As I believe Dave is probably putting figures together that at sometime will
be used to justify releasing an RFP I would think people on this list would
be more interested in giving him what he needed than espousing rhetoric and
diatribe.

Neal Hitch
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dave McMahan [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 1999 2:44 PM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Re: costs for large-scale mitigation
>
> Marc,
>
> I appreciate your comments.  Please note, however, that my original query
> was
> not for salaries OR unsuccessful bid data ... only "ballpark" costs as a
> basis
> for comparison.  For example, "my company or institution did a two-year
> mitigation project with 300,000 artifacts for around 1.7 million dollars
> in
> 1997."  I have already received such data from several contractors in
> "off-list" e-mails, for which I am grateful.  My purpose in collecting
> this
> data is not to develop a budget; but rather to demonstrate to a funding
> agency
> that a particular project is being done on a shoestring budget relative to
> other projects of similar scope.  We all know that each project is unique
> and
> requires custom budgeting; however, broad "bottom-line" comparisons may be
> meaningful to funding agencies.
>
> I am aware of the fundamentals of conservation and collections management.
> My
> staff and I have been working both with conservators and with the
> curatorial
> staff of the receiving museum from the project's initiation.  I am also
> aware
> of long-term costs that should be factored into the initial budget, the
> relationship of these to 36 CFR 79 and other published guidelines, and
> that the
> "discovery" of important unanticipated (and unbudgeted) features/deposits
> are
> justification for requesting a supplement.  Thanks again for your input.
>
> Dave McMahan
>
>
> Marc Kodack wrote:
>
> > Unlike Lyle's advice to the contrary, federal contracts and the cost
> data
> > submitted by both successful and unsuccessful bidders are not available
> for
> > review.  These cost data are a bidder's proprietary data and will not be
> > released.  I would bet that even a Freedom of Information Act request
> will
> > fail because of provisions in federal contract law that exempts
> > contractor's proprietary submissions.  Otherwise, I am sure each
> > archaeological contractor would be very interested in obtaining other
> > companies wage rates.
> >
> > If you are trying to determine costs, what about the costs to initially,
> > then in perpetuity, curate the collections?  If they are federal, then
> 36
> > CFR Part 79 applies.  Do you really mean conservation or archaeological
> > collections management?  While a conservator or conservators should be
> > readily available to assess the needs of a collection, a collections
> > manager will be the person to do the basic preparatory work for a
> > collection prior to its transfer to a professional operated repository.
> If
> > you need a conservator, you need to decide what kind; paper,
> > objects?  Different materials, stone, bone, metal, paper, require
> different
> > treatments.  Funding should be sufficient to cover not only the
> excavation,
> > lab processing, analysis, and report production, but the long term costs
> to
> > care for the collections.  Speaking with other professionals, such as
> > conservators, and collection managers, and hiring them as required,
> should
> > be an integral part of the project.  After all, the project does not end
> > with the final report.
> >
> > Marc Kodack
> > [log in to unmask]