GSA CALC+ awarded labor ceiling rates from more than 230,000 MAS contract records. 8 tools.
Scored across 8 tools
Several tools return rate records with aggregation statistics: keyword_search, exact_search, filtered_browse, and igce_benchmark overlap substantially, differing mainly in input mode (keyword vs exact value vs filters vs title benchmark). price_reasonableness_check versus igce_benchmark is also a subtle distinction (proposed-rate verdict vs benchmark stats). The descriptions are unusually careful with cross-references and guardrails, which prevents this from being worse, but an agent must read them closely to pick correctly.
All names are lowercase snake_case, but the verb convention is mixed: exact_search, filtered_browse, igce_benchmark, price_reasonableness_check, sin_analysis, suggest_contains, vendor_rate_card, keyword_search. Some read as verb_noun (suggest_contains), others as noun_noun (sin_analysis, vendor_rate_card) or adjective_noun (filtered_browse). Readable, but not a predictable pattern.
Eight tools is well within the well-scoped range for a rate-lookup domain. Each tool corresponds to a distinct workflow step (discovery, search, filtered stats, title benchmark, price check, SIN analysis, vendor card), and none feels like filler despite some functional overlap.
The surface covers the full lookup lifecycle: value discovery (suggest_contains), keyword/exact/filtered retrieval, benchmark statistics, price reasonableness evaluation, SIN-level analysis, and per-vendor rate cards with paging. Gaps are minor: no way to enumerate SINs or vendors directly, and worksite filtering is explicitly unsupported, though workarounds are documented.
Exact match search on a specific field.
Use suggest_contains() first to discover the exact field value, then
pass it here. The API requires exact string matching -- partial matches
return 0 results.
Fields: labor_category, vendor_name, idv_piid (GSA MAS contract number).
For a discovered value containing a colon, GSA's exact-field search can
return only the text before the colon. This tool uses literal keyword
search instead and accepts its statistics only when the complete,
non-approximate requested-field aggregation proves every rate row has
the exact value. If that cannot be verified, it withholds the misleading
population and gives keyword_search recovery guidance. Source statistics
remain unchanged; empty results and thin samples retain their limits.
Inputs: field (required), value (required), page, sort, +8 more. Returns: object
Browse rates with filters only (no search keyword).
Useful for market segment statistics: "what do all BA-level rates with
5-15 years experience look like across all of GSA MAS?" Returns rate
records plus full aggregation statistics.
Inputs: sin, page, sort, ordering, +9 more. Returns: object
Get ceiling rate benchmarks for IGCE development.
Returns statistical summary for a labor category: count, min, max, avg,
median, standard deviation, percentile distribution (P10-P90), education
breakdown, worksite counts (worksite_breakdown: Customer_Facility /
Contractor_Facility / Virtual; counts only, prices are pooled across
sites), and outlier bounds.
GSA's keyword search matches labor_category, vendor_name and idv_piid.
The returned statistics pool all matching rate rows, including unrelated
labor titles when a vendor name or contract number matches the phrase.
Check population_scope and matched_titles before using the statistics.
off_title_matches_detected flags observed titles that do not match the
requested phrase; title_only_population_verified is false when the title
aggregation is missing, empty, truncated or approximate.
A title containing the phrase is not necessarily the exact grade:
'Registered Nurse I' also matches Nurse II, III and IV. Check
exact_title_population_verified, exact_title_rate_count and
non_exact_title_examples before treating a pool as that specific title.
For title-only rates, call suggest_contains on labor_category to discover
an exact title, then exact_search on labor_category. Different spellings
remain separate searches ('Cyber Security Analyst' vs 'Cybersecurity
Analyst'). Statistics are on current-year ceiling rates (current_price),
not next-year or option-year prices.
These are not-to-exceed ceiling rates, not prices paid. Ceiling-rate
comparisons alone do not establish a proposed price's reasonableness.
Optional filters: education_level, experience_min/max, business_size
('S' or 'O'), sin (e.g. '541611'), security_clearance ('yes' or 'no').
Inputs: labor_category (required), sin, business_size, experience_max, +3 more. Returns: object
Search GSA CALC+ ceiling rates by keyword.
Performs wildcard matching across labor_category, vendor_name, and
idv_piid fields. This is the primary search tool for finding rates.
Returns matching rate records plus aggregation statistics (wage_stats,
percentiles, education breakdown, business size) covering the FULL
result set even when individual hits are capped at 10,000.
Important notes:
- These are NTE (not-to-exceed) ceiling rates, not prices paid
- Rates are fully burdened hourly rates from GSA MAS contracts
- Data refreshes nightly from vendor price proposal tables
- Use P50 from percentiles for median (more accurate than median_price)
Filter parameters:
- education_level: AA, BA, HS, MA, PHD, TEC (pipe-delimited for OR: 'BA|MA')
- experience_min/max: years of experience range
- price_min/max: hourly rate range in USD
- business_size: 'S' (small) or 'O' (other/large)
- security_clearance: 'yes' or 'no'
- sin: Special Item Number (e.g., '54151S' for IT Professional Services)
- worksite: NOT supported (the v3 API silently ignores it; passing a
value raises so callers are not handed unfiltered data)
ordering: current_price, labor_category, vendor_name, education_level,
min_years_experience, next_year_price, idv_piid, business_size.
sort: 'asc' or 'desc'.
exclude: pipe-delimited hit _id values to exclude from results and stats.
