The Week in Comments: Contract costs, USPS staff cuts and employee attrition
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 Union: Rising costs built into $1.2 billion Marine Corps food contract
Swelled? Ever seen the swelling in a union contract? It makes this jump look like chicken feed.
an element of note is that this was not within a warzone, no extenuating circumstances, this was all without an evironment which would prevent better administration.
On Fallout from Navy captain's raunchy videos continues
Perhaps they should investigate the Squadron Commander, Fleet Commander, SECNAV, SECDEF and the President of the United States to see if they had a hand in covering this heinous act of treason and blasphemy.
Can't someone figure out a way to investigate possible dereliction or misconduct by a military member--and take action if appropriate--without delaying a voluntary retirement? This Admiral will be in do-nothing job at full pay for a year or more, for no good reason. And, as long as he continues on active duty, the promotions of productive service members will be delayed.
enough is enough. Stop the witch hunt. Leave the Captain alone. He served this nation with so many years of dedicated service, sacrifice , and professionalism. He understands what morale means in the Navy. Prosecute instead the criminals, the slackers, the dead weights, the tyrants, and the abusive ones. Not this Captain, he knows more than what you desk wackos are.
Masterchief, US Navy (retired)
On Federal workers' compensation payments called wasteful
I have find many agencies have changeover on bosses or people who have expertise in the area and they don't share information. I think sometimes when you don't train well or revise these systems things like this will happen. That new person should be trying to make it better or think ahead.
if the actions of some federal employees who are able to return to work but decided to remain on workmen's comp are known, why wasn't some type of action taken earlier?
This is a program that is ripe for reform adn could generate significant savings across government. A closer look is long overdue.
Help me here. How is this different from concurrent receipt?
On Postal Service seeks efficiency through staff cuts
The postal service should be a fully funded Agency of the government. We keep hiring from the top and cuting from the bottom. Soldier and their families tuly owe so much thoughout the years to our postal service. Now is the time to look out for our iconic icon. God Bless these wonderful folk past and present:)
Typical American Executive view. Cut the little people. Raise the too-low rates on junk mail.
We can live without Saturday deliveries. Early retirements with bonuses sounds fair.
On House speaker warns Obama on spending
Yeah, the American people will settle for nothing less ... unless it affects something they want, like social security and medicare, which all economists agree must be contained to have effective debt reduction.
Too bad Mr. Boehner didn't think the spending should stop in 2001 through 2008. Didn't he just agree that the wealthest should have a $700B tax break at America's expense?
Last time I checked, its Congress that has the credit cards, not the President. They need to cut up their own cards, not somebody else's.
I guess starting two land wars in Asia and cutting taxes back to pre-WWII levels had nothing to do with the deficit or recession. When will this partisan BS stop, and when will both parties in Congress take ownership of the problems and work together to solve them?
One BIG problem: There are too many congressmen. Do we really need 435 representatives? With today's high-speed telecomm networks, our self-serving representatives could telework from their districts while "We the People" increase the geographical size of the congressional districts and reduce the number of representatives. Too many cooks in the kitchen...
On Issa investigates GAO auditors in battle over for-profit schools
Hmmmm....I wonder if for-profit schools like DeVry and Kaplan contributed to GOP congressional campaigns? At least they are getting their money's worth!
Just wondering why the GAO does not look into the huge amounts of money going into public universities "educating" students in majors such as art history, liberal arts, marketing... at a time when our nation is dying for math, science and economics majors.
On Pay freeze could affect employee attrition
What this article fails to mention is now there is bill that has been introduced to force Federal Workers to take 2 weeks furlough with no pay! I am one employee that is about to say forget this stinky job that I work nights, weekends, and holidays for. I can go back out in the private sector and make at least as much and have better benefits with better hours. Be careful what you wish for American People, it may just come back to bite you in the rear!
what's cash bonus--- I work for the USDA in PA -- haven't seen any cash bonuses for years. Most we can get is 8 hrs time off awards
If the brain surgeons that thought up this pay freeze didn't consider the impacts on attrition I would be shocked. Nevertheless...the notion that the given the current Fed bashing, benefits freezes, downsizing initiatives, etc that we can "create" a work environment so powerful that great talent wants to come and stay is pure fantasy.
The two year pay freez have made me decide on Retirement this year. There is no reward for sticking around. So I will take my 38 years of service, extensive training and experince and retire. When you have as many years of sevice as I do it is a real bargin for the Government to keep you on the books and not be paying retirement.
How are we going to attract quality candidates when they know they will not get a pay adjustment for 3 years and will be furloughed? There is something very wrong with this picture!
On GAO: Army contractors performing inherently governmental functions
Wow, why is that such a surprise. This happens all over DoD and we have been doing this for years, despite training. Problem is there is no real management and oversignt of these contractors. We pay them top salaries to do administration work that used to be done by Government civilians at the GS5/7/9 levels. Look at the grade structures of DoD offices and you will see they no longer have administration personnel which used to provide inherently government functions. Then, at the top level there are high paid subject matter experts doing what the government folks should do. We have tons and tons of both contractors and FFRDC folks that have menial jobs, work very few hours per week and get top pay. There is no incentive to stop this practice because senior leaders retire and go work for contractors all the time. It is really waste of taxpayers dollars.
Well are they looking at other agencies? They are doing the same thing. Take a look at Interior and their sub agencies, you will find they are doing the same thing.
The pendulum swings back to insourcing. I remember in the late 80's when government positions were being outsourced to save money. In those days, "Inherently GIN" (governmental in nature) meant that a contractor could do anything except sign authorizations or obligate the government financially. It's true that if you stick around long enough, the pendulum always swings back. I imagine in about 15 years we will be seeing mad outsourcing again to save money. :)
With the salary the government is paying and the threat at least to reduce benefits, the DoD can't hire civil servants wiht the qualifications to do the acquisition of these very complicated, unique, state-of-the-art technology systems.
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