Frequently, the customer does not identify labor categories on procurements that our clients pursue, and just states the work needing to be done. In this case, it is up to the bidders to come up with their own set of labor categories and associated descriptions in order to justify that their employees’ competencies will allow the bidder to meet the customer’s Performance Work Statement requirements.
Along with estimating man hours and level of effort required, a key task is to create the labor categories needed for Basis of Estimate (BOE) and Labor Rate Analysis. Labor categories are key, as without them there will be no accurate BOE or labor rates, not to mention a solution that shows competency to the customer at a price tag that will help win the contract.
Usually, the engineers and SMEs who are good at building up the BOE are also good at providing estimates on the man hours needed to perform each task. However, they’re not usually good at identifying the labor categories, especially down to the granularity that your bid team needs for a bid proposal. The bid team needs a little help. We have participated in countless BOE sessions to provide that help, and the following scenario is an example of what often takes place:
The scenario:
The pursuit is a satellite design and build contract with NASA and the Customer does not provide labor categories. Bidders need to come up with a solution and price with a killer proposal in order to win, and we all know how price conscience NASA is and there are many competent competitors. After a series of BOE sessions over the course of weeks, we receive from the engineering team a tally of hours against each PWS line item, and a grand total of the FTEs needed.
We ask, FTEs of what? No one can give a good answer. Well, some of them are PMO staff, some of them are admins, Some are engineers specialized in RF engineering, some in mechanical, but they’re not broken out.
Sound familiar?
The solution: apply experience and available tools to identify labor categories to the deepest level possible.
We first focus on the technical side. So what labor skills are needed to design and build under the contract? If we can just get to the first level and define the type of engineers are needed for this contract, we’re likely to have 80% of the labor categories needed for the BOE team to figure out how many of them are needed and the Pricing team to figure how much they cost.
The challenge: It’ll take a little bit of effort, experience, and creativity to figure out what types of satellite engineers are needed. At first glance, an Aerospace Engineer should take care of building a satellite, with the typical skills needed from Aerospace Engineer to design and build satellites. But Aerospace Engineer is very broad. Using just Aerospace Engineer in a proposal may not allow you to demonstrate how much you understand the ins and outs of designing and building a satellite nor get an accurate estimate of cost.
We can narrow the types of engineers down by reviewing open-source sites such as Stellar Jobs, salary.com, and the GSA Contract Awarded Labor Category (CALC) tool to create a labor category and rate list and carefully reviewing the description of each type of satellite engineer. This list of engineers is relevant to satellite engineering, and gives all the tools and details needed to demonstrate each section and element of designing a satellite in the proposal. For example:
Structural Engineers: research, design, and oversee the construction of satellite structures. This includes both the external shell of the satellite (known as the “bus”), as well as the internal components and systems.
Electrical Engineers: design, develop, test, and oversee the construction of satellite electrical systems. This includes everything from the satellite’s power supply to its communications and control systems.
Thermal Engineers: responsible for ensuring that the satellite can withstand the extreme temperatures of space—usually around -270 °C! This includes both the internal temperature of the satellite itself, as well as the heat generated by its systems and components.
Software Engineers: responsible for coding, programming, and testing the software that runs on a satellite. This software controls everything from the satellite’s movement to its communications systems, so it’s crucial for companies to hire experts with a skill set that matches this role.
Radio Engineers: Satellites rely on radio signals for everything from communication to navigation. Radio engineers are responsible for designing, developing, testing, and overseeing the construction of satellite radio systems.
Systems Engineers: Systems engineers are responsible for the overall design, development, and operation of satellite systems. This includes overseeing the work of all the other engineers on the team and making sure that everything works together seamlessly.
Source: Satellite Engineer: Description, Salary, and Career Path – Stellar Jobs
Then, armed with the list, we can go back and interview the engineering team to match the labor done with the engineering type, and iterate to finer levels of labor categories and experience levels until we have an acceptably accurate BOE and labor rates.
Do you have any additional thoughts, or want more information and detail? Feel free to contact us. As always, we’re open to a virtual chat with anyone from the world, and a meeting in person in the DMV area and possibly other states as well.
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