A decade negotiating and auditing federal indirect cost rates, now on your side of the table. Packages a reviewer can follow in minutes, not days.
Whether you've never had a negotiated rate or you're tired of leaving recovery on the table, our indirect cost rate consulting comes down to the same work: get the numbers right, document them so they hold, and build the case you take to your cognizant agency.
Full proposal preparation — cost pools, allocation bases, and the schedules your cognizant agency expects. We assemble the package so it's reviewer-ready the first time, not after three rounds of questions. Fixed fee: most first-time proposals run $14,000 to $22,000; see the fee schedule.
We prepare every response through your cognizant agency's review. Because we've been the negotiator, we know which adjustments hold up, which costs draw scrutiny, and how to keep your provisional and final rates consistent. Support through the negotiation is included with every proposal we prepare.
Already have a NICRA or de minimis election? We pressure-test your allocation methodology, unallowable cost treatment, and documentation before an auditor does — and fix what won't survive review.
Practical training for finance and program staff — cost principles, allowable vs. unallowable costs, MTDC, and the rate types that come up most: provisional, final, predetermined, and fixed with carry-forward. Live workshops or materials your team keeps.
Never hourly. Start with a free consultation. If a negotiated rate makes sense, scoping puts your exact proposal fee in writing before you commit to the proposal.
Engagements with multiple rates, FAR Part 31 work, or more than $50 million in expenditures, and work outside the agreed scope such as books cleanup, are quoted as a fixed fee in writing before any work starts. You sign and correspond with your cognizant agency; we prepare every document and response.
They drag on because the proposal is overloaded, overly complex, and structured in a way that makes review harder than it should be. We've watched negotiations stretch by months for exactly that reason — and it's avoidable.
Dumping every possible schedule and narrative at once buries the few items that actually drive the rate decision.
Unnecessary sections and inconsistent roll-ups make it hard for the reviewer to trace the logic from costs to pools to bases to rate.
When the reviewer can't quickly validate the "why," they ask for more — extending negotiation and consuming your team's bandwidth.
Complex submissions cost more to build and defend — and they make it easier for definitions to be misread, turning small ambiguities into avoidable disputes.
Clear traceability beats volume. The reviewer should be able to follow the logic in minutes, not days. A tighter package reduces questions, reduces cost, and shortens the cycle.
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The cost principles that govern your rate depend on what kind of organization you are. We work in all of them.
We review your financials, awards, and current treatment to find the right rate structure and what you're recovering today, then quote the proposal in writing. Scoping is $2,500, credited in full toward the proposal if you sign within 60 days of the quote.
We construct the cost pools, allocation bases, and schedules — and document the methodology so it holds up to review.
You submit to your cognizant agency and sign. We prepare every response to the reviewer's questions through to the rate agreement.
We keep provisional and final rates accurate year to year and train your team to maintain the rate themselves.
Most consultants learned indirect cost rates from the outside. I spent a decade inside the process — negotiating rates and auditing proposals for the federal government, on agreements up to $3 billion. I know exactly where reviewers push back, which costs trigger questions, and what documentation actually survives an audit.
That experience changes the work. A proposal shouldn't go in on hope. I build it the way I'd have wanted to receive it — clean, supported, and ready to negotiate.
Sometimes — it's simple and requires no documentation. But for many organizations the de minimis rate (15% of modified total direct costs) recovers far less than a negotiated rate would. We run the comparison so the decision is based on your actual numbers, not a default.
That's the most common starting point. We scope your financials and awards, determine your cognizant agency, and build the first proposal from scratch — then prepare every response through the negotiation to your rate agreement.
They're the two cost-principle frameworks. Non-profits and state, local, and tribal governments fall under 2 CFR 200, Subpart E. Commercial and for-profit contractors fall under FAR Part 31. The rate mechanics differ in each — we work in both.
Both. We prepare proposals and every response through their negotiation, and we offer training courses and materials so your finance and program staff understand cost principles, allowable costs, and rate mechanics well enough to maintain the rate going forward.
Yes. We pressure-test existing rates, allocation methodologies, and documentation for audit risk — and fix what won't hold up before a reviewer finds it.
Fixed fee, never open-ended hourly billing. Most first-time proposals run $14,000 to $22,000, including the cost policy statement and support through the negotiation, and renewal proposals run $5,000 to $9,000. The first step is scoping, at $2,500: we review your records, estimate your rate, and quote the proposal fee in writing, and the $2,500 is credited in full if you sign within 60 days of the quote. The full fee schedule is under Services. In most cases the de minimis vs. negotiated comparison makes the economics clear before you sign for the proposal.
Building a reviewer-ready proposal typically takes a few weeks once your records are in hand. The negotiation itself runs on your cognizant agency's clock and can take months — which is exactly why the package matters: a proposal the reviewer can trace quickly is the single biggest factor you control.
Never had a negotiated rate? We build the first proposal from scratch and prepare every response through the negotiation to your rate agreement. Tired of rounds of reviewer questions? We simplify the package, improve traceability, and shorten the cycle.