What Does "No Work" Mean?

The Washington Post reports the sad news today that Charles D. Riechers, 47, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisitions was found dead Sunday night in an apparent suicide. The Post had reported a couple of weeks ago that Riechers had received what the paper characterized as a "no-work contract" with a contractor while awaiting confirmation to his Air Force job.

I picked up on that "no-work" designation in an item I wrote about the Post story. But as a few of the commenters on that item noted, the shorthand expression doesn't really accurately characterize the arrangement under which Riechers was working.

As Sharon Weinberger of Danger Room pointed out yesterday, Riechers appeared to be employed under a "systems engineering and technical services contract," a very common type of arrangement in the Pentagon. And while such contracts are subject to abuse, Riechers' admission that he "didn't do anything" for the contractor doesn't mean that he wasn't working.