NancysSummerSip
Community Leader
Joined: Dec 19, 2010 19:19:42 GMT -5
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Today's Mood: Full of piss and vinegar
Favorite Drink: Anything with ice
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Post by NancysSummerSip on Oct 1, 2012 12:31:49 GMT -5
For Dark , and there will be booze later, when you need it.
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Loopdilou
Well-Known Member
AKA Mrs. Dark Honor
Joined: Feb 27, 2012 19:41:33 GMT -5
Posts: 1,365
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Post by Loopdilou on Oct 1, 2012 12:32:17 GMT -5
No, no, no. You said I was going to get fired. I didn't get fired. If anything I would get laid off. That's different. I told you both scenarios had a high likelihood of occuring. The contract thing you could see coming from a mile away.
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Sum Dum Gai
Senior Associate
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Oct 1, 2012 12:37:45 GMT -5
Yeah. We've had this contract for over 15 years. Everyone is still a little shocked that we lost it. Not even to a known competitor. It's some dinky upstart that most of us have never heard of. Hopefully they know what they're doing. If they underestimated the amount of work required to satisfy the contract by too much, and thus underbid by a large margin, it's going to get really messy.
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Sum Dum Gai
Senior Associate
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Oct 1, 2012 12:38:45 GMT -5
Such a pessimist. It's a good thing my glass is always 150% full, to balance out your half empty one!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2012 12:40:24 GMT -5
Yeah. We've had this contract for over 15 years. Everyone is still a little shocked that we lost it. Not even to a known competitor. It's some dinky upstart that most of us have never heard of. Hopefully they know what they're doing. If they underestimated the amount of work required to satisfy the contract by too much, and thus underbid by a large margin, it's going to get really messy. we have that happen a lot usually due to 8A set asides. Seems I go to work for an 8A company and then they stop being 8A so no longer can be prime on certain contracts.
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Sum Dum Gai
Senior Associate
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Oct 1, 2012 12:45:27 GMT -5
Too soon to say. Right now the new company and the agency are still dancing. What happens is they announce the award. Then the agency usually goes back to the winning bidder and requests a highest and best offer. Basically one last chance to nickel and dime them. If they know what they're doing, they don't fall for that and say their bid was their highest and best. At that point a number is agreed upon and the contract is signed. Based on that final number I'll have a better idea of how much payroll money they have to play with. If the company underbid by too large a margin, all the experienced people will jump ship. Like rats fleeing a sinking ship. They'll have a hell of a time hiring people, and will lose the contract in a year for non performance.
If they're in line, but a bit below us, I have to feel out my agency contacts and make sure my name was on the short list. Oh, usually the agency awarding the contract will let the new company know which people on the current contract they would recommend the new bidder keep around. It's not a guarantee of a job, but as long as my name is on that short list, I'll at least get an offer, and they'll be more likely to play ball on salary.
Depending on what other contracts and opening my current company has I might get an offer from them to move to another position as well.
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Taxman10
Senior Member
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Post by Taxman10 on Oct 1, 2012 12:45:40 GMT -5
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whoisjohngalt
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Post by whoisjohngalt on Oct 1, 2012 12:45:54 GMT -5
Well, govt keeps talking about cutting back on defense, so there have been many contracts changing hands.....
How is the job market for clearance positions in CA? I thought most of them were on East Coast??
Lena
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Loopdilou
Well-Known Member
AKA Mrs. Dark Honor
Joined: Feb 27, 2012 19:41:33 GMT -5
Posts: 1,365
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Post by Loopdilou on Oct 1, 2012 12:46:00 GMT -5
Dust off the resume and get it to a headhunter, asap! Also, call up that one company at the edge of town, check for openings.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2012 12:50:49 GMT -5
probably lots of jobs here in MD at NSA.....
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Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Oct 1, 2012 12:52:24 GMT -5
Smallish, but there aren't many folks out here with clearance either.
There are a lot more clearance positions out there, but there's also a much larger pool of cleared people competing for them.
Like anything else it's a trade off. Out here you're harder to replace, but there are fewer jobs to get in the first place. Back there you can be replaced really easily, but there are a lot more openings when you're looking.
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Peace Of Mind
Senior Associate
[font color="#8f2520"]~ Drinks Well With Others ~[/font]
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Post by Peace Of Mind on Oct 1, 2012 12:55:38 GMT -5
As if Mondays aren't bad enough... Sorry to hear this, Dark. I hope they keep you or that you find an even better job elsewhere.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2012 13:14:05 GMT -5
How much of a pay cut would you tolerate?
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Deleted
Joined: May 3, 2024 20:08:28 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2012 13:15:46 GMT -5
That sux and good luck.
I've read about some weird bidding laws in my state when it comes to contracts - like you can't accept the highest or the lowest.
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Wisconsin Beth
Distinguished Associate
No, we don't walk away. But when we're holding on to something precious, we run.
Joined: Dec 20, 2010 11:59:36 GMT -5
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Post by Wisconsin Beth on Oct 1, 2012 13:19:12 GMT -5
As if Mondays aren't bad enough... Sorry to hear this, Dark. I hope they keep you or that you find an even better job elsewhere. Good luck!
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Deleted
Joined: May 3, 2024 20:08:28 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2012 13:30:39 GMT -5
Holy crap. I am so sorry you have to deal with this.
