AFAIK, all US Gov't projects are open for inspection, including costs
and which should include the original bid setup, pricing structures,
etc.

On the other hand, sitting down with your spreadsheet, working it out in
terms of how long it would take you personally to do each task is
perhaps a better way of doing the figures. The thing you don't know
about other companies is their expertise in particular areas and their
speed. Assuming you have a roadmap of what characteristics need to be
addressed in the data and how you're going to record the info, multiply
it up with a fudge factor for the inevitable problems and see where it
takes you.

But, if you're looking for a justification to your donors of what may
seem an astronomical cost, then getting the big firms info from the US
Govt is certainly a good way to go.

Lyle