An Open Letter to all Government Contractors During Your Contract Recompete
Dear Sir or Ma'am,
I am writing to you because there is a serious injustice going on in your professional life that you should be made aware of. As an employer I have a duty to do what is best for my organization, and many times I am put into a position where I have to make a decision about what is best for the company or what is best for the people in it. As a man, and military veteran, I have an even more important obligation to follow the golden rule: "Treat others as I would like to be treated." It is with this in mind that I write to you today.
Every so often the contracts that we all work on are brought forward for re-competition. This is done for a whole host of reasons, but mostly to allow new companies the opportunity to provide new solutions and potentially cost savings. As a billable worker this is a very difficult process and lets be honest, you typically get caught in the crossfire. This means recruiters calling you, late night proposal sessions and after award you may even be in for a pay cut. As an employer, a former billable contractor and a bidder on these contracts I think it's really important that you understand something. No business, whether they are your employer or not, has the right to stop you from making a living. So if your boss tells you that you cannot give your resume to other companies that is not only unethical, it is wrong.
These days companies will do everything they can to confuse you; recently I had a candidate tell me that her employer said that her "Non-Disclosure Agreement" forbid her from giving her resume to a competitor and that the company may pursue legal action against her if she was caught doing so. THIS IS WRONG. This lady read her agreement and didn't see any language stating this but, "since [she's] not a lawyer," she is now afraid to fight for her own job.
As an employee you have every right to give your resume to anyone you would like. No, non-disclosure agreement or non-compete can stop you from doing that. Just because you can give your resume to another company doesn't mean you can help a competitor write their proposal or that you can steal material from your company and give it to a competitor, but you have just as much legal right to look for a new job during a re-competition as you do during any other time during a contract. Here is what does happen if you don't talk to potential employers, they guess about how much money you make, and I promise you they never guess high and they always round down.
I guess I should point out that at Iron EagleX we have three priorities: 1) Family 2) Customers 3) Company. We believe your family should be the most important part of your life and we have no illusion that it should be us. We believe that concentrating on our customers is critical. And finally we believe that if you take care of the first two things the company will be just fine. We view our 2020 award of Tampa Bay Business Journal's Best Places to Work Award as evidence that this formula works. So, if you are working for a company that would rather strong arm you and lie to you to prevent them possibly losing a contract, maybe it's time to post your resume.
Military Analyst at Blue Halo formerly known as AEgis Technologies
4 年Is a company legally obligated to show you the Primary Work Statement (PWS) after they hire you. I currently only have my offer letter that describes the services that I am to provide. I don't feel that is adequate enough in detail. Consequently I don't know my left and right limit of my job.? Thoughts?
Excited to be a part of the TekSynap Team!
4 年Thanks Mike great insight!
General Manager (GM) at WWC Global, LLC
4 年Good post Mike. Companies that threaten their employees with being fired for sharing resumes have proven that they do not understand their own business line--our employees are our business and without them, there is no business. Here's a crazy idea--take care of your troops in the base year and all of those option years and make them want to stay. If you have to threaten them, you have already failed as a business leader.
Chief Engineer, Energetic Systems Division
7 年Please not that non-compete clauses are actually very common in engineering private practice, and other services including law and insurance. Whether this applies to salaried workers on defense contracts would depend on one's position with the company. Principals may indeed have a noncompete clause. Having said that, I sympathize and am frustrated when our defense contracting inefficiencies result in hardships for companies and/or individuals . We have fraud cases like Fat Leonard, Newport , Air Force refueling, and many others to thank for the increasing scrutiny.
Chief Executive Officer at Iron EagleX, Inc. a GDIT Company
7 年Truthfully Congress should enact penalties that if an employee is threatened with a noncompete violation and the company who threatens them loses a binding arbitration hearing that the company should have to pay fees and penalties as a result. But please let me be clear-- if you steal proprietary information and try to use it against your company, you can and should be prosecuted as well.