Psychotomy

I work in government contracting. I did at my old job too. My dad did it for 25 years. So you could say I have some experience and familiarity with the precepts and issues involved.

The contract I’m at now, went up for a recompete in June. What that means, to those outside the Government Contracting circles, is that the government went out to look at who was interested in doing this job for the next 5 years (3, 5, 7, 2, I don’t know the actual term on this contract), and had them all put together presentations and make their cases for why they should be paid to do it. Who is the best for the least, a balancing act.

We’ve won this contract for the last half dozen times or something. So no one was worried, happens every few years, and we always get picked. But gov’t regulations say they have to give 60 days notice of end of contract and what the company plans to do with the employees. So end of June we get notices. “Come end of August, you’re all fired! Come back in two weeks, see if we meant it” b/c two weeks was when the winner would be decided.

Meanwhile 4 weeks later, they haven’t decided, but that’s OK. If they were changing they wouldn’t be dragging their feet.

Except, apparently, without that being true. B/c we lost that contract :o and now everyone’s scrambling. The new company had interviews (ad offers) the week after the decision. My company? still saying they’ll see what they can do, there’s interest, blah blah blah. But no garauntees. Nothing, except a severance package if they don’t OFFER you a position. within certain guidelines to make it “equivalent” but …

from what I understand (and the lady explaining it wasn’t sure of the details) it’s like 25 or 50 miles from current place of employment (it’s already 25-50 mi from my freakin’ house people!) and no more than 15% less $$$.

Wait. You want me to turn down an offer (with a 10% raise :o my dad was floored when he found out i had the hutzpah to ask for more money) in order to WAIT for the POSSIBILITY of an offer (hell, interview) that will be even LESS convenient (and more costly) to get to, and you want me to do this with a 10% pay cut and a smile?

Yeah. Eff that. I took the offer at the new contractor. So, whilst I may not think my job is the bestest bestest ever, I’m signing up to keep doing it!

And even better, with that 30 years of contractor history? I’d never heard of the company, and my dad had heard of it in passing during one of the mega bids (where a couple big players and a bunch of smaller contractors make teams and compete rather than one-on-one). Turns out their medium-sized , which is why I hadn’t heard of them (I know most of the big ones and some of the mediums). But at least their not small, like my last company. And they’re fortune 100 best places to work or whatever. So apparently the employees are happy. Or silenced before they can speak out :o

Posted in: work by attriel /