Exactly. I understand all the companies suck, but I certainly make way more than $15/hr and all my expenses are covered.
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@disillusioned which DCSA contractor do you work for? Peraton?
You should always be asking for a premium from a DCSA vendor when you take work. Never work a case that is outside of 30 miles from your home without asking for at least a 35% to 65% premium fee. That way you can recoup mileage and drive time that they donāt pay.
When you work cases outside of your area and at further distance from home, take a batch of cases at a premium and zone out your cases well for a couple of days to get done all of your field work. My days are long in the field but I try to avoid unnecessary trips and maximize profits to locations by staying out a long full day and even interviewing people in the evening hours. Try to always take either a TESI or Subject Interviews when taking cases far from home. Donāt allow the vendors to nickel and dime you on small piece work and records at great distances without giving you a Subject Interview or paying you for mileage and drive time.
You have to run this as a business and make business decisions in your best interests and not in the best interests of the vendor you work for. You follow my advice and I promise that youāll actually make some money at this gig.
Now as far as unpaid training costs for ICās, I have no suggestions for you. This has been a sore spot with me for years. Always has bothered me. Itās hard to believe with the millions of dollars of profits these vendors make that they can throw us a bone and pay us $35.00 an hour for training. Itās absolutely ridiculous. Whatās even more ridiculous is that the agencies know the ICās arenāt paying the vendors for required trainings and they do nothing about it.
Good luck out there. Being an IC isnāt easy but itās ten times better than being owned by one of the vendors and having work shoved down your throat by them ad naseum and being treated like a red headed step child.
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CACI still hasnāt rolled out the new guidance of no telephone testimonies - yet. With the new unrealistic metrics still in place, Section Leads are still allowing telephone testimonies. Itās the only way to get close to meeting metrics without working off the clock since all non-production requirements are now considered production. CrossFit Andy says thereās no intentions of changing the metrics or cost strings.
March will be month 3 since the new metrics came into play. I wonder if theyāll start issuing PIPās to those that havenāt met their metrics by close of March stats.
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Thatās great advice! Iāve only been an IC since November, after being a regular employee for 18 years, so itās taking some getting used to. I just had to do more ārequiredā DCSA training this week. The training took 7 hours, all for free, of course. Itās unbelievable that they donāt ask us to do training, but MAKE us do training and not offer a dime. I wonder if itās even legal to require someone to work for free.
Iāll also take your advice on asking for premiums. Most of my work is around 65 miles away and I didnāt realize that qualified as asking for a premium. So far Iāve been waiting until I get a batch of work in one area, then spend all day there, making sure I have at least one ESI, to make the day worthwhile.
I also started declining MEDIās as I realized quickly you end up making no money with those, with all the time you end up spending on them. And finally, Iāll turn down work if its for just one source or record and its at least a 80 mile round trip with no other work in the area.
Itās quite a strategic game you have to play as an IC. I was lured in with the promise that they ādonāt bug you all the timeā like CACI/Peraton and that you donāt have to worry about stats. It was very appealing, but I quickly learned that between all the unpaid stuff they want you to do and no mileage reimbursement equals very low pay when all is said and done as compared to regular employee. Ohā¦and they do bug you all the time!!! I hear from my person in charge way more than my section lead when I was a regular employee.
CrossFit Andy 
cracked me up. I did not come close to meeting 2/2023 numbers, if I miss again next month it will be a PIP for me. Other teammates on my team have been placed on a PIP. While others have not.
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what a clown that guy
Wow some people are actually hitting their numbers?! Besides working off the clock, how are they doing this? Please share your tips and suggestions.
I havenāt heard of anyone getting a PIP yet since the new metrics but Iām sure itās most likely in the worksā¦ CACI has lost their damn mind!
I stand corrected, the DCSA no telephone testimony memo went out yesterday to all CACI staff, I mustāve missed it - just like how Iāll surely be missing my metrics this month 
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As usual, the CAC memo was āclear as mudā. Lots of re-stating what has already been stated with the caveat that the direction given earlier is really the same - only differentā¦Couldāve done it in one sentence - No more Source interviews by phone (which has been the DCSA policy for several months, at least). No zoning happening for my assignments, so I am spending half of my field days driving. RESIs are going to be the worst for in-person (again). Oh well, just gotta do what you gotta do.
Shoot for 50% premium, 2-3 TESIās and a handful of sources and itās pretty easy to do $1,000 worth of interviews in a day. It will be a long day with the driving but get them all typed the next day and call it a week.
Do you know what is the standard for asking for a premium? Anything over 50 miles each way? Anything over 30 miles each way?
Curious if any of you know how to get in touch with someone at CACI in regards to IC work. Iām at Paragon now and workload has obviously plummeted. Wonder I can make the jump but I donāt want to be an employee. Can only find FT positions listed.
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Ask for a 35% - 65% premium anytime you take work outside of a 25-35 mile radius. Cite the hours you sit in a car and the cost of fuel. If thatās not good enough for them, then walk away and let the DCSA vendors miss their Critical Date to the customer.
Because of the upcoming subk between Caci and Paragon, you wonāt be able to work for both Caci and Paragon. There is probably a non-compete in the contract. I would wait just a few more weeks. The work will come back.
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Several ICās have sued several of these companies in several states in the past and won substantially.
The lawsuits were all related to required meetings and trainings that IC were required to attend but were not paid to do so. The CA lawsuit lead to the creation of zero hour employees in CA around 2015. There are states in which this labor practice is clearly illegal.
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CACI does not use independent contractors (IC). Best to go with Peraton, if you are so inclined to be an IC - at least they have a system in place for that role.
Try 1Force. I was an IC with them for few yrs. Great company
Nah, thatās wrong information. As an IC your customer is your business. Non compete does not apply because youāre not an employee of either company.
CACI is using IC through another subcontractor company I believe. I forget the name but I can try and find out.
We were told that Paragon (SCIS or whatever they will call the entity) and CANDA Solutions were going to fulfill the 30% small business requirement of the new contact for CACI. How either or both of those companies setup their investigators (W2 eeās and/or 1099 ICs) is not under CACIās purview, as far as I know. There just needs to be a certain ābody countā on the contract.
Itās baaack (maybe?). Our supervisor told us yesterday (CACI) that, for Sources, if you ask for in person 2x and they say that they are too busy to meet in person, you can do it by phone. Effective about a month agoā¦Of course it is only worth 1/2 a brownie point (or maybe .65) - but it could save a long drive for a 15 minute interview. Phone was OK/wasnāt OKā¦too much mileage being paid? National Security? Whatās that??
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