This is the price that the vendor is charging, NOT what the person is getting paid.

The vendor is covering insurance, holiday/sick leave et al, payroll taxes et al, rent, management, carrying the risk of the work going away, etc etc.

It looks high, but it's not nearly as profitable as it seems for either the vendor or the employee.

Yep. you're right.One of the many reasons why I'm not in government contracting :)