Hiring Information

Latest contractor census FY October 2018, contractor support area DoD – USCENTCOM

October 15, 2018 | Hiring Information, OVERSEAS INTEL

CONTRACTOR SUPPORT OF U.S. OPERATIONS IN THE USCENTCOM AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY

BACKGROUND: This report provides DoD contractor personnel numbers for 4th quarter Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18) and current status of efforts underway to improve management of contractors accompanying U.S. Forces. It includes data on DoD contractor personnel deployed in Afghanistan, Operation Freedom’s Sentinel (OFS); Iraq and Syria, Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR); and the U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) area of responsibility (AOR).

KEY POINTS: During 4th quarter FY18, USCENTCOM reported approximately 49,451 contractor personnel supporting DoD in the USCENTCOM AOR, an increase of approximately 206 from the previous quarter.

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dod contractor census

OIR (Iraq and Syria) Summary

dod contractor census The distribution of contractors in Iraq and Syria by mission category are:

Base Support 1,273 (20.1%)
Construction 475 (7.5%)
IT/Communications Support 287 (4.6%)
Logistics/Maintenance 2,123 (33.6%)
Management/Administrative 319 (5.0%)
Medical/Dental/Social Services 16 (0.3%)
Other 79 (1.3%)
Security 418 (6.6%)
Training 8 (0.1%)
Translator/Interpreter 852 (13.5%)
Transportation 468 (7.4%)

Total: 6,318

Contractor Posture: Of the approximately 12,818 contractors supporting U.S. Government operations in Iraq and Syria, approximately 6,318 contractors are directly supporting DoD funded contracts. This is an approximate 18.7% increase from last quarter, due to an increased demand for Logistics and Maintenance commercial support.

OFS (Afghanistan) Summary*

dod contractor census The distribution of contractors in Afghanistan by mission category are:

Base Support 3,556 (14.1%)
Construction 1,877 (7.4%)
IT/Communications Support 915 (3.6%)
Logistics/Maintenance 7,657 (30.3%)
Management/Administrative 1,462 (5.8%)
Medical/Dental/Social Services 87 (0.4%)
Other 573 (2.3%)
Security 4,172* (16.5%)
Training 1,135 (4.5%)
Translator/Interpreter 2,045 (8.1%)
Transportation 1,760 (7.0%)

Total: 25,239

*2,397 Armed Private Security Contractors

Contractor Posture: Approximately 25,239 DoD contractors supported operations in Afghanistan during 4th quarter FY18, an decrease of 1% from 3rd quarter FY18. Local Nationals comprise 14.4% of total contractor force; 21,617 US/TCN remain to redeploy.

A total of 2,397 Private Security Contractors (PSCs) were supporting USCENTCOM operations in Afghanistan as of 4th quarter FY18. See table below for a detailed summary:

dod PSC personnel in afghanistan

USCENTCOM Operational Contract Support Integration Cell (OCSIC) Forward (FWD). During this quarter, the USCENTCOM J4 (CCJ4) approved the realignment and relocation of the USCENTCOM OCS capability (to include vendor vetting as a subcomponent of OCS) from
Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar to Headquarters, USCENTCOM at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. The OCSIC FWD aligned its structure and core functions with doctrinal OCSIC tasks and will co-locate with the Headquarters staff and CCJ4 Divisions to enhance OCS planning,
integration, and synchronization activities. The incremental relocation will begin in October 2018 and coincide with scheduled personnel rotations. Relocation completion is anticipated by May 2019.

USCENTCOM Vendor Vetting. In accordance with the FY15 National Defense Authorization Act, Section 841, Never Contract with the Enemy, the Vendor Vetting Branch submitted to the Commander, USCENTCOM, four companies (and associated entities) for designation as
supporting the insurgency. Once designated, these four companies, and associated entities, will be barred from contracting with the United States government due to their continued support and funding of coalition adversaries. During the last quarter, the Vendor Vetting Decision Board considered 208 companies, resulting in 191 “Acceptable” rated companies (91.8%), and 17 companies rated as “Unacceptable without Mitigation” (8.2%).

Combined Joint Task Force-OIR (CJTF-OIR). The 408th Contracting Support Brigade (CSB) continues to provide the contracting support for this Combined Joint Operations Area (CJOA) on behalf of US Army Central Command (USARCENT). CJTF-OIR is working with USARCENT to improve the efficiency of the Joint Requirements Review Board, thus speeding contracted support to the warfighter.

