Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Contractors have been cashing in for years. Cry me a river,

Contractors have been providing the services that the Feds can't seem to do on their own.

Like writing the software for the new insurance exchanges.

A canadian contractor did that mess. It was not anyone local.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Contractors have been cashing in for years. Cry me a river,

Contractors have been providing the services that the Feds can't seem to do on their own.

Like writing the software for the new insurance exchanges.

josey23 wrote:As others have noted, employees at contractors are pretty much stuck in this situation. Great if the company can shift you to non-federal work but these companies are less diversified than you may think; my old employer had over 5000 people and was 98% dependent on the federal government.

As for the labor rates, there is a stunning difference between the rate billed to the government and the number on the employee's paycheck. I don't know where all that money goes but they toss you overboard pretty quick if you stop billing hours.

Some of it goes to cover your benefits like insurance premiums, your 401K, your paid vacation/sick leave, education reimbursements, etc. Other parts of that money are taken in as overhead to cover staff members working for the company that are not covered by direct billing to the government, such as HR, accounting/payroll, admin, maintenance, etc. Also, if you are working on-site at a government client agency, then they have to pay for your office space out of overhead. The amount that the government makes billing contractors for on-site office space is obscene. The contractor company is a business and the government is their client who pays for the costs of doing business.

Anonymous wrote:

josey23 wrote:As others have noted, employees at contractors are pretty much stuck in this situation. Great if the company can shift you to non-federal work but these companies are less diversified than you may think; my old employer had over 5000 people and was 98% dependent on the federal government.

As for the labor rates, there is a stunning difference between the rate billed to the government and the number on the employee's paycheck. I don't know where all that money goes but they toss you overboard pretty quick if you stop billing hours.

I think this is a weakness of certain contractors that is not the responsibility of the government to cure. Any consulting/contracting firm that is not diversified runs this risk, Fed contractor or not. Too much dependence on a key client is a well known business risk and you have to consider that when you take the job.

Yep, many of us blanched when management decided to stop pursuing their state government and private client work so they could "focus" on the federal market. And now I need another drink.

josey23 wrote:As others have noted, employees at contractors are pretty much stuck in this situation. Great if the company can shift you to non-federal work but these companies are less diversified than you may think; my old employer had over 5000 people and was 98% dependent on the federal government.

As for the labor rates, there is a stunning difference between the rate billed to the government and the number on the employee's paycheck. I don't know where all that money goes but they toss you overboard pretty quick if you stop billing hours.

I think this is a weakness of certain contractors that is not the responsibility of the government to cure. Any consulting/contracting firm that is not diversified runs this risk, Fed contractor or not. Too much dependence on a key client is a well known business risk and you have to consider that when you take the job.

As others have noted, employees at contractors are pretty much stuck in this situation. Great if the company can shift you to non-federal work but these companies are less diversified than you may think; my old employer had over 5000 people and was 98% dependent on the federal government.

As for the labor rates, there is a stunning difference between the rate billed to the government and the number on the employee's paycheck. I don't know where all that money goes but they toss you overboard pretty quick if you stop billing hours.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I understand. But I have a family too. And for the poster who said "Cry me a river" I am not the contractor company, I'm just an employee! I don't "make millions for years."

I'm not unsympathetic. But there are only a few benefits to using contractors over employees, and one of them is to be able to expand and contract spending.

If you deserve stability, it is from your company, not the government. They are the ones who should be paying you while you are sitting on the bench.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Contractors have been cashing in for years. Cry me a river,

Contractors have been providing the services that the Feds can't seem to do on their own.

Not necessarily. Sometimes, it's just cheaper to pay a private company to do it and hold them responsible for that specific service than for the Fed. to background check/hire/train/perform duty to do all that.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I understand. But I have a family too. And for the poster who said "Cry me a river" I am not the contractor company, I'm just an employee! I don't "make millions for years."

As a contractor, you are on billable hours. If you cannot bill, your company cannot pay you.

Anonymous wrote:Because your company has the option of using you to work on other projects. Some company's are doing just that. Your company can also choose to pay you, they just cannot bill the government for it. If they billed the government for it, they would be asking for a hand out and the Republicans would not allow that. The big reason for outsourcing is to save the government money, including being able to not pay people when their services are not needed. Your services are not needed, so your are not getting paid. The federal Government is not your employer.

Keep in mind that these contractors are taxpayers. The taxpayers are paying for the Feds to be employed. The laid off contractors are getting hurt by this much more than fed employees.

OP here. I understand. But I have a family too. And for the poster who said "Cry me a river" I am not the contractor company, I'm just an employee! I don't "make millions for years."

Because, except for the government, you generally do not get something for nothing......