Government contractor questions

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senorloadenstein

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#298943 29-Jul-2022 10:34

Hi All,

I am currently job hunting for a devops/sre role.
My current contract has come to an end, and I have a few options.

One is a long term contract role with a government.
I have never worked for a govt department, the team and work seem great so I am not too bothered there.

Are there any gotchas I should look out for?

Do contractors get their contracts cut short often? Do you think they will be cut when/if we enter a recession?

I only ask because another option is a permie role at a large stable company, which of course will pay less.

thanks,

happy friday

timmmay

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#2947741 29-Jul-2022 10:40

Government are fairly safe as they have fixed budgets, but any contract can be cut at any time. I had it happen more in private than government. I haven't contracted for a while though, not in 6-7 years or so.

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amanzi

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#2947743 29-Jul-2022 10:41

I've done a fair amount of govt contracting and have never had issues with contracts being cut short due to recessions or other downturns. I was contracting through the GFC and Covid and there was always plenty of work. In my experience, Wellington is often shielded from downturns by the amount of govt work available. In saying that, as a contractor, there is always added pressure to perform because it's much easier to get rid of a poorly-performing contractor. So the only times I've seen contractors let go early is when they weren't performing or didn't get on well with colleagues.

MikeB4

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#2947750 29-Jul-2022 11:03

I hired many IT contractors over my time in Government. I only cut short a small number of contracts for the following reasons…

1. Project finished ahead of schedule.
2. Change in Ministerial/Cabinet or management requirements,
3. Performance issues.

Like with any role be it contract, full time, government or private longevity or tenure is never guaranteed.

senorloadenstein

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#2947759 29-Jul-2022 11:13

Another question I missed, the contract is for a period of six months, I was told this is a multi year project, is it normal practice for these contracts to be 6 months and renew, rather than have the contract run for a longer period.

MikeB4

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#2947762 29-Jul-2022 11:17

In my experience yes that is often the case. Allows for review before rollover.

amanzi

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#2947764 29-Jul-2022 11:18

senorloadenstein:

Another question I missed, the contract is for a period of six months, I was told this is a multi year project, is it normal practice for these contracts to be 6 months and renew, rather than have the contract run for a longer period.

You could try to push back and ask for a 12-month contract up front, but when I was starting out contracting it was common to get 3 months contracts and you can't be too picky when starting... Once you get a bit of experience under your belt it's fairly common to get 12-month contracts. One thing to note is that some government departments have a 2-year limit on contractors, so you can't keep getting your contract renewed indefinitely.

BlakJak

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#2948424 30-Jul-2022 17:37

I'm a hiring manager at a government agency. Contracts are offered out to pull in specific skillsets or (most commonly) because the funding for the workstream that requires the person/skills is bound to a given fiscal period (or a fixed amount of money). 6 month contracts are not unusual. Nor are extensions. So whilst you shouldn't assume it'll be extended, there's also usually a decent chance across a multi-year project that you'll get extended in the role to which you were originally hired, or to meet a different project. Agencies will always prefer to hire someone who's 'already on the inside' as the 'corporate' side of the house is already sorted - you've got access to the systems, familiarity with their bureaucracy, and if you've done a good job, they'll want to keep you.

Benefit to you is that you get to 'taste' the environment and opt out at the end of your contract period if you don't like it.

I've worked with some great contracted resources within government, but I would like to think that for 'retained' capabilities, agencies will start to transition to BAU resources which are cheaper on the long term. But I don't see the need to bring in specialist skills without making a long-term HR commitment going away any time soon to be honest.

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tweake

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#2948429 30-Jul-2022 17:49

has the govt contract scene changed much over the years?

i used to chat with a couple of guys decades ago and they hated govt contracts as it paid about a 1/3 of what it was worth.

BlakJak

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#2948430 30-Jul-2022 17:51

It depends on the skills you bring in. Agencies are aware that the hourly rates they need to pay for contractors will need to compete with the market, especially if you're bringing a skill which is scarce in the current labour market. So just ensure you're competitive.

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Stu1

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#2948452 30-Jul-2022 19:39

It’s great lots of morning teas and stuff quiz’s . It’s really good leaning te reo as well, one of my favourite times of the week govt departments are very good at promoting the language and customs. Get use to fragile safe agile practices and meetings about having a meeting