OFS. As the Lead Service for Contracting, Army Contracting Command-Afghanistan (ACC-A) is supporting US Forces-Afghanistan and the Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan by executing theater support contracts and contingency contracting administration
services across the CJOA. Synergy between ACC-A and the USFOR-A OCSIC increased as collaboration during the 4ID pre-deployment site survey ensured the security force assistance brigade and combat enabler requirements were properly prepared, validated, awarded, and
administered.

IMPROVEMENTS TO MANAGEMENT AND OVERSIGHT OF DOD CONTRACTORS

OCS Joint Doctrine, Organization, Training, materiel, Leadership and Education, Personnel, and Facilities-Policy (DOTmLPF-P) Change Recommendation (DCR) Approved. The OCS Joint DCR was approved by the Joint Requirements Oversight Committee (JROC) on August 20, 2018. The JROC, chaired by General Paul Selva, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, instructs the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), the Joint Staff (JS), Combatant Commands, and the Services to implement the DCR's "15" recommended solutions to institutionalize OCS across DoD to ensure OCS effectively and efficiently contributes to all phases and ranges of joint military operations. Implementation will begin in earnest as the Offices of Primary Responsibility within OSD, JS, Combatant Commands, and the Services identify action officers, plan, and organize to support DCR implementation within the specified time frame. The DCR sponsor, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Logistics) (ODASD(Logistics)), in collaboration with the OCS Functional Capabilities Integration Board (FCIB) will oversee DoD-wide implementation. The DCR Working Group, chaired by ODASD(Logistics) will convene monthly and as required to review/discuss plan execution and progress. Throughout the multi-year implementation process, the OCS FCIB, Logistics Functional Capabilities Board, DoD senior leadership and other functional communities will review implementation progress. The FY19-23 DoD OCS
Action Plan, published on October 1, 2018, will serve as the Department's DCR progress reporting document. For additional information contact Ms. Anna Lee Carter, Director OCS Plans and Programs, ODASD(Logistics) at [email protected]

4Q FY18 OCS FCIB: On August 28, Mr. Eric Chewning, Performing the Duties of ASD (Logistics & Materiel Readiness), hosted the 4th quarter FY18 OCS FCIB meeting with over 50 participants. Attendees included special guest RADM Paul J. Verrastro, U.S. European Command J4, senior logisticians, acquisition professionals and staff from OUSD (Personnel and Readiness), Defense Contract Management Agency, Defense Contract Audit Agency, Defense Logistics Agency, JS J4/J7 and Services. The Board continues to focus on emerging
initiatives, such as establishment of the DoD Vendor Threat Mitigation Program, OCS Joint DCR/ Action Plan implementation, and doctrine/policy revisions to improve DoD-wide institutionalization of OCS capability. The 1st quarter FY19 OCS FCIB meeting will be held on
November 27, 2018. For additional information, contact the OCS FCIB Executive Secretary, Ms. Anna Lee Carter at [email protected]

Defense Standards for Security Services.

All DoD contracts for private security services require compliance with American National Standard Institute (ANSI) PSC.1-2012 (R2017), "Quality Management Standard for Private Security Company Operations" or ISO 18788-2015 "Management System for Private Security Operations." All PSCs at any tier are certified to one or both of these standards.

A total of 63 PSCs from 17 different countries have achieved independent third party certification to one or both of these standards. Another 20 PSCs from 15 countries are known to have begun the certification process.

Joint Contingency Acquisition Support Office (JCASO).

JCASO continues to provide Combatant Commands a joint enabling capability to integrate, coordinate, and synchronize OCS during peacetime, contingency operations, and post-conflict operations. Recent JCASO engagements include:

USCENTCOM Internal Look 2019 (IL19) Master Scenario Event List Event 2 (MSEL 2): The JS J7 and USCENTCOM J3 led the event with one JCASO participant working with the Sustainment Cell representatives. A MSEL inject was drafted and entered into Joint Training Information Management System to focus on the CCJ4 objective to increase USCENTCOM OCSIC participation in Boards, Bureaus, Centers, Cells, and Working Groups, which will impact other CCJ4 staff elements, as well.

