Disposable Rant (Nicely) Room

I’ve also heard the quality expectations is 90% or greater which is fine and for my level 6 position the expectations is 26.5 points a week which shouldn’t be hard with the volume of work. I don’t expect getting bonuses and I’m OK with that as long as I meet my expectations I can be happy with my level and if I do get bonunes that would be great too.

CACI ALERT

 

has anyone received call from former usis TL, now with caci? I did. He not my actual usis tl but tl from other team. He told me he is calling everyone for recruitment purposes.

Why did caci hire him???!! I wanted to get as far away from usis as possible. THIS fellow part of that mess at usis and not communicating with anyone.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Disheartened. sigh

@ cold-hard-truth,

I received a similar offer from my USIS TL who is now with CACI. CACI took nearly every TL from what it sounds like and the rumor is (and I do mean rumor) is that they’re getting $1,000 bucks per FI they recruit over.

 

Your solution is to do what I did to get away from as much recent USIS staff as possible…go to KeyPoint.

I got the same call from my TL and this was after I signed on with KP, still trying to get me to change my mind. I thought my TL was fine really good, but I’m skeptical of CACI now hiring all these TLs but I’m joining KP and hopefully it will be a much better job than the last few years of usis

So out of the blue I just got a call from CACI asking if I got an offer and I politely told her I declined it to go work for another company. She was like is there anyway I can get you to change your mind and honestly I was like nope I’m content with the decision I’ve made and that was the end of it. It seems like CACI is in hardcore recruit mode whatever it takes. Keypoint already had a base of 2000 investigators and now CACI seems like they are just trying to swoop up as many investigators and management as possible.

<span style=“background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);”>Your solution is to do what I did to get away from as much recent USIS staff as possible…go to KeyPoint.</span>

I would say, based on a over a half-decade of experience (with only “exceeds performance” and above reviews), that if you have the option to go with CACI, jump at it.

No, with the remaining private equity firm-run company it is not simply about meeting your expectation levels and having few errors in your ROI’s. You will be expected to work above expectations and if you don’t you’ll be missing a few ACD’s (no bonus). Forget about demotion fears, you will have constant fear of termination for not being able to work at the over-assigned level of work with very short deadlines. Or when there is a down turn of work in your area just hope the ax comes ‘for thee and not for me’. Not to mention all this is in addition to the ever-increasing admin burdens (all to improve quality of course </sarcasm>). Bonuses are very modest and well below the extra production necessary. Metrics are constantly changing and new dubious schemes to “improve” how things are done change as frequently as the company’s upper management. But how could this surprise anyone? This is the remaining private equity firm-run company. It is like the hedge fund that owns Olive Garden with its management plans to improve the restaurant by rationing the number of breadsticks given to customers. Hey this is business, right? And business is all about profits, right? Right. Yeah, right.

Talk to a CACI investigator. Then talk with a KGS investigator. Your decision will be, as they say in decision-making parlance, a no-brainer.

Look at the discussion about this in the past two weeks. It was all about benefits, signing bonus, salary. Talk about missing the forest for the H&W deductions yada, yada, yada.

But maybe you were in USIS so long this is all you know. You can’t adjust to life out there. In which case you’ll love KGS, it’ll be like going from Shawshank to Pelican Bay.

Jumping in here. I’m a Manager with CACI on the OPM project and feel that it’s important to set the record straight. We understand that there are rumors out there and that is to be expected during a time like this. It is true that we are hiring team leads from USIS - having a full team come on board intact will help ease the transition. However, we are screening for qualifications and performance as we want to hire the most qualified candidates. We are absolutely committed to putting people back to work, but need to ensure that our strict hiring standards are upheld. These won’t be your average teams – we aim for high performance. On that note, we have a strong management training program in place to help assimilate all new hires on this project.

To address the bonus question, it is true that bonuses will be offered, however they are performance-based and are tied directly to a Team Lead’s results by the end of their first year. If anyone has any questions, I encourage you to attend any of our virtual career fairs (http://www.caci.com/job/OPMOpenhouse0919.shtml) or email BIJobs@caci.com.

So let me get this straight. You are hiring team leaders from usis?!?! The same individuals that are responsible for the mass exodus of quality investigators over the past few years? Please tell me i did not join caci to get away from the sweatshop we all know as usis just for caci to just hire the idiocy that got yall here in the first place. Its like a bad dream. Keypoint should stop hiring now and scoop up the ton of people that will be looking for employment again once they realize their management is the same kool aide drinking individuals they were hoping to get away from. My resume will be the first to hit keypoints desk if i even see a tl near me get hired.

