Most pages that answer this question do not answer it. This one can, because the rates under TIPS Contract 230601 are published as part of the award rather than quoted per customer.
Two things to understand before reading the tables. Every figure below is a ceiling, not a price: the contract states each as a not-to-exceed rate, so an engagement can be quoted at or below it and never above. And a rate is only half of a cost. What you will actually spend is the rate multiplied by the hours, and the hours are what scoping establishes.
What drives the cost
Three variables, in roughly descending order of how much they move the total.
- Hours, which is mostly a function of how well the requirement is defined. An unclear scope is priced defensively, because the supplier is pricing uncertainty as well as work. The single cheapest thing a buyer can do is describe the outcome precisely.
- Which role does the work. The spread across the professional roles below is meaningful, and seniority is not always the right answer. A task that genuinely needs an enterprise consultant is badly served by a developer; a task that does not is expensively served by an architect.
- When the work happens. Technical service outside normal business hours carries a higher rate, which matters for public agencies specifically, because so much infrastructure work has to happen when buildings are empty.
What does not drive the cost is negotiation. The ceiling is set by the award.
The published rates
Eligible TIPS members receive 10% below the published not-to-exceed rate, described by the contract as greater than the minimum discount offered in the contract attribute except in limited circumstances. Both columns are shown so you can see the reduction rather than take it on trust.
| Service | Published rate, not to exceed | TIPS member rate, not to exceed |
|---|---|---|
| Internet / Web Architect | $115.00 per hour | $103.50 per hour |
| Application Developer | $125.00 per hour | $112.50 per hour |
| Project Manager | $150.00 per hour | $135.00 per hour |
| Network / Systems Manager | $165.00 per hour | $148.50 per hour |
| Enterprise Consultant | $175.00 per hour | $157.50 per hour |
| Systems Architect | $185.00 per hour | $166.50 per hour |
| Program Manager | $195.00 per hour | $175.50 per hour |
The contract defines each role as follows.
- Internet / Web Architect. Frontend design, test, implement and administrate web-based applications.
- Application Developer. Backend software development for interactive web-based applications.
- Project Manager. Coordination and completion of project schedules, budget, and scope.
- Network / Systems Manager. Maintain and administrate computer and network systems.
- Enterprise Consultant. Professional services and consulting specializing in enterprise solutions.
- Systems Architect. Implement solutions for managing and maintaining systems and software.
- Program Manager. Coordinator between multiple projects and business units.
Technical service work is priced separately, and the difference between the two installation lines is the one figure on this page most likely to affect a school or agency project plan.
| Service | Published rate, not to exceed | TIPS member rate, not to exceed |
|---|---|---|
| Technical service installation and support, normal business hours | $95.00 per hour | $85.50 per hour |
| Technical service installation and support, weekends and after hours | $142.00 per hour | $127.80 per hour |
| Preventive maintenance quality check | $150.00 per hour | $135.00 per hour |
One distinction worth drawing, because the two are easy to conflate. The after-hours line above is installation and support labor: an engineer on site or working on your systems outside normal business hours. That is a different thing from standard telephone and email support, which is available from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm CT Monday to Friday and on request at other times, and which is part of the service rather than an hourly charge. If your project needs cabling pulled on a Saturday, the after-hours technical service rate is the one that applies.
Travel and expenses
Travel is charged separately from labor and is worth reading closely, because it is the cost that most often surprises a public-sector buyer who budgeted only for hours.
| Item | Basis | TIPS member terms |
|---|---|---|
| Mileage | Per person, per mile | GSA allowable rate at the time of service |
| Travel time | Per person, per hour | 40% of the regular hourly charge |
| Flights | Per person | Actual cost of the flight |
Mileage follows the GSA allowable rate current at the time of service rather than a fixed figure, so it changes when GSA changes it. The contract cites the published GSA and IRS mileage reimbursement rate; the underlying authority is GSA's privately owned vehicle mileage reimbursement rates. Flights are passed through at actual cost.
Travel time is stated by the contract as a proportion of the regular hourly charge rather than as a rate of its own: 50% of the regular hourly installation charge, reduced to 40% for TIPS members. It is billed per person, so a two-person crew traveling three hours is six billable travel hours at the reduced proportion.
For a local engagement none of this applies. For a multi-campus district with sites an hour apart, it is a real line and should be in the estimate from the beginning.
Common pricing models
A published hourly ceiling supports more than one commercial shape, and choosing the shape is a separate decision from choosing the rate.
- Time and materials against the ceiling. You are billed for hours worked at or below the published rate. Suits work whose extent genuinely cannot be known in advance, such as diagnosis or remediation of something not yet understood.
- A not-to-exceed total. The same hourly basis with an agreed ceiling on the whole engagement, above which work stops and is renegotiated. This is usually the right default for a public agency, because it is straightforward to take to an approver and it cannot quietly overrun.
- A fixed price built from the rates. The supplier estimates hours by role, applies the published rates, and commits to the total. Suits well-defined work, and moves the risk of a bad estimate from you to the supplier, which is generally reflected in the number.
- A defined block of resource. A named role for an agreed period at the published rate, which is the staff augmentation model. How to make that arrangement end properly is covered in our article on IT staff augmentation for school districts.
What is usually included
The published rate is a labor rate. It covers the practitioner's time on your work, including the ordinary overheads of employing them, and the routine project communication that goes with the engagement.
It does not cover, and these should be in the estimate separately:
- Travel, as set out above.
- Hardware, software, licenses and subscriptions, which are pass-through costs.
- Third-party services bought on your behalf.
- Work outside normal business hours where the technical service rate applies.
One line that is easy to overlook: preventive maintenance quality checks are a distinct rate and a distinct activity. If you expect periodic verification of cabling and device operations after an installation, ask for it explicitly rather than assuming it sits inside the installation line.
How to budget
A workable estimate needs four numbers, and only the second is on this page.
- Hours by role. Ask the supplier to break the estimate down this way rather than as a single total. It is the only form that lets you see whether the mix is sensible.
- The applicable rate for each role. From the tables above.
- Travel, if the work is on site. Mileage plus travel time per person per trip, plus flights where relevant.
- Pass-through costs. Anything bought rather than done.
Then add a contingency you can defend to your approver. For work in a well-understood environment that might be 10%; for anything involving a system nobody has looked inside recently, considerably more. Agencies that carry no contingency are the ones that return to the board mid-project, which costs more in time than the contingency would have cost in money.
If the total sits above your approval threshold, the useful move is to check the threshold before you refine the estimate, because it changes who has to see it and therefore when the work can start. Our guide to purchasing IT services through a cooperative contract covers the approval sequence.
What the rates do not tell you
Three things, and being honest about them is more useful than another table.
A published ceiling is not a guarantee of value. A competitively awarded rate tells you the commercial framework was tested. Whether the engagement is worth what it costs depends on whether the scope was right, which no rate card can settle.
A rate is not availability. That a role is priced does not mean a person in that role is free next month. Availability is confirmed during scoping.
A rate is not a scope. The most expensive engagements are not the ones with the highest hourly rate; they are the ones where nobody wrote down what finished looks like.
If you have a requirement and want it turned into hours by role against these rates, that is exactly what a quote request produces. The detail of how to engage LABUSA under Contract 230601 sets out the service categories, the ordering information, and how to start.