Most small contractors first learn government contract pricing the hard way. They bid based on intuition, win the contract, and then discover three months in that they're losing money on every billable hour. By then it's too late. The contract is signed, the wage rates are fixed, and the only way out is to walk away from a federal contract.
This article walks through how to price a federal service contract bid correctly, the first time. The framework is consistent across industries (janitorial, security, IT, staffing, food service), but the inputs vary by industry, contract type, and locality.