Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 16:32     Subject: FFRDCs
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am hearing that IDA is planning to do lay-offs. Their report writing culture is so old and sucks up 1/3 time of an FTE.


How about RAND?


we don't have a lot of work with PP but they don't provide the same service. Some folks in intelligence area haven been let go.


Thinking about becoming an Astronautical Engineer at RAND? Honestly, just learn to fix PCs instead. If you check RAND's job board, the Windows SysAdmins out-earn some of the rocket scientists. Imagine spending years mastering orbital mechanics just to get out-paid by the SysAdmins. The bloat is so obvious.


This is what I was talking about. We were given a guy from RAND and he was ok, nothing impressive. He has a law degree that he doesn't use but his rates showed him at the higher tier and we pushed back. Him being an analyst has no use of his law degree with the work he would be supporting us and we declined to give higher rates. In addition, their overhead is more than 200%, WTH! They lost the whole contract with us.


Paying a sys admin with a TS/SCI poly $125k is not what's driving RAND's ridiculous overhead. That's just a researcher who's angry that anyone without a PhD might possibly make less than anyone with one.
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 15:35     Subject: FFRDCs
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:average age of employee is above 60+ at IDA.


This is so blatantly and stupidly untrue that one wonders what the point of saying it is.


what are you talking about? I work at IDA and this is very accurate.
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 15:33     Subject: FFRDCs
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am hearing that IDA is planning to do lay-offs. Their report writing culture is so old and sucks up 1/3 time of an FTE.


How about RAND?


we don't have a lot of work with PP but they don't provide the same service. Some folks in intelligence area haven been let go.


Thinking about becoming an Astronautical Engineer at RAND? Honestly, just learn to fix PCs instead. If you check RAND's job board, the Windows SysAdmins out-earn some of the rocket scientists. Imagine spending years mastering orbital mechanics just to get out-paid by the SysAdmins. The bloat is so obvious.


This is what I was talking about. We were given a guy from RAND and he was ok, nothing impressive. He has a law degree that he doesn't use but his rates showed him at the higher tier and we pushed back. Him being an analyst has no use of his law degree with the work he would be supporting us and we declined to give higher rates. In addition, their overhead is more than 200%, WTH! They lost the whole contract with us.
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 14:04     Subject: FFRDCs
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am hearing that IDA is planning to do lay-offs. Their report writing culture is so old and sucks up 1/3 time of an FTE.


How about RAND?


we don't have a lot of work with PP but they don't provide the same service. Some folks in intelligence area haven been let go.


Thinking about becoming an Astronautical Engineer at RAND? Honestly, just learn to fix PCs instead. If you check RAND's job board, the Windows SysAdmins out-earn some of the rocket scientists. Imagine spending years mastering orbital mechanics just to get out-paid by the SysAdmins. The bloat is so obvious.


The engineer salary range is $108,000 - $299,100. The sysadmin is $100,100 - $152,400. You are insane.
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 13:20     Subject: FFRDCs
Anonymous wrote:I am hearing that IDA is planning to do lay-offs. Their report writing culture is so old and sucks up 1/3 time of an FTE.


This post is completely made up. And I say that as someone who predicted earlier rounds.
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 21:44     Subject: FFRDCs
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am hearing that IDA is planning to do lay-offs. Their report writing culture is so old and sucks up 1/3 time of an FTE.


How about RAND?


we don't have a lot of work with PP but they don't provide the same service. Some folks in intelligence area haven been let go.


Thinking about becoming an Astronautical Engineer at RAND? Honestly, just learn to fix PCs instead. If you check RAND's job board, the Windows SysAdmins out-earn some of the rocket scientists. Imagine spending years mastering orbital mechanics just to get out-paid by the SysAdmins. The bloat is so obvious.
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 20:57     Subject: FFRDCs
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Are there any FFRDCs on the verge of insolvency? I heard that some carry a lot of debt and if revenue declines too much they could be victim of a covenant default. I don’t know much about this. Is this true?

What is a covenant default?


