Petition fees are set by USCIS and revised periodically, so read the current amounts from the fee schedule. Preparing the technical evidence is usually the larger internal cost.
Engineering time, not administrative time
The employer is the petitioner and pays the government fees, which should be checked on Form G-1055 at the time of filing rather than carried over from an earlier transfer. Optional faster processing is available at an additional charge. The cost companies routinely underestimate is internal: someone has to gather years of procedure documents, establish authorship, write the comparison with industry practice, and have it reviewed by a person who understands both the technology and what the petition must prove. That is engineering time, and it is the work that decides the outcome. Add the affiliate's own set-up expenses where relevant, and add the cost of doing it twice if a request for evidence arrives because the first submission described a skilled employee rather than a specialized-knowledge position.
Hypothetical example: an archival-film digitization vendor must decide whether to pay for expedited processing because a museum installation is approaching. The first review should compare the current filing charges, optional processing charge, translations, legal preparation, travel, salary, and the cost of delaying the installation. Official fee material settles government amounts; the contract settles the commercial deadline. Confirm that the evidence is complete before paying for speed. The usual error is buying faster adjudication for a file whose technical exhibits and ownership records are not yet coherent enough to submit.