@andybutler

 

Incorrect. No way are u hiring best and brightest tl from usis. I know one quite well. He almost got fired at usis 2 years ago. Has big problems communucating with team. I will not diclose pii and state names or state. You will find out in short order.

 

I think caci hired any tl with a pulse, just like the fi being hired. Right?

this is turning into a nightmare, heck, Sterling Philips probably got a phone call as well.

 

CACI and keypoint will be no different from USIS, except for the name of course

TL’s need a refresher course and their first lesson should be understanding the role of team leader. My TL only cared about the stats so they can get their bonus.

 

come Oct 1st, this is going to be the same sh*t, different company

 

so sad

@toby

 

have you ever worked for keypoint, USIS, or Caci and if so for how long? Talking to investigators working for both companies for perspective is good, but in no way should it be a major factor in your decision for joining. I’ve talked to people that love and dislike both companies but that is normal as no company is perfect and not every employee loves doing the job. I’m sure there are a lot of disgruntled employees from keypoint, Caci and USIS that try to take any opportunity to slander said company, and I am also sure there are legitimate complaints as well. All we can do as worker bees is pick up the pieces, choose the company that works best for you and work as hard as you can and give 100% effort and dedication. No matter what I have a feeling both companies will treat us like human beings, instead of just another number.

by the way, just wanted to shout out my TL for having a masters degree and that degree was money well spent. Hey, someone has to make sure you filled out your timesheet.

 

team leaders, ugh, my head hurts from hearing that job title

 

USIS will live on

Does anyone know what Omniplex is like as an employer? I know they work small and/or classified contract, but I’m interested in hearing on over impressions for anyone that’s worked for them as an employee or contractor.

you know your TL is so disconnected and out of touch from the team when the TL asks, during a telecom, if anyone has any questions and someone asks, what timesheet code do we charge the telecom to?

 

TL’s, at least from USIS, get no respect and will not get any respect

@deedisdone81

Check out this Yahoo story KGS paid to have planted as a “news” story: https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/keypoint-government-solutions-nations-largest-120000801.html

Even up until the end there were positive reviews of USIS at Glassdoor. Btw, I only trust the bad reviews there.

KGS brought over a lot of USIS people a couple/few years ago. Seems like a lot of them were cut loose when there were downturns in work.

After checking out omniplex job openings, I’m 99.9% sure they are getting the NGA esmarts contract. They are only hiring background investigators for Arnold, mo at louis, mo and Springfield, va the three locations where NGA is and you are required to have a TS sci clearance with a CI poly. Man I had really hoped keypoint would have gone after that contract, really liked working on it. Oh well, omniplex got dropped by OPM in the past, so it will be interesting to see how they do this time around.

I’m so tired of hearing about the low bonuses, short due dates, large workload, etc regarding KGS. Bonuses are bonuses because they’re unexpected and shouldn’t be counted towards part of your income. If you need bonuses to feed your family or pay bills you have other problems.

I’ve never had problems with due dates, can manage my workload and I was a top performer at USIS for several years. Oh, and I did it on an honest 40 by working smart, not letting myself get distracted, and zoning my work. I also know the handbook inside and out. Some people just can’t figure it out…

 

Anyways, said my peace. I’m sure I’m getting flagged for this one so just remember, whether you chose KeyPoint or CACI, can’t we just all be happy USIS will rot in Hell as the previous poster mentioned?

Ok-let me try to sift through all of the rumors and speculation and even what the CACI and Keypoint recruiters, managers, and even CEO’s are saying to us right now that have commented on this forum and prior threads. Each companies representatives are going to tell us half truths mingled with their own opinions and perspective. What you need to remember is that a CEO, manager, and TL’s perspective about a company is very different from what a field investigator experiences in his day to day duties. I wouldn’t believe or trust what a recruiter, manager, VP, or CEO said as far as I could throw them.

 

I’m going to give you my unbiased perspective as a furloughed USIS employee . I was a USIS employee of 11 years and I spendt 4 grueling weeks of doing heavy research, reading these blogs and forums, and looking into both companies, and being recruited by both companies. I took this decision very seriously and weighed all of my options, weighed the pro’s and con’s, talked to field managers at both CACI and KGS and I’ll tell you why I believe Keypoint at this point in time is the best place to work.

