How do you ensure FAR compliance in a cost proposal?

We ensure FAR compliance by verifying that all direct costs and indirect cost rates are allowable, allocable, and reasonable per FAR Part 31 and 2 CFR 200 Subpart E. We perform rigorous reviews of indirect cost pools to ensure they align with disclosed accounting practices.

What is the difference between 'Price to Win' (PTW) and traditional cost estimation?

Traditional cost estimation focuses on execution costs, while Price to Win (PTW) is a strategic analysis of competitor wrap rates and agency budget expectations to identify the price point that is both competitive and profitable.

Why is a detailed Basis of Estimate (BOE) critical for a winning cost volume?

A Basis of Estimate (BOE) serves as the narrative bridge between your technical solution and final price. It is essential for demonstrating Cost Realism and Reasonableness to the government by proving your price is based on logical data.

What is the most common reason for a 'Non-Responsible' determination, and how do you prevent it?

Inadequate accounting systems are a primary cause of 'Non-Responsible' determinations. We prevent this by conducting Pre-Award Surveys and ensuring systems like Unanet or QuickBooks meet SF-1408 standards before major awards.

Pricing

Akiri provides both project-based support and fractional advisory retainers for contractors and recipients with active federal or donor portfolios. In all cases, our consultants offer at least 10 years of direct experience in their area of subject matter expertise.

Fractional Contracts, Grants, Pricing, and Compliance Expertise

If you have consistent contracts, compliance, grants, and/or pricing requirements for which you need guidance on a regular basis, then our fractional support plans may be the solution you’ve been seeking.

Unlike hourly fees where your monthly expenditure can be unpredictable, fractional support plans provide access to a set of predefined services covering a specific range of compliance and pricing matters for a fixed monthly fee.

With a subscription plan, clients have clarity on the compliance support they can expect, at what price, and without incurring additional costs. This way clients are able to confidently and effectively budget for the support they need.

We offer four monthly subscription tiers starting at $1,200 per month.

Key Fractional Support Plan Benefits

Fixed Monthly Rate – Cost certainty and predictable budgeting for managing your needs. No unanticipated charges.

More Affordable and Cost Effective – Paying a flat monthly fee for a basket of services is more affordable than purchasing each service separately or hiring a permanent Chief Compliance Officer or Contracts/Grants Director.

Scalable & Flexible Options – Needs may increase, decrease, or even spike over a short period of time. Our plans make it easy to increase or decrease available resources from one month to the next.

Customizable Plans – Not all solutions work for every business. We are happy to develop a package that covers your business’ specific needs.

Discounted Services – Our plans provide rate discounts, with deeper savings offered for higher levels of commitment.

On-Demand Access to Experts – Enables businesses that otherwise could not afford it to have an established relationship with a senior-level contracts, grants, compliance, and pricing team of experts that knows and understands their business.

Fractional Support Plan Services

Clients get senior-level (15+ years experience) advice and guidance in contracts, grants, operations, procurement, policy, compliance, and pricing on an as-needed basis in the following areas:

Advice and guidance for:
- Issues of risk and compliance with USG agency or donor regulations and/or award terms/conditions;
- FAR, 2 CFR 200, and supplemental regulations;
- Policies, systems, and procedures;
- Procurement;
- GSA Schedule Management and On-Ramping;
- Policy, procedure, and template drafting;
- Contractual drafting;
- Cost and pricing.
Risk and compliance review of and recommendations on contractual documents, such as:
- RFPs/RFQs;
- Contracts, Grants, Subcontracts, Subawards, Vendor awards;
- Negotiation Memoranda and CO Consent Requests;
- Termination Settlement Proposals;
- Requests for Equitable Adjustment.

Monthly commitments start at just $1,200. Contact us today for more information.

Short-term Engagement Pricing

When your firm faces a defined requirement with a specific end deliverable in mind, we execute targeted, short-term project engagements. Designed for high-stakes, time-sensitive milestones, our project model delivers dedicated expertise without requiring a long-term contract commitment.

Core Structure & Parameters

Scope & Minimums - Perfect for intensive engagements requiring a minimum baseline of 10 hours of dedicated support.

