Another followup, if anyone cares:

It's now five days until my current contract expires. I have yet to sign a new one. But things look like they're going well, if in a remarkably dilatory manner.

I told my contracting agency that I'd like to get resubmitted at about $30/hr, maybe a little more. (I have a friend who makes $65k/yr doing what I do, more or less, who has less experience, and that comes out to about $32.50/hr, plus he gets benefits.) They argued with me about that amount. They thought it was too high. They finally grdgingly submitted me at that rate.

Yesterday, my DOT manager showed me the applications for the position. (Apparently, the state is required to publically repost all expiring contracts, so everyone gets a chance to apply for it, but there's little chance they wouldn't rehire the same person.) My contracting agency submitted me at $50/hr (so they're making two-fifths of that). There were about ten applications. Most had a rate significantly higher than mine, anywhere from $60-$85/hr, as per my memory. There were two that submitted at $48/hr. So my application was still amongst the lowest. Which, I think, means I probably could have gotten a decent amount more. (Not that I'm complaining. I'm still now going to get paid a reasonable amount, I think.)

Of course, the state still hasn't accepted any of those applications. So, with less than a week to go, I still don't really know that I'll have a job when my contract expires. My manger talks like it's a done deal, but I'm paranoid about it.

I'm also considering telling my contracting agency that they still probably slightly underbid me. Of course, they always get angry when I imply that I know how much they're making off of me. Maybe I'll just tell them that my manager showed me the other applications, and tell them that I assume they and all the other agencies are making 75%-100% of what I'm making, and that means that most of the applications, even at the low employee-rate side of those percentages, would be making more than I will be.

But maybe I should just leave it alone.