800 Nellis maintenance airmen out of a job

[unhappycamper]

800 Nellis maintenance airmen out of a job
By Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Feb 15, 2008 7:01:34 EST

About 800 airmen at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., will have to move to other assignments.

Late Wednesday, Nellis officials announced that the Air Force would turn over most of the 57th Wing’s back shop maintenance duties to private contractors. The work had been done by 793 enlisted airmen, 11 officers and 72 civilians.

Another 310 back shop maintenance positions deemed “military essential” will continue to be filled by airman, Nellis spokeswoman Capt. Jessica Martin said. Also, the change doesn’t affect crew chiefs and others who do most of their work on the flight line and maintainers assigned to the Thunderbirds.

Computer Sciences Corporation Applied Technologies of Fort Worth, Texas, won the contract to do the maintenance, worth up to $207 million over eight years. The firm got the contract after an Air Force review determined that CSC could do the work for less money than airmen and Air Force civilians, a review process known in the Department of Defense as A-76.

Nellis officials expect the transition to contractor maintenance will take about 15 months to complete, Martin said. Airmen will be reassigned to other duties. Air Force civilians losing their jobs can apply for other federal positions, but there are no job guarantees.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/02/airforce_nellis_contract_080214w/



uhc comment: If interested, you can read all 63 pages of the A-76 outsourcing document --> http://www.whitehouse.gov/OMB/circulars/a076/a76_rev2003.pdf

[Crazy Dave]

1. National Security?

Sorry I don't have time to read the articles before replying but it's seems risky and stupid to outsource something critically related to the nation's security to a "for profit" agency that can really screw things up with contract negotiations and cutting costs for even more profits.

[DCKit]

2. $207 million over 8 years? Bwahahahahahaha!!!!

Government contracting 101:

1) Hire twice as many people as the DoD used for the same work.
2) Do NOT hire qualified individuals. They will expect to be paid as such. Hire the ex-AF mechanics who were drummed out for drink, drugs and wife-beating, then hold that over their heads to keep them working for less money.
3) Whatever you're paying the workers, charge the government twice as much to cover the administration/billing expenses as well as the CEO's quarterly bonus. Someone's got to pay for the three new vacation homes, his private jet and all those DC hookers, er, Congressmen.
4) Two years into the contract, when the money's all gone, claim change orders, unforseen circumstances, labor and equipment issues and material costs. No worries, they're the U.S. government, they can always print more. And they will.