Welcome to the recession. Many of us who don't work for the fed have been living through this for years already.

Anonymous wrote:I had no idea that there are nearly 800,000 civilian DOD employees serving the Pentagon.

25,000 employees actually work at the Pentagon: http://pentagon.osd.mil/facts-features.html

Anonymous wrote:

I had no idea that there are nearly 800,000 civilian DOD employees serving the Pentagon. I assume that includes other bases around here. This is scary... 20% paycut until the end of September, what happens after that? Will contractors have to go someplace else for work? This could be bad for us that have gotten used to the insulation of living so close to the fed govt. I am looking to move into a new house, maybe housing prices will finally readjust downward like the rest of the US. Less traffic? This could be great for the DC area! BRING IT ON!

It will be bad for everyone. It housing prices fall, your currents house price will fall. Virginia will be in a depression. This is just the DOD, every other part of the Feds will similar cuts.

Sold our starter home in 2006 and we are currently renting. I would LOVE if housing prices come down, just waiting for the right combination of lower prices/interest rates. I feel sorry for all of the fed workers that live paycheck to paycheck. I have a feeling it is going to get ugly around here.

Government contractor here, and yes it'd be a lie to say we aren't worried. That being said, it's possible that some gov't civilians will see furloughs before some contractors are impacted. If money is already obligated on contracts, it would be more difficult for agencies to pull that back. Instead, they might not be able to touch a particular contract until the next period on the contract or past the point at which funds are already obligated. It might be only a difference of a month or two, though.

In general, they can terminate for convenience, but they would have to pay costs associated with that, so the question is whether those costs would exceed the savings from terminating the contracts early.

I had no idea that there are nearly 800,000 civilian DOD employees serving the Pentagon. I assume that includes other bases around here. This is scary... 20% paycut until the end of September, what happens after that? Will contractors have to go someplace else for work? This could be bad for us that have gotten used to the insulation of living so close to the fed govt. I am looking to move into a new house, maybe housing prices will finally readjust downward like the rest of the US. Less traffic? This could be great for the DC area! BRING IT ON!

It will be bad for everyone. It housing prices fall, your currents house price will fall. Virginia will be in a depression. This is just the DOD, every other part of the Feds will similar cuts.

I feel bad for the civilians in the office I support. They've lost a lot of contract support since Gates' efficiencies initiative. They've lost civilian employees because its such a toxic environment, and they can't fill those positions. Now they'll probably lose more support staff and deal with the furlough, all while juggling increased workload. It's not fun in there these days and it was already toxic. Of course they (and me so far) have it better than the staff my company has laid off over the past 18 months or so. About 30% of our workforce.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Government contractor here, and yes it'd be a lie to say we aren't worried. That being said, it's possible that some gov't civilians will see furloughs before some contractors are impacted. If money is already obligated on contracts, it would be more difficult for agencies to pull that back. Instead, they might not be able to touch a particular contract until the next period on the contract or past the point at which funds are already obligated. It might be only a difference of a month or two, though.

I believe all government contracts contain an escape clause.

Most do, but not all - depends on how the contract is funded. At my organization they've started to pull back from those contracts they can. We're also looking at the civilian once-a-pay-period furlough. But it's not like the work load is going to decrease - if anything it has already increased in the areas where there used to be contractors.

* company, not companies

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Government contractor here, and yes it'd be a lie to say we aren't worried. That being said, it's possible that some gov't civilians will see furloughs before some contractors are impacted. If money is already obligated on contracts, it would be more difficult for agencies to pull that back. Instead, they might not be able to touch a particular contract until the next period on the contract or past the point at which funds are already obligated. It might be only a difference of a month or two, though.

I believe all government contracts contain an escape clause.

Different contractor here - my companies and our DoD clients are going through the same drill now that we did when we were faced with that possible shut down a couple of years ago. Meaning meeting with all the CORs to determine what will happen. Contracts that are fully funded for the year will continue. If a contract is funded quarterly, our employees would be covered during that quarter. After that it will depend on if that contract is one to get funding the next quarter. Contracts that are funded monthly, and we have several, will be in the worst shape. They may get funded one month and then not again for another.

Anonymous wrote:Government contractor here, and yes it'd be a lie to say we aren't worried. That being said, it's possible that some gov't civilians will see furloughs before some contractors are impacted. If money is already obligated on contracts, it would be more difficult for agencies to pull that back. Instead, they might not be able to touch a particular contract until the next period on the contract or past the point at which funds are already obligated. It might be only a difference of a month or two, though.

I believe all government contracts contain an escape clause.

I had no idea that there are nearly 800,000 civilian DOD employees serving the Pentagon. I assume that includes other bases around here. This is scary... 20% paycut until the end of September, what happens after that? Will contractors have to go someplace else for work? This could be bad for us that have gotten used to the insulation of living so close to the fed govt. I am looking to move into a new house, maybe housing prices will finally readjust downward like the rest of the US. Less traffic? This could be great for the DC area! BRING IT ON!

Government contractor here, and yes it'd be a lie to say we aren't worried. That being said, it's possible that some gov't civilians will see furloughs before some contractors are impacted. If money is already obligated on contracts, it would be more difficult for agencies to pull that back. Instead, they might not be able to touch a particular contract until the next period on the contract or past the point at which funds are already obligated. It might be only a difference of a month or two, though.

Yes if they are laid off. Would not want to be civilina dod or contractor right now... will experience what a large percent of people outside dc did over last 6 years. My bil just got laid off from lockhead martin after 25 years as gov contractor.

The FBI has a similar plan for agents. Initially 1 day per pay period - moving to 1 day a week.

My understanding for FBI is that they have been operating over budget so the only way to get to the position they need to is to make significant cuts.

As part of its planning for sequestration, the Department of Defense said it's getting rid of tens of thousands of temporary employees, and on Friday, it made clear that should the automatic budget cuts occur, the remainder of the civilian workforce would face furloughs of one day per week without pay for the rest of fiscal year 2013.

http://www.federalnewsradio.com/412/3208715/DoD-civilian-workers-face-one-day-a-week-furloughs-under-sequester

I bet they will stop all the contractor work they can. Looks like it will be tough times if the sequester goes through.