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Contractors, be WARNed.

X3pilot

Texans fan - LOL
Aug 13, 2007
5,860
1
SoMD
Sorry, Stink, your time may be running out. Seems in an effort to lessen sequestration, particularly the 60 day notice thing, the DOL feels WARN act doesn't apply to defense contractors.

Is it odd that 60 days prior to sequestration on Jan 2, 2013 is Nov 2, 2012???

Some Senators don't think this will work. Not to mention the fact that the DOL has no authority to enforce or not to enforce the WARN act.

Glad I went govvie worker when I did!

http://www.help.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/?id=4c5a7654-b0c8-4d07-ad30-a0c48adda57b
 

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
6
http://www.aei-ideas.org/2012/07/the-warn-act-hypocrisy/

i've actually been reading up on this the last couple days, & our contract just went into "recompete lite", which is like a no-bid. oh, but i just got an email 20m ago we have an all-hands first thing monday, so maybe we'll all be walked. no matter, i met w/ a recruiter yesterday, and things are popping here in town for other DoD work for SBA qualified corps, which we just became due to massive layoffs.

and if that doesn't pan out, i'm swingin for 30% from the VA so i can pop a fat tit in my mouth
 

dante

Unabomber
Feb 13, 2004
8,807
9
looking for classic NE singletrack
Don't worry, since the government "doesn't create jobs" it'll just mean that all those people freely volunteering their time will have to go do something else. Peace Corp perhaps?


Yay smaller government/less government spending, right?


edit: Best of luck, $tinkle, regardless of what happens.
 

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
6
Yay smaller government/less government spending, right?
from the VA site:
At a recent joint hearing of the House Veterans' Affairs and Armed Services Committees, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Eric Shinseki, confirmed that under sequestration, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) would face cuts, possibly affecting the administration of veterans' benefits and services. Wait times for the Integrated Disability Evaluation System are already at record highs, the disability claims backlog has tripled in the past four years, and a majority of veterans seeking mental health evaluations wait an average of two months for an appointment.
<scareTactics>it ain't like 2 months delay in legally binding medical evaluation/adjudication and further mental deterioration might result in anything bad, like, say...acting out using military training & tactics...right? i'm sure they can just dial back the instability knowing they have to wait 60 days. if unable, and they want to jump the line, all they have to do is show up wherever crowds gather & go to work</scareTactics>
edit: Best of luck, $tinkle, regardless of what happens.
thanks, mang
 

dante

Unabomber
Feb 13, 2004
8,807
9
looking for classic NE singletrack
from the VA site:<scareTactics>it ain't like 2 months delay in legally binding medical evaluation/adjudication and further mental deterioration might result in anything bad, like, say...acting out using military training & tactics...right? i'm sure they can just dial back the instability knowing they have to wait 60 days. if unable, and they want to jump the line, all they have to do is show up wherever crowds gather & go to work</scareTactics>
That ain't what the head honcho said a few weeks ago...

So in the hearing, Chesapeake Congressman Randy Forbes brought the question directly to Secretary of the VA, Eric Shinseki.

&#8220;We have been informed that VA would be exempt from sequestration with the exception of administrative costs,&#8221; said Shinseki.
We're looking at cutting $500b over 10 years..... That's $50b/year, or ~5% compared to what we're spending now (since it appears that VA spending is lumped in with general military spending). If we can't cut 5% of the budget through "eliminating and reducing waste," well then this isn't the $500 hammer military that I know and love.


By the way, all the right-wingers have to do to avoid "sequestration" is to agree to a budget that cuts money elsewhere or raises taxes by that amount.... Yeah, don't see that happening.
 

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
6
By the way, all the right-wingers have to do to avoid "sequestration" is to agree to a budget that cuts money elsewhere or raises taxes by that amount.... Yeah, don't see that happening.
age old politics says it's good strategy to do nothing if you can blame the other guy for the fallout

but generally speaking, sunsets & other automatic date-driven measures are a good thing when matched with "we will re-visit & act on this upon sunset"
 

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
6
Army under secretary: With or without sequestration, DoD will shrink
The Army is in the midst of cutting 8,700 civilian positions by this October. The uniformed workforce is also downsizing "significantly" and the Army will "probably see some further reduction on the reserve component," Westphal said.

At the same time, one area of potential workforce growth is in the area of mental health as the department increasingly recognizes the need to get rid of the stigma and treat post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries.

"PTSD or traumatic brain injury, although you can't see them, is no different from a gunshot wound. If you have a gunshot wound, you're not going to say, 'No, I need to be in the front lines, no matter what,'" Westphal said.

The impact of the overall workforce shrinkage will be more competition to rise up the ranks.

"You're going to be competing with more highly qualified majors to become a lieutenant colonel and lieutenant colonels to become a colonel. But it's going to become more of a premium and it's going to become more important to be better and to be great at what you do, and that's important to the country to have the best military possible," he said.

Westphal also said he worries that younger people will not want to join the service. "If you hear a lot of dialogue coming out of this city, it will be hard to be attracted to government service," he said.

