About CollBar
Full-service compensation consulting and labor negotiation with AI-powered cost modeling built into every engagement.
Three Pillars, One Integrated Firm
CollBar is built on the conviction that compensation consulting, labor negotiation, and AI technology are most powerful when delivered together — by one firm, with one coherent strategy.
Consulting
Compensation studies, classification and pay equity analysis, policy development, and HR management support — designed specifically for public entities and unionized employers.
- • Comparable agency selection and data collection
- • Total compensation analysis
- • Classification and job description development
- • Pay equity and internal alignment studies
Negotiation
Full-service collective bargaining support — from strategy development and proposal drafting to table-side negotiation, mediation, interest arbitration, and contract implementation.
- • Chief negotiator services
- • Bargaining strategy and proposal development
- • Interest arbitration preparation and support
- • Grievance investigation and arbitration
Technology
AI-powered labor cost modeling that reads your CBA, extracts terms, and produces complete total-cost-of-employment models in hours — with state-specific pension rates and tax rules pre-loaded.
- • Automated CBA parsing and cost extraction
- • Real-time scenario updates at the bargaining table
- • State-specific pension and payroll tax intelligence
- • Auditable Excel workbooks for board presentations
Our Story
CollBar was built on a simple observation: the organizations that negotiate labor contracts — public entities, school districts, healthcare systems, transit agencies, manufacturing plants — deserve better tools and better support than what the market has offered them.
For decades, the options have been limited. You could hire a regional consulting firm that brings experience and relationships but produces analysis on manual spreadsheets that take weeks and break when proposals change. Or you could buy standalone labor costing software that produces numbers but offers no strategic guidance on how to negotiate with them, present them to a board, or defend them in arbitration.
CollBar eliminates that tradeoff. We are a full-service compensation consulting and labor negotiation firm with a proprietary AI-powered cost modeling engine built into every engagement. Our team has spent careers inside local government, school districts, union environments, and Fortune 500 labor relations departments. We know what it feels like on your side of the table.
Today, we combine that experience with technology that reads CBAs, extracts terms, identifies state-specific pension and tax rules, and produces comprehensive total-cost-of-employment models in hours — not weeks.
Our Experience
CollBar's team has combined experience spanning public and private sector management, specializing in compensation system design, collective bargaining agreement negotiation and administration, AI-powered cost modeling, dispute resolution, interest arbitration, and organizational HR strategy.
Our work covers the full spectrum:
- Collective bargaining (negotiations, mediation, interest arbitration)
- AI-powered total cost of employment modeling
- Employee compensation (comparable selection, total compensation studies)
- Employee selection (executive recruitment, retention, promotions)
- Contract language drafting and administration
- Labor relations and personnel policy creation
- Workforce planning and annual budgeting analysis
- Multi-scenario and multi-location cost analysis
David P. Gaus
Principal / Founder
By the Numbers
- Compensation Studies
- 200+
- Interest Arbitration Cases
- 80+
- States Served
- 15+
- Consulting Services
- 1 Specialties
- AI Cost Models
- Real-time at the table
What Drives Us
Expertise
Seasoned HR professionals with deep knowledge of public-sector and union compensation systems across every major sector.
Objectivity
Neutral, data-driven analysis. Our recommendations are based on evidence, not opinion.
Transparency
No proprietary formulas or hidden methodology. Everything we produce is documented, auditable, and replicable.
Fiscal Responsibility
Every recommendation considers taxpayer resources, budgetary constraints, and long-term sustainability.
Innovation
We invest in AI technology that gives our clients a decisive advantage in speed, accuracy, and analytical depth.
Reach
Serving K-12 districts, healthcare systems, municipalities, building trades, transit agencies, and more across 15+ states.
Why Choose CollBar?
When you work with CollBar, you get the only firm in this space that integrates full-service consulting expertise with AI-powered cost modeling technology. We don't make you choose between a consulting firm and a software tool — we are both. Your cost model feeds your negotiation strategy. Your compensation study data populates your cost analysis. Your arbitration case is backed by the same auditable numbers your board saw in their presentation. One firm. One source of truth. No gaps.
Book a Free Strategy Session
Tell us about your organization's challenges. We'll outline what a custom CollBar approach could look like — no obligation, no pressure.