Global Support to Combatant Commanders: JCASO continues OCS planning efforts across the regions, domains, and functions to provide additional options for decision makers, including the most challenging scenarios identified in the current National Military Strategy. Simultaneously JCASO is responding to real-world operations (e.g., support to U.S. Army Europe for ATLANTIC RESOLVE in Poland, Hurricane relief support).

OCS Tutor Pilot Program: OCS Tutors remain embedded with the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and US Special Operations Command to assist in developing and implementing OCS programs, including training and product and tool development.

JS, J4, Operational Contract Support Division (OCSD):

OCS Reporting. CCMDs, Services, and Agencies completed military OCS quarterly assessments, which consolidate reporting on readiness, risk, shortfalls and outcomes. JS J4 completed a strategic risk assessment on commercial support to operations. This assessment helps inform the Quarterly Readiness Report to Congress in addition to other readiness reports. In addition, JS J4 completed a strategic OCS assessment on readiness and shortfalls for inclusion in the November Joint Logistics Estimate.

OCS Planning. OCSD conducted an appraisal of a geographic problem set in support of Joint Staff global integration and planning. This was a focused effort on assessing and developing approaches to planning for commercial support to operations in combatant commands and identified areas for additional work including determining the level of reliance on commercial support at echelons above the Service components. OCSD also provided input to Defense Planning Scenario development to more robustly reflect commercial support considerations. The scenario will be used by the Services as a basis for the development of war games and analysis.

OCS Doctrine Update. Reviewed and adjudicated 1675 comments on the revised joint publication for Operational Contract Support, JP 4-10. This update will proliferate best practices on OCS from recent operations throughout the joint force.

OCS Training

Joint OCS Planning and Execution Course (JOPEC). Delivered three (July, August, and September) JOPECs to 73 students. Since the course’s founding in 2013, 1,274 students have been trained.
Joint Knowledge On-line (JKO). During the 4th quarter FY18, 483 personnel completed the Joint OCS Essentials for Commanders and Staff (JOECS) Phase 1 and 113 personnel completed the Phase 2 online course. As of September 19, 2018, 12,408 personnel have completed an OCS introductory online course.
Staff Joint Training. OCSD is working with the geographic combatant commands, defense agencies, and Services to determine OCS training needs and subordinate unit staff joint training requirements to inform future direction and priorities. In addition, OCSD conducted initial planning and site visits to support execution of a US European Command exercise with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Security Clearance 101: One-Year Waits For Security Clearances Are Costing Washington Billions

November 7, 2017 | Hiring Information

Security Clearance

Loren Thompson— The U.S. government limits access to sensitive information by granting (or denying) security clearances after conducting background investigations. The system is expensive to administer, because five million Americans hold active clearances, and over a hundred federal agencies require clearances to participate in certain aspects of their work. In addition to such well-known designations as Secret and Top Secret, there are numerous specialized types of clearances with names like Majestic, Cosmic and Ultra that require rigorous background checks.

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The government is not keeping up with the demand for clearances. As of last month, the National Background Investigations Bureau within the Office of Personnel Management -- which performs 95% of federal background checks -- had accumulated a backlog of 570,000 applications. Delays in granting initial Top Secret clearances are averaging over 500 days. Average time required to receive an initial Confidential/Secret clearance, one of the least demanding in terms of required background checks, is 262 days.

These delays have been particularly hard on industry, because it is difficult to attract and retain talent when new employees may have to cool their heels for a year or longer before beginning work on classified programs. One big contractor reports that as of April, 72% of the clearances it has requested since January of 2016 were still awaiting initial clearance determinations. Another contractor reported 75% of requests for background checks or periodic reinvestigations were still pending after 18 months; 10% were still pending after 24 months.

The hidden cost to taxpayers of these long delays is huge. An engineer hired at a defense contractor for $100,000 per year will cost the company $725 per day in salary and benefits, which gets added to overhead if they cannot work on the project for which they were hired. If the wait to receive an initial clearance determination is 300 days, it will cost the company $217,500 -- which then gets billed to the government as a price of doing business. Multiply this number by the tens of thousands of workers awaiting clearances, and you see the problem.

But the waste does not end there. When clearances take a year or longer to process, programs are delayed, workers are under-employed, and holding on to the people who are most in demand becomes a challenge. Nobody rigorously tracks what all this inefficiency costs the government, but over time it is undoubtedly in the billions of dollars. Imagine hiring a bright young employee and then having to wait 351 days to receive final determination on a simple Secret clearance before they can actually be assigned to the tasks for which they were sought.

