In category: Job Search / Career Development
GS-13 vs. Contractor: What the Same Cleared Job Pays on Each Side
GS-13 step 1 pays $121,785 a year in the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington locality and $106,437 across the Rest of U.S. Same grade, same step, same position description. The $15,348 between them is settled entirely by a zip code, and no negotiation touches it. Key takeaways Four … more
CACI, GDIT and Peraton: Decoding the GovCon Applicant Tracking Stages
Key takeaways As of July 2026 the answer differs by company. Peraton's candidate portal defines every application status in writing; CACI's ships an empty status-label map. GDIT's Workday portal renders nothing without an account, so we make no claim about it either way. All th… more
Right of First Refusal: What Happens to Your Job When Your Contract Changes Hands
The Federal Acquisition Regulation clause that once required an incoming contractor to offer you your job back now reads, in its entirety: 52.222-17 [Reserved]. So does the whole subpart telling contracting officers when to insert it, checked at FAC 2026-01, effective 03/13/2026:… more
Bill Rate vs. Pay Rate: Why Your Recruiter Cannot Go Higher
A price list on GSA Advantage bills a Network Security Engineer at $105.39 an hour and a Senior Network Security Engineer at $132.76. Real awarded prices, contract GS-35F-527AA. Neither is anybody's salary. What separates a published rate from your offer letter is mostly not nego… more
‘Are You a Protected Veteran?’ What That Question on Every Contractor Application Means
The pre-offer version usually shows two boxes, because the sample form at Appendix B uses two: I IDENTIFY AS ONE OR MORE OF THE CLASSIFICATIONS OF PROTECTED VETERAN LISTED ABOVE, or I AM NOT A PROTECTED VETERAN. Appendix B is a model, not mandated wording, so a third box such as … more