Do small businesses charge less than large businesses on GSA Schedules?
Yes, slightly: the median published GSA Schedule rate is $123 per hour from small businesses and $128 from other-than-small vendors, a $5 (3.9%) discount at the median, across 349,262 published rates.
Source: The GSA Labor Rate Lookup (full CALC+ export), BidSparq
Data as of: September 9, 2026 (refreshed weekly)
Sample: 349,262 published rates with a stated business size, as of 2026-09-09
License: free to cite with attribution to BidSparq
Essential statistics
- Small business: 256,944 published rates, median $123, 25th to 75th percentile $89 to $163.
- Other than small: 92,318 published rates, median $128, 25th to 75th percentile $90 to $173.
- Small businesses hold 73.6% of all published Schedule rates.
Median hourly rate by vendor size
| Vendor size | Median | 25th percentile | 75th percentile | Published rates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small business | $123 | $89 | $163 | 256,944 |
| Other than small | $128 | $90 | $173 | 92,318 |
What this means
Business size comes from the vendor's size status on the contract. The medians are close because Schedule rates are ceilings negotiated per labor category; the real pricing difference shows up in task-order discounts, which CALC+ does not capture.
For a set-aside pursuit, compare the category's small-business percentiles in the labor rate lookup rather than the all-vendor median.
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