The Week in Comments: Contracting, pay and contracting pay
The best in reader reaction to recent articles.
A roundup of some of the comments received this week in the GovExec.com Mailbag. All comments are presented in their original, unedited form.
On Senate-passed Defense bill would cap contractor pay
Smart move and the cap should be even lower. Big companies have layers of overpaid managers and even small ones have the owner drawing obscene salaries all recovered on DoD contracts. Who will audit the companies though? The Defense Contract Audit Agency is reviewing public vouchers and has not audited an overhead claim in years. DCAA is busy reviewing public vouchers and DCMA is doing the work DCAA should be doing. DCAA is out to lunch.
What??? Cap contractor pay? How will they ever catch up with Federal CS salaries? Darn. There will be more people looking for jobs in the over-paid government sector.
I don't understand the fuss by contractors, from what I see it only applies to the amount they can charge the government for the salaries of those folks working against a contract, that they are still free to pay the salaries through their profit and earnings. Did I miss something here?
On Obama orders upgrades to energy efficiency of federal buildings
What a joke. All federal agencies are required to reach a specified level of energy savings as a result of the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act. This is just a political gimmick. What else would one expect from Obama.
How about just making it mandatory to turn off periferal equipment, like printers, at night and over the weekends? And lights in rooms not being used, during the work day, and at night and on the weekends . . . Since our building was upgraded, and the automated lighting systems "improved" more lights than before are left burning up energy all the time . . . and if this sounds too simple, why am I bothering to write it? Cause it's not being done; because no one said it's coming out of managements performance award if it's not . . .
On Senior managers awarded smaller bonuses in 2010
Once again the working class people get jammed again. No pay raise or incentives but your SES don't do without.
At a time when federal pay is frozen, why should they get any bonuses at all? If the argument is that we "get what we pay for", that applies all the way down "the food chain".
Well this is certainly discouraging news and sounds rather unequal and prejudicial (not unlike the healthcare options for Congress) in my opinion. I hardly think that 47% of the SES leadership should be rated at the "highest level" since all the GS folks at least in my agency seem to be rated on a system governed by very strict standards detailed according to their performance plans. Overall, my agency has many high performers but not all are, of course, and award amounts are dictated and controled by outside factors in the larger clinical VHA staffing system. $13-$15K awards seems over the top to me, for staff that often are in place no more than 4 years. And that Fed who says that supervisors were awarded 4% of their salary this year - where does he work - not where I do that's for sure! In all seriousness, neither I nor my terrific staff (Guys/Ladies if you read this I really appreciate you more than you know) do this for the bonus - but it would be more pleasant to swallow rather than choke -- awards for civil service should be equalized across agencies and positions.
5 figure bonus. I got a 5 figure bonus, if you include the 2 numbers behind the decimal point.
On Why Obama might veto defense bill: It would hurt the fight against terrorism
The simple solution would be to have U.S. Citizens tried under the Constitution, Naturalized Citizens should have their citizenship revoked and lump them with all non-citizens that should be tried under the Hague International Courts. I'd say let the UN handle it but they classify the terrorists as Freedom Fighters, despite the fact that they kill thousands of their fellow countrymen for not bowing to the terrorist's rule.
This one is easy. Since we are pulling out of overseas wars, the war junkies are trying to continue their fix, a fix that costs us $Trillions in tax money every year. The worst always hides behind the highest sounding.
On Postal Service announces closure of 252 processing facilities
Finally, an agency acknowledges it will have to do less with less, and articulates what those changes will be and the impact they will have on the public.
Bring back the pony express!
They should raise the price of first class and bulk mail to cover costs. They'll survive by customer demand or they will go away. What's the big deal?
If you're not getting customers, why would you raise the stamp price? It's the McDonald's Principle -- the higher the stamp price, the more who go online for their banking!! If you want customers, lower the price and make it worth their while. Now, stamps are up 45 cents a bill -- a bill that goes to a company offering discounts if you do your paying online ... this is truly a no-brainer USPS!!!
Punishing yourself for falling on the ole sword, unusual for those left side of center. Apparently he had no wiggle room otherwise he would have resisted until the media forgot what he has done.
Everybody errs, but we might start vetting all political appointees alittle more. I hope he seeks treatment for his addiction. To be so drunk you end up on the wrong side of the road and could kill an innocent is inexcusible.
I think stating Mr. Babbit has an addiction is out of order. There is no way anyone reading an article could determine that. Sorry, but that was stupid, mean and uncalled for in any sense. Got to love the self rightious.
When killing someone with a vehicle carries the same penalty as killing with a gun, DUIs will be treated as the crime they are and not classified as impaired and not responsible for their actions.
On Groups urge House to reject proposals reducing federal pay and benefits
Where are the valid audits of the necessity, efficiency, effectiveness and value to the taxpayer of every federal agency, program, and grant? These are audits that should have been done at regular intervals so the hiring of employees never occurred in the first place.
As a GOV employee I would prefer an extended pay freeze over a change to my benefits. Any change to benefits would remain long after an economic recovery. Benefit reductions are never reversed. Can you imagine our benefits being improved when the economy improves? Not likely. A pay freeze would end at a specified time and we could begin to recieve increases to bring us back in line with the outside world. A pay freeze is potentially recoverable. Benefit changes are forever.
Any CSRS employee should be examining their individual situation and decide whether they'd be better off retired. You might be pleasantly surprised to learn that in the long term, you're better off retired in light of recent and possible future events. Don't forget to factor in your CSRS retired COLA in the equation. I received 5.8% COLA in 2009 and 3.6% in 2012. Even if the pay freeze isn't extended, you're likely to receive higher near future retired COLA's due to the recession which is expected to continue a downward pressure on wages. Don't forget that the index used for federal retirees is different than the index used for federal employees in determining COLA. The majority of CSRS employees have 30+ yrs. service and therefore should be seriously comparing their retired to current income in light of the current pay freeze as well as other proposals still being considered.
On Pentagon moves against conversion of in-house work to contractors
Really, a memo, just memo. No one in this installation cares about policy and laws, much less a mere memo. At this base in Bedford, MA, we continue to: hire contractors to replace government workers; hire contractors just because their our friends and oh by the way let's pay them a huge salary; hire contractors for personal services such as running retirement parties and writing government/military award and performacne package; to be the SES's personal secretary at $90K a year when the going rate is $35-40K for that type of work; we continue to buy them laptops and blcakberries and pay their bills, we allow them to work at home when there is no work, and leadership will tell you they will do what they want with their program dollars so just mind your own business. If you think a mere memo is going to stop this place you are wrong. AF Audits - numerous ones - have been ignored. That is because these contractors outnumber us and run us . . . right into a base closing. And leadership don't seem to care.
So, AFGE aknowledges that DoD is being faced with a decision to meet budget requirements or to perform mission. AFGE clearly prefers that they do RIFS, staff reductions and hiring freezes to meet budget cuts rather than meet mission requirements through the best and most efficient support service provider. Not even permitting a ompetition to decide. What would you call that? No contractintg regardless of the impact on mission or the reduced impact that contracting could/has had on current federal emplopyees.
This certainly puts the lie to Obama's claimed focus on cutting spending, doesn't it? Taxpayers are entitled to have government services provided at the lowest cost, which happened under competitive sourcing. Obama's pandering to unions by converting contractor jobs to jobs in the bureacracy, irrespective of merit, is a joke on us all.