery Contract (GS11P99ZGC0023) has generated 298 task orders valued at $4.3 million combined; Coast Guard contract HSCG4017D60559 has spawned 116 task orders ($1 million combined); GSA schedule GS11P16ZGD0053 has produced 97 task orders ($1.3 million); GSA schedule GS11P10ZGC0091 has yielded 88 task orders ($1.5 million); and Naval Facilities Engineering Command contract N4008011D0509 has issued 69 task orders ($29.3 million combined). Recent definitive contracts and IDIQs—including the $4.1 billion DHA healthcare environmental cleaning IDIQ, a $24.9 million GSA IDIQ for USSS facilities maintenance, a $24.6 million Interior definitive for headquarters custodial and landscaping, a $19.96 million HUD definitive for custodial services at the Weaver Building in Washington, D.C. (transferred September 1, 2025, through August 31, 2029), and a $6.69 million Secret Service definitive for grounds maintenance at the James J. Rowley Training Center in Washington, D.C. (awarded March 14, 2025, through March 16, 2030)—establish Melwood's position across multiple large federal real estate portfolios.

Activity has remained stable over the past five years: 65 awards in 2022, 74 in 2023, 72 in 2024, 66 in 2025, and 28 awards year-to-date in 2026 (reflecting the July 15, 2026 snapshot date). Within the next twenty-four months, 36 awards with combined potential value of $309.8 million reach ultimate completion dates, creating recompete and follow-on obligation opportunities.

Melwood operates as a pure prime contractor in the federal space: 100% of awards are primes, and only 3 sub-award records appear in the source (Virginia Department of Social Services employment advancement grants). SCI-reported invoicing across FY2022–FY2024 totaled $100 million—$30.5 million in FY2022 (294 FTEs), $32.7 million in FY2023 (280 FTEs), and $36.8 million in FY2024 (344 FTEs). Government-paid hourly rates on SCI-reportable prime contracts span a median of $52.28 per hour (10th percentile $27.48, 90th percentile $98.49), reflecting the labor-intensive, low-to-mid-skill composition of custodial and grounds maintenance work. Across SCI-reportable prime contracts, Melwood self-performed 97% of contractor hours, relying on only 2 named subcontractors (3% sub-hours share), indicating a vertically integrated delivery model built on its own AbilityOne workforce. Melwood holds a GSA Federal Supply Schedule contract (MAS, effective September 20, 2023, through September 19, 2028, ceiling $2 million) spanning 70 labor categories at rates from $38.12 (General Clerk I) to $186.44 per hour (Project Manager), covering custodial operations, trades, project management, engineering, construction, utilities, vehicle operation, and administrative roles—all carrying Service Contract Labor Standards requirements and requiring no security clearance.

Melwood received two significant federal grants in the source period: an $8,025,391 five-year Project Grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (CFDA 84.421, Disability Innovation Fund) titled "ABILIT ACROSS AMERICA: ADVANCING NEURODIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE" (October 1, 2024, through September 30, 2029), which includes sub-awards to Versability Resources, Inc. and Relay Resources for IT and technology training and job placement for individuals with disabilities, with technical assistance from Mathematica Inc.; and an Occupational Safety and Health Administration Project Grant for "MELWOOD SAFETY TRAINING WITH A TRAIN-THE-TRAINER COMPONENT" (awarded September 30, 2024, completion September 30, 2025). Melwood also received an HUD Economic Development Initiative / Community Project Funding grant (August 13, 2024, completion August 31, 2032) and two Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration Project Grants (both awarded November 1, 2023, completion October 31, 2025).

Melwood's federal contracting posture is characterized by direct service delivery to civilian and defense agencies, deep entrenched relationships at GSA-managed facilities in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region, and a concentration in recurring, on-demand facilities maintenance work under large IDIQs. The organization does not subcontract meaningfully and does not appear as a subcontractor to other federal primes in the source data. Its AbilityOne designation is its market differentiator and competitive moat—it exempts Melwood from small business competition, allows it to bid full-and-open, and anchors its federal value proposition to a social mission of disability employment that aligns with federal procurement policy.