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
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