NAICS 234930 industrial nonbuilding construction: one award, $16.7 billion

A $16.7 billion industry with a single award

Most industry pages on SpendingVault mix thousands of awards. NAICS 234930 does not. The table shows 1 award and $16,692,586,105.74 in obligations. Average obligation per award is therefore the same as the headline: about $16.7 billion. That pattern means the code’s federal contract footprint, as tagged in USAspending, is a single vehicle rather than a thicket of small construction jobs.

A single-award total is easy to misread. It does not prove that only one company in the country builds industrial nonbuilding structures for the government, and it does not prove that every related construction dollar used this NAICS. Contracting officers choose a code per action. Other industrial construction can sit under different codes, and this one award may include work a reader would split across several labels.

The industrial nonbuilding structure title covers construction that is not a building in the ordinary sense — process plants, industrial structures, and similar nonbuilding work as the Census definition groups it. USAspending does not attach a project name to this packet. The industry page is the place to open the award row and see the recipient, agency, and description that USAspending stores.

Concentration this extreme is a reading instruction, not a scandal. USAspending.gov can legally show $16,692,586,105.74 on 1 award when a single contract action carries the 234930 tag. Other industrial construction can sit under different NAICS codes at the same time. The industry table is the place to open that one row and see the recipient, awarding agency, and description the source stored — fields this packet does not include.

Obligation versus cash paid

Sixteen point seven billion dollars obligated is not sixteen point seven billion dollars already sent to a contractor’s bank. Obligations can cover multi-year construction, options, and later modifications. Outlays trail obligations on long projects. If the award is still being performed, a large share of the $16,692,586,105.74 may remain unpaid. If balances were de-obligated, USAspending’s current extract would already reflect that net.

With only 1 award in the count, there is no portfolio of small jobs to average against. Readers comparing this code to high-volume construction NAICS should compare dollars and award counts separately. A code with thousands of awards can show a similar dollar total while describing a completely different contracting pattern.

How NAICS tagging works on construction contracts

Construction NAICS codes are assigned on the contract action. Building construction, highway work, and water-and-sewer construction live under other codes and are not inside this $16.7 billion. Assistance awards for infrastructure — many of which never receive a NAICS — are also outside the total. The packet source note states that NAICS comes from USAspending contract awards.

If a later modification changes the NAICS on the action, this hub’s dollar figure would move with it. Until the source revises the row, SpendingVault reports 1 award and $16,692,586,105.74 for code 234930.

Heavy construction NAICS codes are easy to confuse in search. A reader looking for industrial plants may land on 234930 (nonbuilding structures) or 236210 (industrial buildings). This guide keeps them apart because USAspending keeps them apart. The $16.7 billion here does not include industrial-building construction tagged 236210, and the reverse is also true.

Using the 234930 industry page

Open the industrial nonbuilding structure construction industry page to inspect the single award behind the aggregate. The all-industries index is the comparison set: other construction codes will usually show more awards and different dollar ranks. Ranking 234930 by dollars without noting the award count of 1 hides the concentration that makes this code unusual.

This guide does not add agency, recipient, or fiscal-year splits because those fields are not in the packet facts. Anything beyond $16.7 billion, 1 award, and the NAICS title would be invention. The live table is the next click for those dimensions.

What this total cannot answer

The aggregate cannot say whether the work is complete, whether the site is a plant or another industrial structure, or how much has been invoiced. It cannot say how many bidders competed. It can say only that USAspending tags $16,692,586,105.74 in contract obligations to NAICS 234930 on 1 award.

Treat the page as a pointer into the contract file, not as a construction-market census. Other NAICS codes and untagged assistance can hold related industrial construction dollars that never appear here.

Why a one-award hub still belongs in the industry index

The all-industries index ranks codes by dollars. A one-award code at $16.7 billion will outrank many high-volume supply codes that spread similar money across tens of thousands of actions. That ranking is correct as a dollar ranking and misleading as a market-thickness ranking. Always pair the obligation total with the award count of 1.

SpendingVault does not hide small-n codes. It publishes the tagged total and lets the table show how thin the award book is. If USAspending later splits or retags the action, both the $16,692,586,105.74 and the count of 1 will move. Until then, this is the recorded contract footprint for industrial nonbuilding structure construction.

Questions

How many federal awards are tagged to NAICS 234930?

The SpendingVault aggregate from USAspending.gov shows 1 award under NAICS 234930. That single award carries $16,692,586,105.74 in obligations. The award count is not a count of construction sites or invoices. Open the industry page to see the award row USAspending stores for this code. Because n equals 1, any revision to that row revises the entire industry total.

Is the $16.7 billion already paid out?

Not necessarily. The headline is obligations — legal commitments on the tagged contract — not outlays. Construction vehicles often obligate large sums up front and pay over the life of the work. De-obligations and modifications can also change the recorded net. This packet does not publish an outlay total.

Does NAICS 234930 include all federal industrial construction?

No. Only contract actions tagged 234930 are in the $16.7 billion. Other construction NAICS codes, and assistance awards that lack NAICS, sit elsewhere. A contracting officer can also tag similar work to a different code. The total is the tagged contract slice, not the entire industrial-construction market.

Where can I see the contractor on the NAICS 234930 award?

Recipient names are not in this packet’s facts, so this guide does not name one. The industrial nonbuilding structure construction industry page lists the award-level fields USAspending provides, including recipient and awarding agency where those columns are populated. Use that table rather than inferring a vendor from the NAICS title.