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]