As for managers, supervisors, CL’s as we call them- I am fortunate to still have and have in the past had amazing people to work with. Great communication and always there for guidance if I needed it. I could never truly begin to understand what it’s like to supervise or manage dozens or hundreds of investigators daily and I can only imagine how frustrating that is.
The need for babysitting of some BI’s has nothing to do with monitoring if someone is actually working or not and more to do with making sure that they know WHAT they’re doing. I agree that people are generally more productive at home (though I’ve had BI’s resign because they simply “couldn’t work from home.”)
If someone flat out isn’t doing anything, yes, I agree it’s reflected in their stats and they should just be terminated if the issue can’t be resolved.
I’ve managed probably 60-75 different people in my time as a team lead. While the majority of BI’s are autonomous, a solid 25-30% of them need their hands held to a greater extent than I ever would have expected and I wondered how many of them were even able to get dressed in the morning without asking for help.
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For the sake of understanding your opinion, thanks for identifying yourself as a Manager or former Manager. Have a nice day.
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TLs are babysitters, they are not managers. Period! And you already said you were in management. TLs have no autonomy whatsoever. Now this doesn’t mean that ALL TL’s act as babysitters, some do really care about the investigators on their teams. But, the companies expect nothing more from them. Managers have the ability to make decisions regarding their teams. TLs in this industry do not.
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I have a question: DCSA had to answer questions during a recent Senate Intelligence Committee hearing and testified regarding how the backlog diminished from “730K to 200K”. Great job Contractors and Fed Investigators! However, this brings me to my questions: being that some of the DCSA contractors are shortening ACDs (to like 1 week to 10 days), what incentive is there for the Contracting companies? BIG BONUSES for the Executives paid by the fed gov to get these cases in faster which will allow DCSA to look better in the eyes of the Senate? Just wondering.
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Actually, for the majority of my time as a TL, I did all of my own hiring, case assignments and terminations (though those were quite rare) and had one of the top performing teams in my company.
But thanks for playing!
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Yes Pseudo, that is your experience. I am sure you worked very hard. It also depends on the company you worked for and WHEN this was. it also depends on your investigators’ work locations and the amount of work they had. have you ever asked any of your FIs how many hours they worked “off the clock”. Unfortunately, you would be surprised to know the truth.
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I will agree with most of that. I didn’t keep dead weight around when I could avoid it, and had a great team in a high workload (and high cost of living) area.
I left this industry as soon as it became apparent that the workload was dwindling with no sign of returning. I don’t miss this industry at all, and I go back to the days of USIS.
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Well you were smart. I know many FIs that are leaving the industry because of the low workload. I am glad you were able to get out before there was nothing 
I loved my previous TL. She was awesome. She was fair and understood the stresses of the job and all of the FIs loved her. USIS - me as well!
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Another CACI “all hands” call next week. None of them have been good news. I guess you could be thankful that they are “communicating” - unlike Perspecta (OK, they are beginning to admit the obvious - there is less work now) and who knows where SCIS is at? (their recruiter seems to have disappeared from this forum). ISN? 1Force?
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ISN is in the bucket with CACI. They’ve already cut to survival mode.
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Any news yet from the all hands call posted about for this week?
Scripted presentation stating that CACI is still #1…but every one of the 3 contact companies gets 33% of the work available on their day in rotation after the Feds get theirs (* some other variations can occur). Lack of work for investigators not addressed - in fact, leadership basically punted on that question. Geez, the lack of huevos is glaring. I am still waiting for full case loads in the West. I get a few cases and then none…
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Thanks for he update.
Your comments made me laugh but unfortunately they ring true. Well stated. After months of no work, no explanation from the contractor and beginning to feel paranoid, I turned to this website. There is at least some comfort in knowing I am not alone…
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I agree! I was a FS at one of the big three and I spent more time babysitting than doing a job!
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Have you ever been a contract investigator or investigator? It is more than full time work. The accountability is there in several ways. It is tracked. I worked more than 40 hours every week until DOD took over.
You have work?!?!? What are of the country are you in?
Currently, very little work as I am a contractor. Work has been sporadic since DoD took over. There is work out there but the four companies contracted w/ DoD aren’t giving out work. They blame DoD. An OPM investigator says there is plenty of work. Not sure who to believe. And yes I’m in US
I haven’t seen a DCSA case as an IC since last 08/2019. It’s over for DCSA until this becomes a direct federal contract.
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