There’s no way of explaining it other than they have the most inefficient methods of doing literally everything. I don’t know if things have changed since I left but when I was there, they didn’t have MS Office installed on any of the laptops meaning no quick parts. They had a stripped down version of FWS. You had to type out EVERYTHING. If you developed foreign travel, ALL the disclaimers had to be typed manually. We weren’t even allowed to copy and past within FWS. Multiply that by hundreds of disclaimers you needed to type out manually and you can see it was a major time sucker.
When it came to admin stuff, they had like 10-20 different times codes for production time not including non-production time. The other companies I’ve worked for had one time code for production and one for non production.
Expense reports were a nightmare. They required you track your miles by individual case. When it came time to actually fill out the expense sheet did they have your cases prepopulated anywhere? Nope. You had to type out the case name and number to the corresponding date you drove those miles. Other companies, you just typed the number of miles you drove for work that day. Done.
Monthly manifesting was another nightmare. It would take me an average of 2 to 4 hours to manifest because of the crazy system they had in place. They made it so it was super convenient for PMO but a nightmare for investigators.
This is just admin. Don’t get me started on actual case work. Suffice it to say that their review department is infamous. More time is spent closing reopens than working cases.
If you don’t mind spending countless hours doing admin time and closing reopens then CACI may be for you.
I have worked for 3 different contractors and they all have their problems. The interviews and reporting is basically the same, you just have to figure out which company you can put up with best. Most of it honestly comes down to the section lead/team lead - a horrible boss can ruin even the best company. CACI’s computer systems are the absolute worst, but you can charge non-productive time to it…so, it is a pain in the rear, but it doesn’t count against your stats. Manifesting can take 2 hours if you do a lot of work…but you charge that time to manifesting. There is a charge string for everything, but when it comes to fieldwork there is only one code (this changed about a year ago from a different code for every case type). Review is the worst, but you can rebut your reopens which wasn’t an option when I was at another company (everything counted against you, even if the reviewer mistakenly reopened your case). I have done this job for 15 years and I have been through my share of bosses. I have the best I have ever had. It makes all the difference when you have someone willing to fight for you. If you are looking to work for any one of the contract companies…ask to speak to your potential boss before ever signing on. And if their last name starts with a “K” run far far away!!
I too have 15 years experience and am on my 5th contractor. I had a great team lead but the crazy admin issues and reopens made it untenable.
I have to respectfully disagree when it comes to reporting. CACI has some really crazy requirements that I haven’t experienced with any other company. This is what leads to the insane reopen rate. No other company does this. Not even Keypoint. Maybe things have changed.
Did they finally install MS office? That would be a game changer for them.
Sounds like CACI is a burden to deal with. What makes CACI review side so challenging? I cannot imagine their review is any worse than my time with USIS, KGS, and GDIT. I think all of these NBIB vendors all have challenging and onerous review standards and are all scrupulous on certain things more so than other vendors. It does seem like I’ve heard CACI review is the most scrupulous and nit picky. Perhaps that’s why they have the best quality score and are rated the highest for quality amongst all NBIB vendors. I think when we work for different vendors, it’s like stepping into a cow pasture. It’s a different pasture but there exists the same cow crap and similar land mines in each pasture. That’s is one of the reasons why this industry and profession is so unrewarding, cumbersome, and frustrating.
I filed my paperwork in November 2017. Had an investigator come in Feb. 2018 to go over my SF86, other than that no word from anybody. 18 months and waiting.
Within the last couple of years until ISN and GDIT couldn’t come to an agreement on a contract renewal with ISN and subsequently GDIT kicked ISN to the curb.
I have a friend who is with ISN and is caught up in that mess. Don’t know who really is to blame but, as always, the investigators suffer because of it. I wish I had a better experience with GDIT. I give props for you all staying in the game for as long as you have though.
Spoke to an old co-worker who got kicked from ISN. They kind of forced them to go with CACI in CA. ISN was reported to be so laidback. But then that’s probably why it’s not going to last. I would love to a fly on the wall when they realize CACI is 100 times worse than GDIT!
I’m currently with CACI and have no issues. Of course I’ve only been on the contract a year and have not had experience with other companies. But in my area we have plenty of work. Sounds like they all have their pros and cons but from my experience no complaints.
There is legal history with independent contractors in California suing contractor ISPs because they are treated like employees.
I know CACI has part-time investigators but do not use ICs anywhere.
The ISN California investigators probably had to leave ISN because California labor laws could have put CACI in a bind if they remained subcontractors. I am not bashing the California labor laws as I learned from past experience that the California laws protects the workers better than 45 other states.
I am a reviewer and worked at several vendors. Inconsistency is a giant problem. When a reviewer starts at a contractor, if they have experience, they are seen as trained. Each contractor handles things differently, despite being on the same contract; and sometimes changes get lost in transitions. Rebuttals are a training tool for me, it helps me correct my guides. I am sorry so many of you had difficulty with review. I hope training gets implemented and reporting guides, to make it standard.
I worked two vendors and now the Feds. The review for the Feds is similar to the early 2000’s with my original employer. I hear from friends how each of the contractors tell their folks that “OPM requires this…” when — OPM doesn’t.
I feel this is also true when it comes to how we conduct interviews and even experienced it first hand being interviewed as a source for neighbors and coworkers. I’ve been doing this as a contractor for a few years and have my source interviews down to about 10 - 15 minutes, but could knock them out in 5 if our list of questions was as short as NBIB’s seems to be. It’s been a while since I did my own subject interview and that was back when it was still a SSBI so I’d be curious to see how much shorter it will be when I need to go through it again…assuming we haven’t all been deemed unnecessary by this new CE process and let go by then.
Wow… I couldn’t tell that going by how short and sweet all the source interviews I’ve done with NBIB investigators are. They don’t ask half the stuff I’m required to ask.