Inputs: keyword (required), sin, page, sort, +11 more. Returns: object
Evaluate a proposed hourly rate against GSA ceiling rate distribution.
GSA's keyword search matches labor titles, vendor names and contract
numbers. Check population_scope: unrelated titles can enter the pooled
statistics through a matching vendor or contract.
Returns MIXED_SEARCH_FIELDS with no verdict when off-title matches are
detected, or UNVERIFIED_POPULATION with no verdict when the title list
is missing, empty, truncated or approximate. Discover an exact title with
suggest_contains, then use exact_search on labor_category for title-only
rates. Filters match igce_benchmark, including sin and security_clearance.
Returns MIXED_LABOR_TITLES with no verdict when the phrase matches
different grades, specialties or title variants; pooled statistics remain
visible, with the exact-title count when verified. For example, Nurse I
must not be compared as if Nurse II/III/IV rates were the same grade.
Use exact_search with its supported education, experience and business-size
filters to inspect that title. It does not accept SIN or clearance filters;
check those requirements in the returned records and retain paging limits.
A verified exact-title population with at least 20 rates returns z-score,
median comparison, IQR position and delta from average. The z-score is
null when the mean or standard deviation is unavailable or variance is
zero. Missing means produce null average deltas.
A verified exact-title population with fewer than 20 rates returns LOW_SAMPLE
without a high/low verdict;
zero rates return NO_DATA. Statistics compare not-to-exceed ceiling
rates, not prices paid, and do not by themselves establish price
reasonableness or performance risk.
Inputs: proposed_rate (required), labor_category (required), sin, business_size, +4 more. Returns: object
Get rate distribution and statistics for a specific SIN.
Returns rate statistics, education breakdown, business size breakdown,
and labor_categories for a GSA MAS Special Item Number: the 25 titles
with the most rates on the SIN, with counts (exact, case-sensitive
titles). It does not return individual rate rows or per-title prices;
for what a title costs on the SIN, call igce_benchmark(title, sin=...).
When GSA's 500-title list is cut off, labor_categories.distinct is null
and records_in_titles_not_listed counts the rates under titles not
listed.
Common SINs for professional services (live-verified to return records):
- 54151S: IT Professional Services
- 541611: Management and Financial Consulting
- 541715: Engineering R&D
- 541330ENG: Engineering Services
- 561210FAC: Facilities Maintenance and Management
- 611430: Training
Inputs: sin_code (required), page_size. Returns: object
Discover exact field values via autocomplete/contains matching.
Returns aggregation buckets showing matching values and their record
counts. Use this BEFORE exact_search() to find the right value string.
Minimum 2 characters required for the search term.
GSA lists at most 100 values, most records first. When more values
match, truncated is true and other_records counts the records under
values not shown; use a longer term to narrow the list.
Example workflow:
1. suggest_contains('vendor_name', 'booz') -> finds 'Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.'
2. exact_search('vendor_name', 'Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.') -> all their rates
Inputs: term (required), field (required). Returns: object
Get ceiling rates for a specific vendor, one page at a time.
For a complete vendor card or a role-specific subset (for example,
project managers), fetch every page: while has_more is true, call this
tool again with page=next_page and the same vendor_name, page_size,
ordering, and sort. Stop only when has_more is false, then combine the
pages and match the requested roles client-side.
If you stop early, say clearly that the results are partial, report
the fetched returned_range against total_rates, and explain that later
pages may contain additional matching roles or rates. Do not claim a role is absent
or present a complete role-specific rate range from a partial card.
Auto-discovers the exact vendor name via suggest-contains, then pulls
their rate records. Returns labor categories, rates, education levels,
experience requirements, SINs, contract numbers, contract end dates, and
worksite. A vendor often lists the same category twice at two prices,
one for work at the customer's site (Customer_Facility) and one at the
contractor's site (Contractor_Facility); check worksite before comparing.
Pass a partial name (e.g., 'booz' for Booz Allen Hamilton). The tool
finds the exact registered name automatically. Use part of the legal
name, not an acronym ('Science Applications', not 'SAIC').
total_rates counts rate rows, not titles: one title can have several
rows (worksite, contract, SIN). distinct_labor_categories is the number
of distinct titles (case-sensitive); when a vendor has more than 500 it
is null and distinct_labor_categories_min gives the floor.
Large vendors span many pages: Booz Allen Hamilton carries ~1,900 rate
rows (more than 500 distinct titles). The default page_size is 100 (~23KB) because a 500-row page
for a vendor that size is ~114KB and overflows MCP client output limits.
Rows are ordered by labor_category ascending by default, so a partial
card is alphabet-biased and may omit all requested roles on page 1.
There is no server-side way to intersect a vendor with a labor-category
keyword (the v3 API ignores vendor_name and labor_category as filter
fields; live-verified). To find specific categories, page through the
full card and match client-side.
If the discovery term matches multiple vendors, this tool picks the one
with the most rate records and returns a _candidates list so the caller
can re-query with a more specific term if needed.
Inputs: vendor_name (required), page, sort, ordering, +1 more. Returns: object
Recent tool additions, removals, and schema changes observed during successful MCP inspections.
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