gsa-calc-mcp

Free, open-source MCP server for the GSA CALC+ Labor Ceiling Rates API. Query awarded GSA MAS schedule hourly rates for IGCE development, price reasonableness analysis, and market research.

No API key required, locally or hosted. See Local or hosted.

Regression tests, including live checks against the GSA CALC+ API. The October 2026 releases were also checked with realistic pricing questions (IGCE benchmarks, price checks, vendor rate cards, exact-title lookups). See testing.md.

Local or hosted

• Local runs it on your computer, inside the Claude or ChatGPT desktop app or another AI app. You get your own full rate limits, and it relies only on the government service. It doesn't update itself, so ask your AI to update it. You don't have to set it up by hand: give your AI this page's link and ask it to set it up or walk you through it.
• Hosted is always up to date, needs no setup or keys, and works in Claude or ChatGPT anywhere.

Compare local and hosted · Matching prompts

What it does

Exposes the GSA CALC+ API as 8 MCP tools:

Core search

• keyword_search - Wildcard search across labor categories, vendors, and contract numbers
• exact_search - Exact field match (use suggest_contains to discover values first)
• suggest_contains - Autocomplete/discovery for field values (2-char minimum)
• filtered_browse - Browse with filters only (no keyword)

Workflow tools

• igce_benchmark - Rate statistics for IGCE development (min/max/avg/median/percentiles)
• price_reasonableness_check - Evaluate a proposed rate against market distribution
• vendor_rate_card - All rates for a vendor (auto-discovers exact name)
• sin_analysis - Rate distribution for a GSA SIN

No authentication required

The GSA CALC+ API is public. GSA does not publish a numeric limit for this endpoint. The MCP paces itself: at most 500 requests per rolling hour, 0.6 seconds between starts and two in flight.

Installation

uvx gsa-calc-mcp

Or from source:

git clone https://github.com/1102tools-dev/federal-contracting-mcps.git
cd federal-contracting-mcps/servers/gsa-calc-mcp
pip install -e .

Configuration

Use the configuration below as the server definition and adapt its placement to your compatible MCP client. For practical requests using this source, see the prompt library.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gsa-calc": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--refresh-package", "gsa-calc-mcp", "--from", "gsa-calc-mcp", "gsa-calc-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

The --refresh-package flag tells uv to check PyPI for a newer release each time your client launches the server, so fixes arrive automatically; without it, uv keeps serving whatever version it first cached. It adds a moment of network time at startup, so raise your platform's MCP startup timeout if it enforces a short one.

Restart the client and the tools appear.

Example prompts

• "What are the GSA ceiling rates for Senior Software Developer with a BA and 10+ years experience?"
• "Is $195/hr reasonable for a Cybersecurity Analyst? Check against CALC+ rates."
• "Pull the full rate card for Booz Allen Hamilton from GSA CALC+."
• "What does the IT Professional Services SIN (54151S) rate distribution look like?"
• "Build IGCE benchmarks for these 5 labor categories: Program Manager, Systems Engineer, Software Developer, Help Desk Specialist, Network Administrator."
• "Find all small business ceiling rates for project management between $100-$200/hr."

Important: ceiling rates, not prices paid

CALC+ data represents the maximum hourly rate a contractor can charge under their GSA MAS contract. Actual task order rates should be lower per FAR 8.405-2(d). These rates are:

• Fully burdened (includes fringe, overhead, G&A, profit)
• Worldwide (no geographic adjustment)
• Master contract-level (not task order-specific)
• From vendor Price Proposal Tables (self-reported by contractors)

Always note sample size and remind users these are ceiling rates when presenting analysis.

Keyword searches pool titles, vendors and contracts

IGCE and price checks use GSA's keyword search across labor titles, vendor names and contract numbers. Check population_scope: a vendor-name match can pool unrelated labor categories. Price checks return MIXED_SEARCH_FIELDS without a verdict when off-title matches are found, and UNVERIFIED_POPULATION when the title list cannot establish the full population. For title-only rates, discover an exact title with suggest_contains, then call exact_search on labor_category. Suggestion totals marked total_matching_records_is_lower_bound mean at least that many records.

License

MIT