Welp, we were told during our team call this morning CACI has the #1 spot. At this point, does it really even matter? Between their Tier 1-4 categories they have thrown us in, which I am wondering if it is even legal, and investigators working off the clock, still a lack of work from DCSA, no transparency or honesty, I’m thinking the #1 spot is just for the higher management to pat themselves on the back while we continue to get treated like dirt.
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Agree, 100%. To say this practice is unethical is a major minimization of what is happening. Per my SL right now, “leadership” is not concerned about the lack of work…of course not! They’re getting all of this work completed for next to no compensation to the FIs. Unbelievable. I can’t wait for the first person that has the balls to initiate a lawsuit. I’ll be the first to sign on.
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And something I read today on another forum that resonated: “I agree with the person saying artificial deadlines and productivity expectations are the problem, and I would go even further – management often pits employees against each other so they fight over scraps instead of just changing unrealistic goals. If everyone in the workplace put their feet down on these issues the problem would go away – which is why we all need unions, so we can advocate for ourselves collectively instead of pushing back on unfair workloads piecemeal.”
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This is exactly the kind of occupation that needs a union. There is so much undermining going on its unbelievable. I’ve been at this job for over 18 years and I can say with certainty it goes more and more downhill as years go on, always the little guy (us) who suffers the most. I actually think management enjoys pitting us against each other with metrics and production. Psychopaths love power and control and I swear some of those in management are complete psychopaths. There’s absolutely no reason to have this as a competition. Just provide people with work to do and you’ll know how well they’re doing by what they produce. It’s so simple, yet they have managed to completely complicate everything. Oh and don’t bother going to HR with your complaints, they’re in on it and do not care.
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There really needs to be a lawsuit. They are literally using COVID as an excuse as to why there is a lack of work when in reality it is because things have changed, and the change began previous to COVID, which was DCSA does not provide work the way they used to. That just shows you how low CACI would go as to use a pandemic as a cover up to, in reality, screw over their own employees. The truth of the matter is they know there is a lack of work and they are just stringing people along by creating Tier 1-4, so they can use their dumb excuse as to why they won’t provide over half off the staff work to do. How in the heck is it that we have such a lack of work yet our lovely Section Leads have never been asked to reduce their hours??? Bingo…it’s because higher ups only care about themselves and lining up their pockets. With the severe lack of work and very few people on my team how can my SL justify working 40 hours a week…
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Scis reduced our hours claiming Covid then turned around and hired part timers off the street guaranteeing them 20 hours a week while we are still on reduced hours. All this was done on the down low hush hush until they couldn’t hide it anymore. It’s not the money or reduced hours that are disheartening but the lack of integrity from a business that should be based on integrity.
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And they laid off a lot of people on the down-low (in most departments) and now are actively hiring in those departments again months later. How is that justified and why weren’t those employees furloughed instead? We keep hearing there is work, but why isn’t anyone seeing it? It’s more than covid, times are changing from the old ways…and it doesn’t look good for us.
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I have no issue with this. Every company uses stats like these to make decisions. Even the military on the enlisted and officer performance reports ranks people. Everyone can’t be number 1.
Is this positioning self proclaimed or has there been an announcement of some sort?
USIS played that game many years ago. They fired 10% of the work force then mere months later had a huge hire effort. They hate to pay a decent wage so these companies usually look for ways to get rid of people that are finally getting some good pay, then bring in new people for lesser pay. No loyalty whatsoever. USIS no longer exists for a reason, dirty deeds will come back to bite them in their butts at some point.
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They promised all the newly hired part timers they might be able to work up to full time which makes them eager to work off the clock. Why trick one full timer into working off the clock when you can trick two part timers into working off the clock. All these companies including usis are like meteorites burning bright goimg and blowing stuffing their pockets then poof gone. They never had intentions of being legitimate businesses.
Actually USIS is alive and well. It’s now SCIS. Same players. A bunch of old USIS upper managers and a lot of old USIS Investigators went over when they first started. Not sure how many are still there. Ultimately it’s the good old government who really pulls the strings. If they cared about good paying jobs they would start right here. Seeing to it that all Investigators and support staff get paid good wages. The SCA schedules do not support that and the companies don’t abide what they are supposed to abide by. Same you know what different day.
