The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is instructing agencies to implement common sense “value engineering” to programs costing more than $5 million. Apparently, aligning programs to mission goals and functions can help save costs and source contractors in a more timely and efficient fashion.
It might be a new year, but tech hiring is not going to get any easier in 2014. In fact, it could get harder. Salary requirements have been a key driver in hiring and retention. A recent hiring survey by Dice.com (sister company of ClearanceJobs.com) found that 75 percent of tech pros site salary as a key driver in moving. Until the supply catches up with the demand, candidates will continue to drive salary requirements for the tech field.
Recent grads continue to find that a diploma in hand does not put cash in the wallet. Reuters reports the continued trend that college grads are unemployed or underemployed. Massive education debt does not help the struggling grads. Of course, graduates in fields that require technical skills fared better than graduates in other fields.
Who’s Hiring
BAE expects to hire about 300 employees mainly at its Fort Worth, TX location. The work is in response to the $1 billion contract award for upgrading the South Korean fleet of F-16s.
In York, PA, BAE has won another contract – this time it’s to continue work on the U.S. Army’s Bradley vehicles. In spite of the contract win, BAE expects to forge ahead with its plans to layoff 135 workers in February 2014. In 2009, the York plant had 5,000 employees, but due to defense budget shifts, the facility will only have 915 employees after February.
Harris RF Corporation is hiring engineers in its Huntsville, AL location. The organization needs engineers for their military programs, and they welcome veterans to fill the positions. Some flexibility may exist on job location.
The Air Force is looking for contractors to conduct cyber training at its cyber operations and information training unit in Hurlburt Field, FL. The Air Force has opened up a request for proposal on fbo.gov with a January 21 deadline. Competition is limited to small businesses.
Who’s Firing
Lockheed Martin plans to shell out $175 million in severance pay by 2015. No one ever said eliminating jobs and reorganizing was cheap.
If the Small Business Administration (SBA) succeeds, Tysons Corner, VA-based Microtechnologies LLC, along with its founder, Anthony Jimenez, will be banned from new federal work. In recent years, Microtechnologies has been touted as one of the fastest growing small federal contractors, but with allegations of false information, the growth might come to a screeching halt.
Who’s Acquiring
LGS Innovations is about to get a new employer. French communications firm Alcatel-Lucent is selling LGS Innovations to the investor group Madison Dearbon and CoVant. The deal is projected to finalize in the first quarter of 2014. LGS Innovations delivers secure communications and networking solutions to the U.S. government. The transition to an U.S.-based owner gives LGS Innovations the opportunity to pursue some markets and customers that were previously challenging to follow due to prior security agreements.