Cutbacks must be done with a "great sensitivity to timing," he said. He advocates reducing the force through attrition and once the economy has bounced back.

"Nobody wants to see across-the-board cuts. Nobody wants to see reductions in the workforce that don't make sense in terms of the responsibilities that we have, and that's both on the contractor side as well as the civilian said," Westphal said.
 

dante

Unabomber
Feb 13, 2004
8,807
9
looking for classic NE singletrack
So instead of spending as much as every other country in the world combined, we're going to be down to spending as much as every other country in the world combined except Eritrea. Yay!!


Thankfully since the government didn't "create" these jobs, nothing's to be lost by "losing" them...
 

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
6
due to sequestration, day of reckoning is at hand

3 mos ago, we were a medium sized business
as of oct1, we'll have a few dozen at most, and i'm one of 3 developers on an FAA contract; all DoD & VA has been flotsamed/jetsamed

hope it sticks, as it will put me a few blks from capitol hill until the spring
 

Pesqueeb

bicycle in airplane hangar
Feb 2, 2007
40,138
16,536
Riding the baggage carousel.
due to sequestration, day of reckoning is at hand

3 mos ago, we were a medium sized business
as of oct1, we'll have a few dozen at most, and i'm one of 3 developers on an FAA contract; all DoD & VA has been flotsamed/jetsamed

hope it sticks, as it will put me a few blks from capitol hill until the spring
Soooo...... More riding time?
 

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
6
update

tl;dr: due to compensation structuring of federal employees, axed workers would receive a severance to cost greater than proposed savings by eliminating their jobs

:facepalm:
 

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
6
end of FY12 & MDW/NCR is caving in
NGB opted out of a major contract, as is the trend for the next few months.

and there's no commercial paper floating any earmarked projects.

yeah, dude, this **** just got real
 

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
6
http://money.cnn.com/2012/09/28/news/economy/spending-cuts-fiscal-cliff/index.html
The government said it would cover legal costs if contractors are forced to slash their payrolls because of the looming $109 billion in automatic cuts next year and are alleged to have violated the WARN Act.
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Both parties in Congress created the sequester -- a series of thoughtless, automatic, across-the-board cuts -- as a way to force their hand to agree on a more gradual bipartisan debt-reduction plan.
and from the "well, that escalated quickly" files: sacked. in fact, we're -- sorry, they're auguring in quite fast. should go super nova by weeks' end, and we'll be lucky to get vac paid out (i triggered mine now & had it taken out of escrow before creditors could seize assets)

so naturally, i leverage the fed'l law for outgoing contractors that offers me right of first refusal. what could possibly go wrong by joining yet another DC area veteran owned small business that gets the lion's share of its business from the public trough?

did i mention **** just got real?
 

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
6
"new-tit-same-as-the-old-tit"

unless AA's pilots are still acting up, due to fly into dc tue for a f2f w/ an outfit that closely resembles blackwater ("escort" services to st dept, watchstander, JIEDDO), but w/ a handful of codemonkeys

i think they're trying to use kanban/scrum for more than just SW sol'ns
 

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
6
tremors: travel budgets slashed across the board, no training funds, IDIQs not being awarded

reminds me of 2008
 

dante

Unabomber
Feb 13, 2004
8,807
9
looking for classic NE singletrack
Yay, Republicans..........


WSJ said:
The nation's gross domestic product shrank for the first time in 3 1/2 years during the fourth quarter, declining at an annual rate of 0.1% between October and December, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.
.....
The decline reflects worries about the so-called fiscal cliff. The economy reversed from a 3.1% pace of growth in the third quarter largely because federal government spending fell by 15% and private business, likely fearing slack in demand, let inventories dwindle.
....
The decline in federal spending last quarter was the largest drop since 1973. Spending at all levels of government fell 6.6% in the period.
....
"Several private-sector components of GDP continued to make positive contributions," Mr. Krueger said. "A likely explanation for the sharp decline in Federal defense spending is uncertainty concerning the automatic spending cuts that were scheduled to take effect in January," and are now set for March 1.
God bless dem Republicans, savin' us from all that gubmint spendin an all....
 

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
6
As sequestration looms, contractors don&#8217;t fret
Northrop Grumman chief executive Wes Bush said Wednesday that his company&#8217;s outlook for the year projects &#8220;the sequestration is not triggered&#8221; and that Congress barely touches federal contract spending levels for 2013. General Dynamics chief Phebe Novakovic said last week that she had developed a &#8220;realistic&#8221; risk assessment for the company&#8217;s bottom line &#8212; and it, too, assumes no sequestration.
 

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
6
http://www.dodbuzz.com/2013/01/30/a-cut-more-costly-than-sequestration/

Defense leaders have lined up this past month to name the Pentagon&#8217;s latest enemy &#8212; an extension of the continuing resolution &#8212; saying it could prove equally, if not more, devastating to the U.S. military in 2013 as the sequestration cuts.

Navy Adm. Bill McRaven joined the growing parade of generals Tuesday to stand behind a lectern and tell a crowd how an extension of the continuing resolution would further damager the U.S. military. The continuing resolution is an agreement by Congress to extend the funding levels of the previous year because of its inability to pass a federal budget.