 

First of all, I will say that I think CACI appears to be a reputable company.

 

Here are the pro’s and con’s of each company:

 

Keypoint’s Pros:

-Here is what we all need to remember because OPM has told both of these companies the same thing: “The work will go with the company that has the largest capacity to handle the work”. Keypoint already had double….perhaps triple the number of field investigators that CACI had prior to the furlough. Keypoint has been the more established company in this industry and geographically and is currently according to Program Managers at Keypoint is currently receiving 80% of the USIS prior share of the contract while CACI is only getting 20% of the USIS share. Keypoint already had more of the contract share than CACI prior to the furlough and the gap has only widened. If you want to go with the more established company that will get more of the workload which means possibly less detailing and more job security than I believe Keypoint is the company to sign on with.

 

-Keypoint’s review process is less “nit-picky” than CACI. Multiple people I have talked with that have either contracted with CACI or worked F/T have mentioned how incredibly “nit-picky” and impossible to get a case through CACI review. Keypoint is not good either but from what I have been told CACI is the worst and extremely stringent. That scares the living hell out of me because there is nothing worse than being constantly inundated by an incompetent review staff.

 

-Eric Hess is the current CEO and has mentioned that he used to work under the Phil Harper days at USIS. He was a VP under Harper and knows how good of a thing USIS had pre 2005 when the company was employee owned. I think Eric Hess may understand better than CACI management even though Hess has been out of the security clearance industry for many years that the field investigators really are the “engine” of their company. I can only “hope” that he treats employees as such and rewards the field staff for being that engine for his company.

 

-Keypoint appears to pay better than CACI at the highest levels of the FI salary. $65,000 for a Level 6.

 

-Keypoint requires only 26.5 source units per week to attain and maintain their highest level 6 which is roughly 5.25 weighted testimonies per day. CACI requires at their level 3 position (mid level position)–6 weighted testimonies per day. Let me ask you former USIS employees…how many of you were able to attain 6 weighted testimonies per day on a consistent level beside when you went on an occasional detail and could eat, sleep, and drink cases for 4 weeks?? The answer is probably very very few of you could attain 6 weighted testimonies per day. With all of the changes on the OPM contract over the years, 4.5 to 5.5 weighted testimonies per day is the norm that most senior investigators could consistently obtain at USIS and that was with a weight of 6 for an ESI and a weight of 2 for a REFE item. Well, both companies have much lower weights for ESI and REFE items so good luck getting 6 weighted testimonies per day at CACI. CACI also pays $27.00/hour at the peak at the level 3. If there is anyone that can obtain 7 weighted testimonies consistently without putting a cot and sleeping bag in an office on an Army post, Air Force base, or govt. contractor facility and basically reside inside of the facility…then please advise me what dream world you are living in to obtain to 7 weighted testimonies without working off of the clock. Let’s not even go there with CACI’s highest level of 8 weighted testimonies at their Level 5. That level is for gypsies and wizards that can disappear and reappear and not have to get in a vehicle and actually sit in traffic or have people cancel, not show up, or have to reschedule. Heaven forbid a case that will blow up on the CACI’s level 3, 4, or 5. I feel sorry for those folks. It’s obviously apparent that Keypoint has the more reasonable metrics for their levels. CACI’s levels are completely up in the night.

 

Keypoint will change and adjust ACD’s without much of an explanation. Keypoint will also adjust an Investigators workload if they have too much work.

 

Con’s of Keypoint-

 

You can be demoted if you don’t consistently perform at your level over a given quarter. I think this is total crap due to the extenuating circumstances each of us deal with in the field due to “nightmare cases that blow up”, travel time, source’s availability, etc. and I signed on anyways even though they told me this could happen during the recruiting process. I don’t like this one bit and it still bothers me. CACI also told me that they can also demote if you are not performing at the level assigned to you. So both companies are playing this silly game of threatening a demotion. I wonder if this game will work with former USIS employees as I’m afraid this crap won’t fly and both companies will get a lot of back lash if any company tries this with former USIS employees.

 

Pro’s of CACI:

 

They do not do RIF’s or furlough’s to their companies because the BI work that they do is a small part of who they actually are and why they are as a business. CACI is actually a company that earns millions in revenue and profits each year and do not rely upon the OPM contract to sustain themselves. This is a real positive. I believe that they were listed in Forbes top 500 companies to work at…

 

CACI is a small and growing company and there are probably more options available in the future to work in management or become a TL.