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Still wondering about this.
Where is the official announcement that CACI is #1? Who has officially proclaimed this? Where are the numbers?
Anyone hearing anything about the future for casework? Yes, I already know the standard BI is no longer providing work worthy enough for company staff… but I’m wondering about the contact renewals and moving forward.
CACI has “all hands” telecons monthly where they announce they’re #1. The one and only time I recall they announced being #2 the higher ups had a meltdown and severely punished us all for it. Crazy where you’re thinking your’e doing some noble work in the name of national security when in reality you are just involved in some deluded game of whose number #1 and the competition is fierce.
As far as I know CACI, Perspecta, and SCIS are still the big 3 working for DCSA. With regard to future casework, who knows??? This type of job is really akin to playing russian roulette.
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So CACI is self diagnosing. The more it’s said the greater the odds it’s true?
So in a company where nothing is said, I wonder what that means?
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It means they’re sneaky liars who hide everything.
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Basically. I’ve always said they need to get rid of the section leads and regional managers. All they are is babysitters. Just have case managers who assign work, investigators who do the work their assigned, and reviewers to be able to get the work out to DCSA. But noooo…they have to make it all so ridiculously complicated. Imagine the money these companies would save if they got rid of the section leads and regional managers. My section lead is so useless he can’t answer any questions and make us go to the mentors or case support help desk.
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I was briefly a Section Lead (only took the job for management experience and because I felt I couldn’t learn anything else as an FI, and I was applying for new jobs within a few months of being “promoted”). The management teams at the vendors are almost completely useless. The disconnect especially between the PMO staff and the field investigators is alarming. I’m sure you know that, but even with my “insight” as a short-lived SL, it isn’t much better from my perspective There are some good SL’s out there and some great people in non-management, support positions at the vendors, but they are the exception, not the rule in my opinion.
Most of my efforts as Section Lead went to correcting problems created BY other members of management or by idiotic internal company policies.
Now that I work for a much better employer in a much better industry, I realize more than ever how hilariously mismanaged these vendors are. It’s like getting out of an abusive relationship and looking back and saying “man, what was I THINKING staying with them?!”
That said, I’d take your suggestion a step further and do away with the vendors entirely and argue for direct federal contracting, or something like that. Give the field investigators more autonomy and give them more pay for what they do, they’re the ones knocking on doors at 7 pm in rainy weather while management sits back collecting salaries in exchange for comparatively little (to no) real effort.
I see little value added to the investigation process by bringing in private sector vendors. Keep it between DCSA and credentialed investigators (both federal and direct contract). As for the minority of investigators who “need” to be babysat by an SL (and yes, they do exist, but are a very small fraction of the overall population), hopefully they get filtered out to keep more work flowing to the majority of honest, hardworking FI’s who just want a stable career while protecting national security.
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CACI is the only company that I know of that speaks of the “rankings” and announces that they are #1. I have friends/old coworkers that work for Perspecta and SCIS and they have never heard of these rankings. Part of me says CACI is making it up…the other part says it makes sense that the other Vendors wouldn’t announce that they are #2 or #3 as that might make their employees nervous. I don’t know…it all just seems like a way for DCSA to mess with the contract companies. CACI says they will no longer work T3 cases because we were losing money and then (shockingly) CACI moves to #2…not even 3 months later we are working T3s again. DCSA has all the power. These contract companies all start off by saying they are going to stand up to DCSA, but it doesn’t take long for the companies to cave to DCSA’s wild demands.
The part that confuses me to no end is that I get work assigned to me on Perspecta and SCIS days…All 3 companies have low workloads, so how is CACI getting overflow work when there has not been enough work to go around for months??..
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During my brief time as Section Lead I knew people in management at every vendor save Perspecta…I really think that CACI was being less than honest with respect to the rankings, or putting a bizarre spin on it. What I can say is that behind closed door management meetings, they fed SL’s the same stories that they fed the field.