How we work, and what it costs
Most firms in this market route every pricing question to a contact form. Here is the structure up front, because how a consultant is paid tells you what advice you are going to get.
How an engagement runs
A conversation, at no cost
What you are working on, where the funding gap is, and what deadline you are against. Often enough to establish whether we are the right people.
An honest assessment
Whether the work is fundable, through what route, and in what order. Sometimes the answer is not yet, or not federally — you get that answer here rather than after paying for it.
A scoped proposal
What we would do, what it costs, and what it does not include. Agreed in writing before anything starts.
The work
Programme strategy, agency engagement, positioning and review, or continuous representation where the practice is government relations.
Fees
Engagements are fee-based and scoped to the work rather than to the outcome. There is no published rate card because the work varies too much for one to be honest, but the number is agreed in writing before the engagement starts — you should never be uncertain what something costs while it is happening.
What we do
- Scoped fees, agreed before the work starts
- Everything in writing, including what is out of scope
- Discrete work priced discretely; retainers only where the work is genuinely continuous
- Decline work we do not think is fundable
What we do not do
- Take a percentage of a federal award
- Promise an outcome in a peer-reviewed or appropriations process
- Require equity as a fee
- Encourage applications we do not think will win
Why no contingency fees
It is not a preference. Contingency payments are treated as unallowable under the Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200.433), as are costs of influencing the award of a federal grant (2 CFR 200.450), and grant-writing is generally a pre-award proposal cost that cannot be charged to the resulting award. For SBIR and STTR, success fees paid from award funds are unallowable under FAR 31.205-33(f).
The exposure falls on the grantee rather than the consultant — unallowable costs are refundable with interest. Beyond compliance, it changes the advice: a firm paid on contingency is paid to submit, and cannot afford to tell you a project is not worth applying for.
Written up in more detail in our note on success fees.
Common questions
Do you publish your fees?
Not a rate card, because the work varies too much for one to be honest. What is fixed is the structure: a scoped fee agreed in writing before anything starts, so the cost is known in advance rather than discovered. Ask on the first call and you will get a range.
Why not work on contingency?
Because it would create a problem for the client. Contingency payments and costs of influencing a federal award are treated as unallowable under the Uniform Guidance, and for SBIR and STTR, success fees paid from award funds are unallowable under FAR 31.205-33(f). The audit exposure falls on the grantee, not the consultant.
What if the project is not fundable?
We say so, at the start. It is the most useful thing an engagement can produce when it is true, and a fee-based model is what makes it possible to say — a firm paid on contingency has to talk you into applying.
Do you require a long retainer?
No. Some work is continuous by nature — government relations, appropriations monitoring — and is retained. Discrete work is scoped and priced discretely.