The problem has gotten so bad that OPM has begun loosening its standards to cope with the backlog. In February it modified its requirement for five-year reinvestigations of Top Secret clearances on some special-access programs because it couldn't keep up with demand. So now the delays are not only wasting money, they are potentially compromising the security of programs for which clearances were granted in the first place. Obviously, the system needs major reform.

The Obama Administration belatedly recognized the problem during its last year in office, and began transitioning to a new approach with the creation of the National Background Investigations Bureau, which superseded the old Federal Investigative Service. Under the Obama plan, OPM would partner with the Department of Defense in replacing antiquated computer systems, barriers to accessing criminal history records would be torn down, and much of the current clearance and credentialing process would be automated.

It's hard to argue with any of that, but the last year of an administration isn't the optimal time to launch a major reorganization. The new bureau is a work in progress that so far hasn't gotten much attention from the Trump administration. Even if it does, the unpredictable way in which the government budgets could undermine whatever progress is occurring. The delays in granting clearances grew worse after the Budget Control Act imposed arbitrary caps on discretionary spending, beginning in 2012.

This seems like the kind of challenge that bodies such as the Aerospace Industries Association could help shepherd through the bureaucracy to a successful outcome. Few organizations understand the nexus between industry and government better than AIA, and reform of the clearance process needs an advocate outside the government. Every military contractor that belongs to the industry associations is being harmed by defects in the current system, so perhaps places like AIA could weigh in to keep the reform process on track.

The onslaught of cyber crimes in recent years has yielded a host of innovations for continuously tracking the behavior of cleared personnel, identifying the telltale signs of insider threats, and otherwise assisting in the protection of sensitive information. Somebody needs to be identifying new tools that can help streamline the security process and minimize the waste associated with delayed clearances. Leading industry associations like AIA seem well positioned to help fix this problem.

Private military company pay vs. Army pay

October 27, 2017 | Hiring Information

Professional Overseas Contractors

Although the United States isn’t a signatory to the U.N.’s “International Convention Against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries,” the employees of private military companies aren’t mercenaries. PMCs supply support services and personnel whose jobs range from aircraft repair to medical and humanitarian aid. They also provide security guards who have parlayed their U.S. Army training into a job paying three to five times their Army pay.

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Private Military Company Pay

Private military companies are as hesitant about providing information about their payroll as they are about naming their clients. The individual contractors who worked for PMCs rarely speak of it because their clients include organizations such as the CIA, and their contracts require silence. Average pay ranges between $300 - $750 per day or between $9,000 and $22,500 per month.

Army Pay

U.S. Army pay depends on an individual’s rank. The higher the rank, the greater the responsibility and the corresponding pay. A private, entering advanced individual training earns $1,468 per month. A sergeant with five years experience, possibly including combat, earns a base pay of $2,448 per month. A master sergeant with 20 years of experience may be only 38 years old and earns $4,189 per month in base pay. An infantry officer, after five years of service, probably has combat leadership experience and -- if a first lieutenant -- earns $4,349 per month. If that same officer holds the rank of captain, he earns $4,952 per month in base pay.

Similarities

Because PMC personnel work outside the U.S., they can receive their pay through direct deposit to their bank in the same way Army personnel do. Some PMCs, such as those that provide aircraft maintenance, for example, don’t work in a combat-type situation. Instead, they may contract to foreign governments, where their personnel maintain the aircraft, both military and civil, belonging to the government.

Differences

PMCs don’t have the same duty schedules as the U.S. Army. Instead, the PMC tours of duty are based on their clients' requirements. For example, in Iraq, PMC contracts with the U.S. government may require that personnel leave the country after a period of several months. PMC personnel provide physical security for U.S. nonmilitary assets and personal security for U.S. government civilian personnel. Additionally, PMC personnel aren’t subject to military courts or orders and can resign their positions at any time, without repercussion.

Best Fit

The U.S. Army is the common starting point for career soldiers, both those who spend 20 years or more in the Army and those who become PMC field employees. If you prefer the more casual relationship and the higher pay that a PMC offers, you may be well suited to that work. On the other hand, if your paycheck is not an issue and you prefer the traditional military role the U.S. Army offers, stay in the Army.

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