• CITY
  • STATE
  • CONUS
  • HUMAN

How to calculate contract travel budgets with your AI

Connect the GSA Per Diem Rates MCP to your agent to pull real-time lodging and meal costs. You stop guessing on travel estimates and start bidding with hard data.

Ask AI about this page

Short answer

How do I calculate contract travel budgets with my AI?

Your AI pulls specific lodging and meal rates from GSA data using city or state identifiers. You get precise cost breakdowns for any destination to include in your project bids.

Budget outcomes

Where your data lands.

The information your AI retrieves creates these specific outputs.

CITY

Local rate lookups

The AI pulls exact lodging and meal costs for a specific city. This gives you the granular detail needed for tight urban bids.

STATE

Regional cost averages

Your agent pulls rates for an entire state. This is useful when your project scope covers multiple locations across a region.

CONUS

National lodging baselines

The AI pulls broad lodging data across the continental US. Use this to set baseline travel assumptions for long-range planning.

HUMAN

Final bid review

The AI provides the raw numbers, but you decide how to apply them to your specific contract margins and overhead.

The workflow

What your AI does when the request arrives.

The AI acts as a bridge between your prompt and the official GSA rate database.

  1. Identify location

    Your agent parses your request to see if you are asking about a specific city, a whole state, or general US lodging.

    get_rates_by_cityget_rates_by_stateget_conus_lodging

  2. Fetch city rates

    If you name a specific city, the AI pulls the exact per diem for lodging and meals for that location.

    get_rates_by_city

  3. Fetch state rates

    For broader requests, the AI pulls the relevant rate data for the entire state you mentioned.

    get_rates_by_state

  4. Fetch national lodging

    When you need a wide baseline, the AI pulls lodging data across the continental US.

    get_conus_lodging

Try it

Copy these to start.

Use these prompts to trigger the data pull immediately.

Starting points

Swap out the bracketed locations for the actual cities or states in your project.

GSA Connector

You're all set. Choose your MCP client and follow the setup instructions.

Connector linkhttps://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_l44Ey1GkRUlqRqPJa3pdRKuPXPM4SFq6nXVDH7a7/mcp

Claude Desktop

Follow the steps below to connect in seconds.

  1. 1In Claude Desktop, open Settings → Connectors.
  2. 2Click “Add custom connector” and paste the connector link above as the remote MCP server URL.
  3. 3Click Add and start a new chat — GSA capabilities are ready to use.
Configuration · claude_desktop_config.jsonCopy
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gsa-per-diem-rates-mcp": {
      "url": "https://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_l44Ey1GkRUlqRqPJa3pdRKuPXPM4SFq6nXVDH7a7/mcp"
    }
  }
}
Copy into chat04

  • What are the GSA per diem rates for [City, State]?

  • Get the lodging and meal rates for the state of [State].

  • Pull the CONUS lodging rates to help me estimate travel for a national project.

  • I'm building a bid for a project in [City]. Give me the current lodging and meal costs.

  • Claude
  • ChatGPT
  • Cursor
  • VS Code
  • Windsurf
  • Claude Code
  • JetBrains
  • Cline

Start here

Connect GSA Per Diem Rates once, then ask.

One click connects this MCP to your client. Your credentials stay encrypted, and you can start asking for rates immediately.

Connect GSA Per Diem Rates to your AI

FAQ

How this task behaves.

  • 01

    Can the AI calculate my total project profit?

    No. The AI only provides the travel cost data. You must perform the profit and margin calculations yourself.

  • 02

    Does the AI update the GSA website?

    No. The AI only reads the data from the GSA. It cannot change or write to the official government records.

  • 03

    Can I get rates for locations outside the US?

    No. The tools are limited to US city, state, and CONUS lodging data.

  • 04

    Will the AI remember my previous bids?

    The AI only sees what is in your current chat context. It does not store a permanent database of your past project bids.

  • 05

    Can the AI book the hotels for me?

    No. This MCP is for data retrieval only. It cannot interact with booking sites or process payments.

  • More questions about GSA Per Diem Rates? The Connector page answers them. See everything the GSA Per Diem Rates Connector can do

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