Better known as the CR, this funding mechanism does not take into account the anticipated growth in defense spending that Pentagon leaders had budgeted. Flattening the budget line leaves the Pentagon feeling at a loss because contracts have been signed and bills need to be paid.

&#8220;If Congress fails to pass the appropriations bill for FY 13 and simply extends the C.R. through the year, our overall operating accounts would decrease by about five percent below the proposed budget presented by the president for our 2013 budget,&#8221; Panetta said on Jan. 10 during a Pentagon press conference.

The deadlines for sequestration and the CR fall in March. A combination of the sequestration cuts and an extension of the CR would force the U.S. military to make a $52 billion cut to its budget by October, Panetta said. With each day, service leaders are getting more worried this scenario might come to pass.

Navy Under Secretary Bob Work did his best to sound the alarm to what the combination of sequester and the extension of the CR would mean to the Navy.

&#8220;If that happens, ladies and gentlemen, the world as we know it will end. There&#8217;s just no way you can keep the Navy whole and keep the Marine Corps whole,&#8221;
 

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
6
mark knoller said:
Pres Obama to make at 115pm statement calling for Congressional action to avoid "deep, indiscriminate" budget cuts in sequester.
jamie dupree said:
President Obama to speak at 1:15 pm ET on plan to replace upcoming automatic budget cuts "in a balanced way"
puffho says obama wants to delay sequester

as an aside, just got word the customer will exercise option to extend, and IDIQ looks more promising.


"thanks, obama!"
 

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
6
Sequestration no longer unthinkable, former Pentagon insider says

the only thing buying me some time:
In the event that sequestration would go into effect, some lawmakers have seized on the idea of reprogramming, which allows agencies to shift funds from one appropriated line item to another.

Currently, agencies, including the Pentagon, can only reprogram funds with the explicit authority of congressional oversight committees.
Effects won't be immediate

The readiness issues cited by Defense leaders are "accurate," Lynn said, but "they won't be immediate."

"This is going to be more of a slow-moving train wreck as opposed to an immediate crash &#8212; at least in most cases," he added.

But while the effects of sequestration won't be immediate, they will be long-lasting, Lynn said.

For example, the impact on troop readiness won't just last weeks or months, he said, but years.

"These things cascade through the systems," Lynn said. "So if people are expecting to see on March 2 a big bang, they'll probably be disappointed. ... This is something that builds to a crescendo rather than happens immediately."
just as long as obama has his drones, the show must go on...
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,852
9,557
AK
My agency is due to be affected starting April 7th. Notices go out March 1st. Furloughed 1 day per pay period, maximum of 2 per pay period.

And yes, some strange stuff happens in the military. When the Air Force is reaching the end of the fiscal year and certain units have money left over, they'll go out and fly missions and just dump fuel. They'll do this to "spend the money" so they get the same amount the next year. Some years they actually need it, some they do not, but the system is built so that if you "get by" on less money, they figure you can get by on that amount forever, which doesn't take into account situations like increased maint costs, increased staffing or training of new personnel, etc. This is a common practice unfortunately and my agency could never get away with something like that. They keep a close eye on our hours and expenditures.
 
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trailmike

Chimp
Feb 18, 2013
65
3
Downingtown, PA
I'm in the Navy Reserves and we had our Sequestration briefing this weekend. Basically what I gathered from it is that the Active Duty Navy will be more affected than the reserves. We are more cost efficient than active, but we'll be hit in certain ways.

Only mission critical annual trainings are allowed and travel pay and per diem will be affected. No more AT's to hawaii where we learn admin jobs and such. Also we are given up to 29 days of AT funding, but anything after 12 we have to justify. ADT funding will be affected mostly such as op's where they basically throw money at us, and such.

We are in talks of consolidating our companies to one base, right now where I drill there are two companies with about 25 people each. We'll be with the other companies in our battalion (roughly 300) near our headquarters.

We'll also be taking some active duty Navy sailors to support our reserve battalion.

However, I can see this coming. We just received a whole uniform make over last year, and I'm still due to get two pairs of combat boots. I have a walk in closet full of Navy uniforms, half of which I don't even wear.

JM is right about using up the funding for the fiscal year, one year we were encouraged to go on as many AT's or ADT's during the summer, before Oct 1st. We also helped the army out by using up their diesel and drove HUMV's and MTVRs all over base, as part of "training."
 

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
6
man, things are AWFUL quiet these past couple of weeks. we're due to switch over from one cloud to an entire HA system on DISA. but it won't happen 'on time / on schedule'...if at all.

just hoping being a 'top 3 army initiative' will be enough to shield us, but we're certainly not mission critical
 

DirtMcGirk

<b>WAY</b> Dumber than N8 (to the power of ten alm
Feb 21, 2008
6,379
1
Oz
Is it just me, or does it seem the best way to ensure that the best armed, best trained individuals among us decide to rebel and riot is to stop paying them?

I, for one, look forward to living in the new junta. The current circus is lacking the flavor I need on a day to day basis.