 

CACI talks and says that the know how to treat their employees with dignity and respect. Let’s hope this is true for all of you new CACI employees.

 

Con’s of CACI:

 

-they bicker with you and deduct H&W fringe benefit payment of $3.81 from your salary so they actually do not match your salary but instead make you take a $8,000 to $9,00 pay cut. Be careful and make sure you let them know that they need to match your USIS hourly base rate and that the $3.81 H&W fringe benefit payment is to be used for benefits only and should not be included in the base rate that is calculated. They’ll try to pull a fast one on you….good luck with negotiating a fair salary for yourself.

 

-CACI does not have a large presence geographically like KGS and will struggle when the backlog is caught up in 6 months to a year.

 

-CACI is hiring inept and former TL’s of USIS. Some people like their TL’s and if they have a good TL…then it may not be a good idea to hitch your wagon to them but be careful they are getting bonuses and money for signing you up with CACI. Ask yourself a question…do you really think your TL really cares about you as an employee. Ask yourself if your TL would still leave you to accept a TL position without anybody that he/she knows on an existing CACI team. The answers is more than likely no… your TL’s are looking out for themselves and they would still sign on to become a TL with or without you because most TL’s are too afraid to go back in the field and “earn their keep”.

 

-Con’s of both companies include they are both going to give you more work than you can handle and you will always be stressed out and always be behind the eight ball. Both companies are in this business to make a profit.

 

These are my thoughts and opinions. I’ve done the research and this is what I have gathered from an unbiased opinion. I realize both companies have glaring weaknesses. Just don’t let CEO’s, VP’s, or managers sway you into making the right decision for yourself. Look at potential for workload in the future, investigator/reviewer relationship, salary, and your overall gut feeling at the end of the day. Good luck to all.

 

 

@investigator123

 

well said. I took the same approach as you and while bonuses were nice, they should never be factored in. I would rather work hard and earn my salary then sandbag at a lowere level and earn quarterly bonuses that in fact will never come close to the salary 3 levels higher that one could easily hit in a 40 hour work week. I’ve been a field trainer and I’ve always said this job is not for everyone. You can mentor or mold an investigator but you cannot create or force one into being an investigator. This job takes very strong organizational skills, time management skills, discipline, analytical skills, paying strong attention to detail, and strong oral and written communication skills at the least. With that one must have strong moral character, integrity honesty and strong motivation and dedication. Not everyone has all those traits, and it can be a wake up call for some. This has been my only career out of college, all I know, and I’ve always put forth everyone of those traits in every investigation I’ve done. I’ve seen people come and go with the attitude of its just a paycheck, or it will be a nice retirement job. Frankly those people should have never been hired for anything. A job is exactly what it says, and you should never be looking for the easy way out in any job. This job is very difficult and I know the majority of us bust our ass in protecting national security of this country. I’ve been doing this for 9 years and I honestly can say I’ve had good times and bad times, but i wouldn’t trade this job for anything. What other job do you know of that allows you to set your own schedule, manage your own cases, work from home if you need to, etc. here’s to the hope that USIS is a wake up call to these other competitors in how to not treat employees. USIS was once s great company when I started, but slowly over time it became toxic. It became not fun to work for, and frankly embarrassing. I am excited for a fresh start and am proud to be working for a new job again protecting the national security of this great country.

@andybutler

Why do the people running your daily telecoms keep insisting that CACI is not hiring former USIS TL’S yet you just said the opposite. My TL had an offer and it was rescinded because he was told CACI was promoting internally. What is the real story here? Why would CACI hire USIS TL’S when almost every investigator you speak with strongly advises the company not to. There is really no way to screen anyone’s leadership ability or style without seeing them in action. Anyone can lie during the interview process.

I am starting to believe that CACI can’t handle the opportunity they have been presented. I know people who were hired six weeks ago and have not hit the field yet even though their scheduled start dates were weeks ago. Some have been waiting so long they have decided to go with Keypoint to see if they can speed up the process. Your managers on the telecoms keep telling people it’s a two to three week process when this is far from the truth. Today I found out thru sources that you guys don’t have the computers ready for new investigators. Sir please tell us what’s really going on at CACI. Thank You.