In category: Job Search / Career Development
Getting a Facility Clearance: FCL Sponsorship, the Timeline, and What You Cannot Do Without One
One sentence in 32 CFR 117.9(a)(10) decides whether your company can hire a cleared engineer this year: "A contractor or prospective contractor cannot apply for its own entity eligibility determination." Someone else has to ask, and until they do, no employee of yours may touch c… more
SCA Wage Determinations: The Floor Under Every Cleared Support Contract Salary
On Revision 37 of wage determination 2015-4281, the line for Computer Systems Analyst II carries no wage. In its place the schedule prints "(see 1)" and routes you to a footnote. The same blank runs across Computer Programmer I-IV and Computer Systems Analyst I-III. What the sche… more
Using the GI Bill and VET TEC to Fund the Certifications a Cleared Contract Requires
A contract clause written in January 2008 is still the reason a cleared IT job on a DoD information system asks for a certification before it asks for experience. DFARS 252.239-7001 requires contractor personnel to hold "the proper and current information assurance certification,… more
OCI Under FAR 9.5: The Rule That Can Disqualify the Cleared Candidate You Just Offered
Search the full text of FAR subpart 9.5 for the word "hire." It is not there. Neither is "employee," "employ," "hiring," "recruit" nor "staff," anywhere in its roughly 3,000 words, checked against acquisition.gov on July 21, 2026. All nine worked examples describe companies suppl… 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