Wondering how it’s going for those of you who are working through the transition from KGS to Perspecta? What changes have you seen?
They changed the name of the company news letter, so that was pretty exciting.
LOL! Good to know. Kind of fits well with the fact that I have found virtually nothing online other than press releases.
I’m interested in this topic as well. I was recently hired by Perspecta but most of my paperwork has KGS logos all over it. It sort of felt like a bait and switch but I will give them the benefit of the doubt since they just formed a new company. I was just shocked that these documents weren’t changed. Switching out logos, names and addresses is pretty simple.
This is a great blog and has been very helpful to me.
There’s really no reason to think the culture has changed much at all in the span of a few months after years of the same behavior and management style. And from the looks of it (do some digging on this sub forum) they’ll throw you under the bus if they need to.
Working from home makes it hard to tell how the culture of the company is changing, if at all. I only hear from my field manager a couple times per month and I only have intermittent contact with newer investigators who have shadowed me. The name changed but the mission to produce reports and hit your numbers has not. Regarding receiving paperwork with KGS logos, I’m still waiting to be able to order new business cards and door tags with the new name and logo.
Wow. That is shocking. When you say the mission to produce reports and hit your numbers has not changed. Can you give an example?
I will be supporting a very remote area with poor cell phone coverage and so I expect to drive a considerable distance to do my interviews and collect records. How much of the work you do involves government based databases that you can retrieve information from? Just curious.
I expect to be waiting a few more weeks to find out about my interim clearance. (Hell, who knows?) In the mean time, I think I have found a temporary job. When should I tell the company about this new employment? My eQIP was updated a few weeks ago.
Thanks for all the advice and info!
Not sure what example I can give. The company is all about production. Being a field investigator, you are the tool to produce what the company needs, and that is reports. Lots of reports. You’ll be given arbitrary assigned completion dates to transmit your reports by. I do find it interesting that they have deadlines on cases where people filled out the eQIP back in 2016. What’s the point in a deadline then? Late is late. Supposedly they’ll be doing away with assigned completion dates sometime soon, but one can only dream of it for now.
The main database you’ll be pulling your information from is the personnel investigations processing system (PIPS) but that’s more or less to check what’s already been done on a case and whatnot. For the most part you’ll likely become good friends with the clerks at your local courthouse while you’re there asking them for records.
But yeah, like I said they just want you to conduct interviews and crank out reports. Reports are measured by “source units” and you’ll be required to transmit a certain number of source units per week. Some reports are worth more than others. The numbers for a level 1 investigator are pretty easy to hit even if you live in a non-metro area, but that’s just my opinion. If you produce above your level you can look forward to some nice bonuses.
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Thanks for the info. Any suggestions on what I should say about my temp job?
In one of my interviews there was a mention of a point system but it was not explained. In fact, neither one of my first two interviewees seemed to know anything about the job or the company.
The third interview was a Perspecta employee and a day after that interview I was offered the job. None of them were familiar with this area and its remoteness and I was not interviewed in-person as I was promised. I have a feeling that no one has ever been assigned to this area.
Don’t worry about the temp job, at least when it comes to Perspecta. You have to make ends meet and keep on top of your bills somehow. Waiting for your background investigation can take months, yours will likely be expedited depending on how bad they need investigators in your area. When you finally get contacted for a Subject interview just tell the investigator about your temp job and they’ll get all the details and may or may not interview a supervisor/co-worker, depending on how long you’ve been there. That will also be your chance to make any updates or clarifications to your e-QIP.
How long did it take you to get a start date after you received the favorable clearance? I’ve been patiently waiting to receive a start date for a month since receiving a favorable final.
i had my formal NBIB interview almost a month ago and I think it went very well. I expect to hear something soon as far as my interim clearance. Most of my references and contacts have been interviewed several weeks ago. I don’t have any information on my clearance or my start date.
I learned a lot about the position in this area and that there are other people already doing it here but just not that many. The NBIB investigator was very helpful. He also told me that his workload has been reduced because the contractors are taking over his work due to the upcoming transition to DoD. He said that my case was a priority.
I started this process at the beginning of June and it’s ridiculously slow. Especially since I’ve had several clearances off and on for many decades. I don’t blame the contract companies for trying to comply with the process but I do blame Congress for creating this mess. It’s inexcusable as far as I’m concerned.
Good luck!
I agree. Worked for KGS for a year then Perspecta for 2-3 months as a BI. Worst job I ever had, I am retired police investigator with 26 years of service. Constant turnover in this company and, constant refiles due to the turnover issue with reviewers.They dump cases on you that you have no way of completing unless you work 50-60 hours a week . Oh I almost forgot ,no OT. I could go on ,but my advice to anyone is to stay away from this company, 17.54 an hour isn’t worth it !!!
I just left Perspecta 1/2019 and didn’t see any change’s during the transition from KGS. The company is still horrible to BI.
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It’s been 7 and 1/2 months for me and counting… The lack of communication and professionalism is what is most frustrating to me. I am upset at myself for turning down other good jobs to wait for these fraudsters to put up or shut up. This kind of bait and switch should be illegal. I’m just angry at this point.
I tried having a friend do a search on JPAS to determine my actual status but they did not have a need to know and was rejected. The sponsoring agency should get off their collective butts and tell me what the hell is going on!
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I started out with KGS then transitioned to Perspective. There are problems but not with the company. It is with the “reviewers”. I retired after 32 years with the Sheriffs Dept, then worked 10 years with the Navy as a law enforcement instructor. The DOD is run and mandated by procedures and manuals. There are constant security drills and inspections that are required. Even though you follow all the rules and procedures, a security officer will say “I don’t care what the book says, do it my way”. After years of frustration, I retired from federal service. I took up with KGS for background investigations. I attended their required training and passed. After 3 months I started getting “refills” (rejections) from the reviewers for my reports. I argued, of course, sometimes I won, most of the time I was told “I don’t care what the book says, do it my way”. That set me off so I resigned.
I received my letter that I owed over $6K for training since I did not complete 1 year of employment. I did obtain an attorney because in California, required training is not reimbursable but they are still mandating that I pay it back. The fight is not over.
They purposely assign you a ton of cases. I worked over 40 hrs a week, not as a mandate but because they said I could not complete the worked assigned.
I was counseled but continued… just because. You get points for each type of investigation you do. The more points, the more advancement you can get.
My training officer and supervisors were great. I just had a problem with the reviewers.
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Hi,
Was your issue with Perspecta resolved?
Nothing has been settled but I haven’t heard from them in months.
Steve