Quote Originally Posted by CavSct1983 View Post
Ok, guys w/ a lot of .gov contracting experience, I want to pick your brains since I am very green in this world.

My particular agency's current contractor lost the bid when the contract was up for renewal. Another company is taking over. I am an employee of a sub-contractor.

Current sub-contract companies are unlikely to be retained, with sub-contracted employees shifting to a new group of companies that the primary has chosen. According to my company's lead for this contract, the new company has stated that employee salaries will not change/will be comparable. They do not plan to get rid of us workers, just upper management. There is still a small chance my company will be able to jump over to the new contract, though this is unlikely.

Today, my company lead called and said he wants to bump my pay from $X to $X+Y annually. Obviously, that only holds until I get forced into switching companies. I assume he has done this to give me wiggle room for negotiating with whatever company I get assigned.

Now that you have the background, given the statement by the new contractor company that salaries will stay the same or be comparable (whatever that means), what do you think is the likelihood of me keeping the new salary @ $(X+Y)? Or, do you think my current company did this to allow us wiggle room/stick it to the company to whom we will be assigned, and force them into offering more than $X or at least keeping me at $X.

Being my first foray into the world of being a sub-contractor employee during a contract changing hands, I'd really appreciate feedback on what to expect, how much room I have to haggle salary with the new company given this recent change, etc.

Obviously, the new company could say, "here's your $W and if you don't like it then get out," so I know that's a possibility too.
So much to write here - but little time. In short, it depends on the language of the new contract. In some cases there is a clause that mandates that labor cats (e.g. wage rates) will not be affected, in some cases that language is not there. Further, it depends on whether or not it is a FFP contract or Cost Plus - or something else. If it is cost plus, then you are generally going to get the same wage that you had before. If it is a FFP - then the new contractor will be looking to scrape every last penny they can get and everyone should generally worry. The other thing to look at is whether the contract has shrinking costs built in - if so you may be in for a squeeze.

Take the X+Y now, negotiate with the new prime and see what happens. All that said, people with tickets keep jobs in this market. You may have to take a pay reduction to keep said job if you do something very generic. But if you have any skills whatsoever, then you're not going to be unemployed any time soon.