I don’t know why unionization wouldn’t be? Lots of other workers in many other specialized skills have a union. Federal employees have a union, many skilled defense contractor workers have a union. It’s worth exploring. After more than 12 years at this …I can see where a union would definitely protect many of the hardworking honest investigators whom I believe really got the shaft in the past. Those investigators who don’t know how to manipulate, work the number, grease the skids of management, or dump on their coworkers often get stomped on and eventually laid off for being too agreeable, honest, accepting, and compliant when management asks for the unreasonable. I think Peraton’s “Do the Can’t be Done” logo is pretty tacky. It’s like asking someone who drives commutes 100 miles daily to never go over the speed limit EVER. It can’t be done and to ask someone to do it…is ridiculous. Sometimes when employees get asked to do ridiculous things, a union is the obvious answer.
“Do the can’t be done” means turn in 60 hours of work and pretend you did it in 40.
It’s a weird motto for sure. Especially considering how many engineers/scientists/technical people work for Peraton. You CAN’T turn rocks into gold but disregard science let’s “do it” or at least fool people into thinking we did it. Wells Fargo, VW, Enron, Theranos and lots of other companies have operated that way with that mindset and it hasn’t worked out well for them.
I’m about two years removed from CACI and this entire industry.
I have a tiny shred of hope that someday conditions will improve for all of you, but I would not bet on it.
CACI’s BI program is just horribly run and you are all being exploited, just as I was too by them.
They put you on LWOP when they didn’t need you in 2019-2020, and now they work you to death when it’s convenient and profitable for them.
This will not change by itself. CACI will not magically become ethical overnight.
Get Security+ or some other marketable entry level certifications in other fields and leave, is my advice.
When the program manager laughed on all hands calls while you were on LWOP, that should’ve been the only thing you needed to know about how much CACI cares about the investigator. Get out as soon as you can.
How on earth did they get employees to attend a meeting without paying them to attend?
Initially they had employees on LWOP attend the meetings and CACI did pay them. Then suddenly the guidance changed where if you were at a T3 or T4 you weren’t allowed to attend any meetings at all be it all hands calls, regional calls, or Section Lead calls. Someone must have complained that their unemployment benefits were being jeopardized by reporting the time charged to attending those meetings is my guess.
I guess maybe those investigators came on the call only to see whether there were any updates on the LWOP issue? I remember back then some of my coworkers who were on LWOP (myself included) still came on the call because we wanted to know whether we could get back to work. It was a rough time…not knowing if you were out of a job or whether you could continue to feed your family and keep a roof over their heads…and even through all that, Im still here. lol smh
Thanks Mr. Mengucci, love what you have done with the place. Shall I shine your shoes as well? T_T
What’s even better is they are now trying to poach all of those FI’s they terminated after being on LWOP for months on end after determining they were not going to be profitable to the company after all/ or they left on their on back to CACI. Sad part is, many are taking the lure. I’m appalled at how much of a crap show this company is and upper management could care absolutely less.
I knew CACI was a mess and a joke and dishonest when after USIS was not renewed on the OPM contract, CACI offered me a job but wouldn’t match my USIS pay and tried to pull the game with me that the SCA pay amount will get me up to my current salary that I had at USIS. They basically offered me a reduced hourly rate by $4.00 per hour and then said the SCA rate would cover my reduced salary. When I called them out on their dishonesty, they held strong and said that is how all companies operate on the SCA contract which was false to a large extent.
CACI is like all other DCSA vendors and operates by greed and deceit.
If DCSA had any common sense and intelligence, they’d independently contract this work out to competent investigators like other direct federal contracts like the FBI, ATF, State Department, Peace Corps, and USAID.
This would put an end to the 
show and the egregious complaints on this thread by cutting out the corrupt middle man and use the experienced and competent Investigator. These vendors destroy the morale of this industry and make this industry intolerable at times to have a successful career. DCSA has the ability to create a BI program for independent contractors. I would love to hear their justification of why they haven’t after all of these years.
Directly contracting with the Investigator would improve so much about this industry…morale, quality, and timeliness by paying professional wages.
It makes me crazy because I will have 5 partial cases (esi done not sources) and then they pile on more esi’s. I wish I could get though at least half of the ones I already started. It is a vicious cycle.
I have been with the company over a decade. All I can say is I feel like I don’t have a life. Going on 5 months of mandatory OT and myself and co-workers are exhausted. One reviewer told me after taxes the OT isn’t even worth it to her. I honestly feel like I have no quality of life when it comes to my personal life. I even dream about cases. I skipped the gym today to work. It has consumed me and it just isn’t healthy for my mind or body. I really do like this job but I am not sure how much more I can take. It has had a strong impact on my well being… and I am a pretty tough cookie. Various other investigators/reviewers feel the same. I wish we all had a voice.
So your plan entails:
- Allowing competent investigators to continue using their skills.
- Presumably a different metric system that allows those investigators to care more about quality vs churning out mediocre casework to hit their WTPD goals (i.e. pursuing “gut feeling leads” and other things that we were always discouraged from doing).
- Better pay for those investigators without a big increase to the bill the taxpayers have to pay for the work to be done.
- Getting rid of useless bureaucrats and middlemen who add no value (basically the entire PMO leadership team).
Makes way too much sense, can’t have that.
Talk to HR about the mandatory overtime and the effects on you. Mention the department of labor or a labor attorney. Depending on your state you may have a good case.
There is always going to someone who has to manage the program. Whether it be a federal employee dealing with hundreds of individual investigators or a defense contractor dealing with them. I see other flaws in the independent contractor work as well. The DCSA work load is probably much too large to rely exclusively on independent contractors who work only when they want to. The lack of accountability and fluctuating availability of independents can be an issue.
You’re of course free to have that opinion, and I think that you mention some valid points that would need to be addressed if the shift were to occur, but I don’t think that the challenges are by any means insurmountable, especially with CE reducing the DCSA caseload by some extent.
That is terrible. A low-income job such as a BI should not, at the very least , be affecting your mental and physical health. I hope you’re spending all of your free time trying to find a better job. Physical and mental health don’t have a price tag. People routinely offer this truism for jobs making orders of magnitude more than a BI job so it seems especially obscene to reference this for that a job which— hour-for-hour— makes less than a starting UPS driver.
The BI job is not meant— or shouldn’t be meant— to be a job to make a living but rather a retirement gig for folks with a good pension. At least it was when I did it.
Totally agree. It’s a retirement gig / gig for the person who isn’t the breadwinner in their household / stepping stone for young people who need a clearance and some experience (that’s what it was for me).
It just doesn’t make sense to me to stay in the field as a young person for more than 2-3 years. You’ve learned what you’re going to learn by that point unless you go into management or something (and even then, you shouldn’t stay for more than another 2-3 years in my view).
The BI’s who constantly bemoan “being trapped” I only have so much sympathy for, being a BI was my only relevant job I had and I was able to jump ship after putting in the time and energy to useful certifications / courses. Took me 2-ish years of basically juggling two full time jobs (full time student, full time BI), but I made it work, and it paid off.
I have a Masters Degree and zero student loan debt so I really don’t want to jump on that train again. I have thought about HR but I am not familiar with their computer programs.
Well with those credentials alone it’s crazy for you to be working a low-paying, soul-crushing, dead-end job. Have you looked into FSO/security officer jobs for a DOD contractor?
Btw, in regard to PseudoFed’s comment, there are now many opportunities to get IT/tech certificates online for free or nominal cost. E.g., Coursera, etc.