Payment Terms - An advance deposit covering the initial 10-hour baseline is due upon contract execution prior to work beginning.

Duration - Focused, sprint-based efforts designed to wrap within 90 days or less.

Contract Structures - Labor-Hour or Firm-Fixed-Price, depending on how precisely the project scope and labor effort can be estimated.

Talent Allocation - Consultant assignments are managed directly by Akiri, matching your specific operational requirements with our best-suited, highest-availability subject matter experts.

Common Project Engagements

We regularly structure customized, fixed-term projects around specialized objectives, including:

Cost Proposal Development - End-to-end cost proposal development, including basis of estimate (BOE) creation, price-to-win modeling, compliance matrices, and subcontractor negotiations.

Proposal Management - Complete lifecycle proposal management, compliance matrix development, color-team review facilitation (Pink, Red, and Gold Teams), and schedule enforcement for multi-disciplinary submission teams.

Technical Proposal Writing - Direct drafting or editing of technical volumes, past performance narratives, management plans, and key personnel resumes aligned strictly with Section L and M requirements.

Compliance & Infrastructure - Policy, procedure, and corporate tool development, system revisions, and operational compliance gap assessments (e.g., FAR, CAS, 2 CFR 200, agency supplements).

Billable Subcontracts - Specialized, billable subcontracting support under government-funded prime contracts and grants. Typical assignments include contract, subcontract, and grant management services, procurement management, and training.

Get a Quote

Need to get started on a project ASAP? Fill out our Prospective Client Intake Form and we'll be in touch shortly!

Frequently asked questions

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Under our fractional support plans we serve strictly as an Advisory Partner (reviewing, advising, drafting, and recommending, when requested). You call on us only when you need that senior-level expertise to "gut check" your decisions, review your contracts and cost volumes, or navigate a tricky negotiation. If you are instead in need of a more hands-on partner to help manage the day-to-day workload, we highly recommend a functional partnership under one of our staff augmentation arrangements instead. These arrangements guarantee consultant availability on specific days of the week and during specific hours of the day. This arrangement allows your consultant to be involved in day-to-day operations and anticipate when a compliance, pricing, or management issue will arise. Thus, we can prepare accordingly to minimize your risk and ensure compliance.
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No. While we dedicate resources to meet the maximum capacity level outlined in your particular plan, we are not "on-call". Being on-call means being available 24/7 or at least for 8 hours, 5 days a week, meaning we are holding all of our time for one single client. For clients who need a consultant available on specific days of the week during specific hourly blocks, we do have staff augmentation agreements available.

Pricing

Akiri provides both project-based support and fractional advisory retainers for contractors and recipients with active federal or donor portfolios. In all cases, our consultants offer at least 10 years of direct experience in their area of subject matter expertise.

Fractional Contracts, Grants, Pricing, and Compliance Expertise

Key Fractional Support Plan Benefits

Fractional Support Plan Services

Short-term Engagement Pricing

Core Structure & Parameters

Common Project Engagements

Frequently asked questions

What makes fractional support different from hourly consulting?

What is the typical onboarding time for a new fractional partner?

Can we change our plan tier as our portfolio grows?

Is there a minimum commitment for the fractional plans?

Does our fractional consultant handle the actual work or just provide advice?

Can fractional hours be used across different subject matters?

Are your consultants "on-call" under the Fractional Support Plans?

Pricing

Akiri provides both project-based support and fractional advisory retainers for contractors and recipients with active federal or donor portfolios. In all cases, our consultants offer at least 10 years of direct experience in their area of subject matter expertise.

Fractional Contracts, Grants, Pricing, and Compliance Expertise

​

Key Fractional Support Plan Benefits

Fractional Support Plan Services

Short-term Engagement Pricing

Core Structure & Parameters

Common Project Engagements

Frequently asked questions

What makes fractional support different from hourly consulting?

What is the typical onboarding time for a new fractional partner?

Can we change our plan tier as our portfolio grows?

Is there a minimum commitment for the fractional plans?

Does our fractional consultant handle the actual work or just provide advice?

Can fractional hours be used across different subject matters?

Are your consultants "on-call" under the Fractional Support Plans?