Supply and demand. They see an economy were jobs like this are scarce. Factor in people don't want to uproot their family and all that goes with moving. The cream is getting skimmed off, but most will take a cut and come back because their family is here. I swear one day there will be ads geared to the H1B visa program.
Salaries in PAX.
- Thread starter swm462
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Supply and demand. They see an economy were jobs like this are scarce. Factor in people don't want to uproot their family and all that goes with moving. The cream is getting skimmed off, but most will take a cut and come back because their family is here. I swear one day there will be ads geared to the H1B visa program.
We would go bust if we actually executed any task orders that used most of the categories we cover. The "recommended" rates are, in some cases, not even 75% of our standard rates. Or put another way..a good bit less than our fully burdened rates without any profit or fee.
Hence, you need cheaper employees. You need to cut your overhead, trim all the fat off, no frills.
Not even remotely possible. We're one of those "highly specialized" companies with only very senior and very experienced people on staff. That is what actually saves us at the end of the day... When the government actually needs our kind of expertise, there is literally almost nowhere else they can go to buy it. The flip side of that is...the second edge to that sword.....they don't need our expertise that often.
That works for the typical garbage engineering outfits that simply mancrunch...I get all that. And more than half of our labor rates are above the silly-low "tripwire rates". And try to bill G&A that is above 15% and enjoy your long hours with the DCAA auditor. Further, because 75% or our business is non-government, it is in our best interest to keep our G&A as low as possible and we actively work to do that.
All I can tell you is the complaints that I've heard. A small number of people I know well, have shared the dollar values, others have only been able to repeat what they are told their management expects of them. In the last 3 years it's been cut, followed by cut, and another cut.
It's also resulted in repeated protests and rebids.
BOP
Well-Known Member
If I may ...Was being silly. I should have written it out clearer, to wit: Starting pay for entry level government employee under the Obama administration, $100,000, with the minimum qualification of a GED received at age 27 and a certificate of achievement from a community outreach organization while on a work release program. There, that's better.
You're still being silly. I've got 16 years in as a 13, and I don't make that kind of base salary. In addition, show me one person who's gotten a job as a GS-anything without a minimum of a 4-year degree. And work release? You cannot be serious.
LOL, 2, that's only for uncontested contracts right ?
It's a burden on all parties. For the contractors it's frequent trips to Pass & ID to get CAC extended for 2 months. On the other side, people who thought they had done due diligence, the worker bees, are constantly being challenged and have to spend countless hours answering the same drills over and over. The only people who don't pay are the people who made the decision in the first place. It's not their program, it's not their time.
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LOL, 2, that's only for uncontested contracts right ?
It's a burden on all parties. For the contractors it's frequent trips to Pass & ID to get CAC extended for 2 months. On the other side, people who thought they had done due diligence, the worker bees, are constantly being challenged and have to spend countless hours answering the same drills over and over. The only people who don't pay are the people who made the decision in the first place. It's not their program, it's not their time.
Somebody explain to me how it is, in such a toxic contracting environment, the "government" is getting good value for money spent? But I blame Congress...they've been on a mission to make the receipt of DoD funds a truly miserable lot in life for as long as I've been in business. They've just about perfected hell. Our standard answer to nearly all teaming requests we've received over the last 5-6 year is simply "no thanks".
CrashTest
Well-Known Member
Remember 50 -60 years ago when folks were kind of flunkies in school and not cut out for college, they went and took the Civil Service exam and got a job with the Federal Gov as a GS-3. The pay was low but the Gov took care of them and they got a pension. Back then, all the bright innovators worked in the private sector and sold products and ideas to the Gov.
Nowadays, it's the opposite. The problem is that the Gov doesn't innovate anything, and the private sector companies who are supposed to do the innovating, can't afford to pay any talent.
I'm not sure I've ever met a GS-3 working at PAXR in the 20 years I've been there.
LightRoasted
If I may ...
I was having just that conversation with one of my (Rare: very skilled and highly experienced) GS engineer counterparts over lunch at Capt. Al's in Gulfport last week. Most of the gummint engineers are expected to be little more than contract babysitters to contract personnel who are supposed to be doing all the "real" engineering. But the govt activities have been gutted of seriously experienced tech personnel (so the expertise required to adequately oversee is vanishing or already vanished) and the contractors are paying McDonalds wages for engineers and technicians..so how good could the majority of them possibly be??
I hate to say it..but I've given up on the possibility of the process ever being repaired. It's a classic case of the gummint paying less and less for less and less....so they eventually end up with nothing, of course.
Glad I'm almost done...I only need to get by for another 5-6 years.
acommondisaster
Active Member
Amen to that. THe nightly routine of our GPOC is he makes 3 or 4 walk arounds of the work center to be sure no contractors are sleeping (they're not; they're working), reads his private emails, leaves his terminal unlocked and then disappears for a few hours (probably checking for light leaks in some secured conference room) then suits up for his contractor cleaning job in the building.
3CATSAILOR
Well-Known Member
You may want to look some where else. There will be another BRAC in a few years; right around the corner. From what I seem to recall, they tend to make cuts just before a BRAC, in addition to the BRAC it self.
You really think that they would shut down Pax?
There has been some talk about base reductions...but not a lot of political support for it.
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/capitol-hill/2015/05/18/ndaa-new-brac-study/27524421/
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glhs837
Power with Control
Yeah, given what lives here, and the amount of stuff that's being added, pretty sure BRAC isn't a concern. No place to fit NAVAIR, and duplicating the facilities out in China Lake/Edwards/Eglin would cost far more than any savings you get. along with the associated manpower losses you would suffer when folks refused to pack up.