Loan agreements typically contain restrictive covenants, such as debt-to-income ratios and liquidity requirements. For an FFRDC financing significant capital assets (such as a building), a cessation of federal funding, typically the primary revenue stream, could trigger a breach of these financial requirements, resulting in a technical default under the credit facility.
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 20:30     Subject: FFRDCs
Anonymous wrote:Are there any FFRDCs on the verge of insolvency? I heard that some carry a lot of debt and if revenue declines too much they could be victim of a covenant default. I don’t know much about this. Is this true?

What is a covenant default?
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 18:09     Subject: FFRDCs
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:more layoffs seem likely bc little new work is coming in from what people say. but i have no direct info from the c-suite only rumors. a while back the place took some very clear and public positions surrounding ai that appears to have put a target on it from this admin.


FFRDCs are mostly toast unless they cut on their overhead. We have been asked three times from DOGE previously and sr leadership on what FFRDCs get paid and why their rates are so high.


In the current climate, several FFRDCs need to eliminate *at least* 1 entire layer of management — along with other cost cutting — to reduce their overhead rates to more reasonable values.


I agree. A lot of FFRDCs have to merge and why they have to be so expensive for an FTE. Sometimes, I don't even see a value on what they bring to the table. They just continue to support cushy contracts and average age of employee is above 60+ at IDA.


I work in the energy field and there’s no way DOE national labs/FFRDCs would merge.


Aren't most of the DoE labs already run by one or another "Battelle Partnership"?
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 17:33     Subject: FFRDCs
Are there any FFRDCs on the verge of insolvency? I heard that some carry a lot of debt and if revenue declines too much they could be victim of a covenant default. I don’t know much about this. Is this true?
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 15:46     Subject: FFRDCs
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:more layoffs seem likely bc little new work is coming in from what people say. but i have no direct info from the c-suite only rumors. a while back the place took some very clear and public positions surrounding ai that appears to have put a target on it from this admin.


FFRDCs are mostly toast unless they cut on their overhead. We have been asked three times from DOGE previously and sr leadership on what FFRDCs get paid and why their rates are so high.


In the current climate, several FFRDCs need to eliminate *at least* 1 entire layer of management — along with other cost cutting — to reduce their overhead rates to more reasonable values.


I agree. A lot of FFRDCs have to merge and why they have to be so expensive for an FTE. Sometimes, I don't even see a value on what they bring to the table. They just continue to support cushy contracts and average age of employee is above 60+ at IDA.


I work in the energy field and there’s no way DOE national labs/FFRDCs would merge.
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 14:38     Subject: FFRDCs
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:more layoffs seem likely bc little new work is coming in from what people say. but i have no direct info from the c-suite only rumors. a while back the place took some very clear and public positions surrounding ai that appears to have put a target on it from this admin.


FFRDCs are mostly toast unless they cut on their overhead. We have been asked three times from DOGE previously and sr leadership on what FFRDCs get paid and why their rates are so high.


In the current climate, several FFRDCs need to eliminate *at least* 1 entire layer of management — along with other cost cutting — to reduce their overhead rates to more reasonable values.


I agree. A lot of FFRDCs have to merge and why they have to be so expensive for an FTE. Sometimes, I don't even see a value on what they bring to the table. They just continue to support cushy contracts and average age of employee is above 60+ at IDA.


How will merging FFRDCs reduce bloat?
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 11:48     Subject: FFRDCs
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:average age of employee is above 60+ at IDA.


This is so blatantly and stupidly untrue that one wonders what the point of saying it is.


IDA is a fine organization and they are straight as an arrow.
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 11:42     Subject: FFRDCs
Anonymous wrote:average age of employee is above 60+ at IDA.


This is so blatantly and stupidly untrue that one wonders what the point of saying it is.
Anonymous
Post 01/25/2026 18:11     Subject: FFRDCs
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am hearing that IDA is planning to do lay-offs. Their report writing culture is so old and sucks up 1/3 time of an FTE.


How about RAND?


we don't have a lot of work with PP but they don't provide the same service. Some folks in intelligence area haven been let go.


Who is PP?