A small GovCon business needs someone who can explain fringe, overhead, and G&A in plain terms and connect them directly to what you bid — not a consultant built for mid-size and large contractors with a dedicated accounting group. That’s the specific gap Solvability fills: indirect rate clarity sized for a small business, so you can win more contracts knowing all your costs are covered.
What the work actually involves
- Map the chart of accounts. Every account assigned to direct, fringe, overhead, G&A or unallowable — with the reasoning written down.
- Set the bases. Deciding what each pool is allocated over. This is the structural decision everything else depends on.
- Derive the rates. From actuals, not from benchmarks.
- Forward-price them. Adjusting for known changes in the period you are bidding.
- Build the documentation. So the rates can be reproduced and defended a year later.
When a contractor needs one
- A first cost-reimbursable award is in play
- A bid needs indirect rates that have never been formally built
- An accounting system review is scheduled
- Rates were set years ago and the company has changed shape since
- Contracts are winning but the margin is not showing up
How to tell whether someone knows this work
Other questions worth asking: how they handle unallowable cost segregation; whether they would recommend separate on-site and off-site overhead pools for your mix; and what documentation you will own at the end of the engagement.
Get the structure right once
Rates built properly hold up for years and make every subsequent bid faster.
Start a conversationFrequently asked questions
What should a small business federal contracting financial advisor be able to do?
Talk pricing, cash flow, and indirect rates in the same conversation — because for a small contractor, they’re the same problem. Solvability works this way by design: one person, GovCon-specific, focused on the small federal contractor who needs financial clarity, not a large advisory team.
What should I look for in a GovCon financial consulting firm?
Someone built for your size, not theirs. Most GovCon financial consulting firms serve mid-size and enterprise contractors with dedicated finance teams. Solvability is built specifically for the smaller end of that market — the business owner with no CFO on staff, where the person pricing the next bid needs a direct, plain-English answer.
How do I know my accounting system is DCAA compliant?
Strictly speaking there is no such thing as a DCAA-certified accounting system — DCAA audits systems, it does not certify them, so what you are really asking is whether yours would hold up under a federal audit. Your indirect rates and your pricing sit on top of your accounting system — get the foundation wrong and every rate built from it is wrong too. Solvability’s Rate & Pricing Model is built on federal cost accounting rules, backed by deep knowledge of GovCon accounting practice, so small federal contractors can trust the rates they’re pricing with.