I know you live in the SFBA. Have you considered looking at Kaiser for work. When I left most of us IT people had salaries well over $80K a year to start. You would also have complete and free health care for your family, and get OTC drugs at cost.
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The Captain
Junior Associate
Hugs are good...
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Post by The Captain on Oct 1, 2012 13:39:58 GMT -5
Good luck Dark. My BIL goes through this every 3-4 years and it sucks until he knows if he'll get an offer or not.
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Abby Normal
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Post by Abby Normal on Oct 1, 2012 13:44:27 GMT -5
Crap Dark- I thought I was having a bad Monday. Some one dropped the idiot bomb around here and I've been dealing with the fall out all morning. Now I'm gonna have to go back to all the people I yelled at this morning and thank them for the job security.
Best of luck. I hope you aren't on the cut list.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2012 14:33:00 GMT -5
Bummer.
Although often this kind of thing can be a great oportunity. DH has always made potential lay-offs work for him. Does your company offer severance pay?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2012 14:41:16 GMT -5
Sorry to hear. Good luck.
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shanendoah
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Post by shanendoah on Oct 1, 2012 14:45:47 GMT -5
busy bonny: I don't think there's severence in these contract situations. When my brother was laid off because the base he had been working on was being closed, the company didn't have enough open slots to move everyone to, so a lot of the staff from the Balitmore base were laid off. None of them got severance.
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Driftr
Senior Member
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Post by Driftr on Oct 1, 2012 15:03:43 GMT -5
Weren't you going to open a game store? Take this as a sign?
Sorry you're having to go through it all the same. Hope things work out.
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Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Oct 1, 2012 15:05:48 GMT -5
I don't know. Ideally, none. Realistically... we'll see what other options I can find. I'm still relatively early in my career, and I'm not highly compensated for my industry. Swallowing any pay cut at this point is going to hurt.
Nope. If we haven't moved to the new company or found something else by the end of the transition period we'll be laid off, and should be eligible for unemployment, but that's it. I haven't looked at the California unemployment site in a while, but I think the max benefit is $400 a week. That won't even cover my mortgage.
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drivingaround
Established Member
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Post by drivingaround on Oct 1, 2012 15:27:16 GMT -5
Wow, so sorry to hear this. What is the timeline in these situations? I’m unfamiliar with gov’t contracts and bidding but assuming you aren’t on the stay list do you stay on to train your replacement so you have a couples months to find something or is it a situation where you get your notice and shown the door immediately? When do you expect you’ll know, end of this week or does it get strung out? Good luck!
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tloonya
Junior Associate
What status?
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Post by tloonya on Oct 1, 2012 15:44:18 GMT -5
They're bad enough as is, but when you find out you lost your job while driving in on Monday morning... just not right. No details yet, but we lost the contract rebid. I don't know which company got it, how many of us they'll send offers to and leave in place, or whether or not my name is on that list. As of right now, all I know is that today is the first day of the transition period, where some competitor gets to come in and have us show them how to do our job. I haven't even had coffee yet. BooHoo! Mighty strong Darky is jobless... Do you know how many people lost their jobs years ago? So get in line! I am going to feel sorry for you later. When its your turn!
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Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Oct 1, 2012 15:44:37 GMT -5
The contract has a 60 transition period. By the end of that time, the new company needs to have the contract fully staffed. We stay on with my current company through that period. We haven't found out yet whether they started that clock today, or they'll wait for the final contract award. We did find out they underbid us by 15-20%.
On of three things is going on. 1) They plan to meet the requirements with a 20% smaller work force. 2) They plan to keep/replace the current work force at a 20% salary reduction. 3) They don't understand the scope of work they just bid on.
If it's the first scenario, I'll stay. If it's the second, hardly any of us will stay, and I seriously doubt they'll meet the contract requirements. I'd give it a year or two tops before they lose the contract for non performance. Ditto for the third option.
I'm really surprised the agency went with a lowball offer, since they've been burned doing that fairly recently. These little companies come in and think they can find a qualified staff on a shoestring. It never works out, they never get the experience they need to satisfy the customer, and they always lose the contract in relatively short order. All I can figure is the agency is looking for any cost savings they can find prior to sequestration so they have to lay off fewer government guys if they have to make cuts, and they'll deal with the fallout of having sub par mission support later.
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justme
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Post by justme on Oct 1, 2012 16:44:02 GMT -5
Most agencies have been going toward lowest-price technically-feasible for a while now and a lot more are being told to go that way, especially with the cuts coming. Option 1 happened with a contract my collegagues are working on, they've been running raggard so far with the additional work load though they seem to be settling in now that its a few months in. The other thing is a lot of contractors are looking hard at overhead and cutting that with a vengence. So that's another way they could have been able to low ball, my company has been trying everything to slash overhead to keep our rates low enough to stay competitive.
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Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Oct 1, 2012 16:50:33 GMT -5
*shrug*
Whenever the new company gets around to making us offers.
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Peace Of Mind
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[font color="#8f2520"]~ Drinks Well With Others ~[/font]
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Post by Peace Of Mind on Oct 1, 2012 17:00:31 GMT -5
Dark, I'm sorry you are going through this. I hope everything works out for you in the end. In the meantime, you could always put together a calendar of you in your special outfits and sell them for some side money.. MM, LMAO!!! Christmas is just around the corner and we know which outfit should make the cover.
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Sum Dum Gai
Senior Associate
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Oct 1, 2012 17:05:17 GMT -5
I have been losing some weight lately... hmmm....
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