personal trainer

biologist

project manager

program analyst

performer

GAP Solutions, Inc.

GAP Solutions is one of the worst contractors in the D.C. area. They are greedy, callous micro-managers to the worst degree. 

At the end of the day, this organization only cares about butts in seats so that they can bill. They will hire anyone with an undergrad degree and a clearance. They did not even bother to bring me in for an onsite interview when I was going through the hiring process. Despite "butts in seats" being their prerogative, they either have no problem with the bleeding attrition taking place at their Arlington (FSI) contract or have no competent strategy in place to combat the issue. I worked there less than a year and saw 10 coworkers leave. This was roughly 1/3 of the office. GAP underpays its staff and offers them no opportunities for growth. The only promotional opportunity GAP offers is the Program Assistant III. 

The PMs are almost entirely absent and seem to go AWOL on the rare occasion you need to reach them. They visit the office maybe once every 6 weeks, despite working onsite.  3 hours of PTO is accrued every pay period, which is the worst rate I have ever heard in this area. PTO is NOT paid out if you leave the company after working there for less than a year. This is almost unheard of for a government contractor. PMs only care that you come to work and fill out your timesheet. You must work EXACTLY 8 hours every day, no more, no less.

The government shutdown ended at 7 PM on a Thursday and one of GAP's PMs personally called me multiple times to hassle me about going in to work on Friday, despite my government supervisors not being mandated to come in until Monday. They really are that greedy and obsessed with billing hours. 

This contractor is so bad the government workers almost openly acknowledge GAP being a terrible contractors and encourage/help GAP employees to leave.

Pros:
-They generally pay on time
-They pay for a yearly parking pass at FSI
-Mostly hands off, unless it has to do with you being away from the office or your timesheet

Cons:
-Underpaid if you have a undergrad degree, severely underpaid if you have an undergrad degree and a clearance
-Horrible benefits package, worst PTO policy I have ever seen
-No sick leave (you must BUY sick leave through your benefits) all sick days must come out of PTO
-Force you to get badged on your own time without being paid
-Does not pay out PTO upon separation if you have worked there for less than a year
-Not enough work for the contractors onsite, have to make yourself busy doing other things
-No developmental opportunities
-Unskilled admin busy work (print form, put in folder, label folder, file folder) 90% of the time
-Quirky and very outdated database system (circa late 1990s) 
-Uncaring management/absent PMs
-FSI is not in a great location (no commuter buses/local metro station), but it depends where you are coming from

Gap Solutions manages its client-placed talent with extraordinary anxiety, on multiple occasions firing talent in accordance with what it calls a zero tolerance for timesheet reporting errors. The problem is compounded by the fact GAPSI does not adequately socialize its policies and that talent are occasionally asked to turn around timesheets on short holiday weeks under time and work pressures with no opportunity to vet time reporting procedures with client technical monitor, who often has his or her own time reporting requirements in addition to those imposed by GAPSI. Talent who have provided laudable and venerable service to HHS have been dismissed for what amounts to a minor error unrelated to job performance. I myself worked over 80 hours for the pay period but bill only for the maximum 80 in order to accommodate an unexpected request to write the summary for a meeting of the Enterprise Executive Committee. A firing was the reward.

Since GAPSI was awarded an exclusive contract with HHS, I find myself excluded from the government agency to which my unique package of knowledge and skills is most suited.

In my case (and that of AT LEAST one other of which I am aware), GAPSI did not share the responsibility and risk of a rare and minor error in time reporting that was corrected before it was ever received by the client (HHS).

What is the best part of working at the company?
I can't think of anything good about working for Gap Solutions. They have little communication with their contracted employees outside of mass emails and there has been no attempt to promote a proper chain of command should you have a problem with the structure in your installation. Furthermore, they do little to actually assess the qualifications and capabilities of the people they hire and it is clear that some of their middle management on site have failed upward.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The fact that they have no idea what they are doing in my field. They've taken on a contract that they know nothing about and cannot hire qualified people to run it because they don't know what that would look like.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
I don't know as I am so far removed from the company that I have zero interaction with them.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I have minimal work to do because they didn't lay any ground work to promote our position or capabilities before we arrived on site. We are trying to  build a program within an established program without the necessary equipment and infrastructure.

This job at Fort Meade was pretty easy.  However, the managers they hired varied too widely in quality.  They hired former military who mentally couldn’t leave the heavy disciplinarian model behind, mattress sales people, and internally.  Someone needed to tell the former mattress sales employee she’s not aggressively pushing sales anymore trying to push production levels.  Administrative management roles require a much greater deal of social finesse and training that GAP and Inquiries never provided.  Anyway, some managers were better than others.  The benefits were not enticing and the PTO wasn’t good (a whole 12 days per year after 3 years of employment: Harsh).  Forget taking LWOP if you really needed a break or a family emergency.  It was a real “chained to the desk” kind of job.  It was better than strict military discipline but the lack of opportunities to advance made it less attractive.  People usually went to the government side (GG excepted service employees) if they wanted to continue to advance in the job field of personnel security.  It was an okay job to transition out of the military but I quickly outgrew it.  Everyone had a side job because the full time work hours didn’t give enough pay for Maryland cost of living. Fortunately I was rated disabled by the VA while working this job so I didn’t have to.  

I left a large defense contractor almost two years ago to work with GAP Solutions, and have been thrilled with the changes in my work environment and work/life balance. GAPSI has created many opportunities for me to learn more about the government as it relates to our business, and truly focuses on my areas of strength and how to further progress me as an individual instead of a number. After working endless hours at my previous position, I have appreciated the effort GAPSI takes to ensure a work/life balance and flexibility, as well as their numerous efforts to get to know their employees at various sites - which I had never seen before! Each person that works at Headquarters has become a friend to me, and presents their very best each day to ensure all employees feel like they are a part of a larger team. I also appreciate that when there is a mistake, which happens everywhere, GAPSI dedicates time to fix the issue and take steps towards ensuring the same issue does not happen again. It has been a great company to work with, and I look forward to continuing a career here!

I was a contract employee for the Ohio Army National Guard; it was my duty to organize and execute pre- and post-deployment events for Soldiers and their Familes. GAP Solutions, while inexperienced in the field, certainly gave it their best, and while certain issues did arise with the client at the conclusion of the contract, GAP Solutions did all they could to make my separation painless. They offered decent healthcare coverage and a quite reasonable benefits package (one week vacation and one week personal time for the first year), and while their payscale was low for the work performed, this was more due to the realities of contract work than any direct fault of theirs. Certain data-collection tasks were onerous, but these were required by the Department of Defense, so I can't fault the contract company. Overall, I was quite happy with them.

I learned a great deal about the status of what it means to be a contractor in the federal system. I learned to fulfill a detailed duty, but more so to find your own ways to reach beyond that specific duty's limitations. There was so much available to grasp and work with while at the Foreign Service Institute, because quite frankly the processes being done there were cyclical, and constantly evolving. My contracting company, GAP Solutions, Inc., supported my intentions to learn as much as possible and gain more duties so long as my quality of work was still top of the line. As long as you chose to evolve with the environment, you were free to take charge of projects to organize and create for the better of the Training Center. I owe GAP Solutions, Inc. a great deal of gratitute for the opportunity to grow as much as I have this past year and more.

A typical day was waiting for the micro-manager to actually come to work so you could get started.   The only thing I learned at this job was the extent of my own patience, it was the ultimate of hurry up and wait.  The management normally couldn't be contacted until 10 about three hours after the day started.  The atmosphere of trust was such that your co-workers would throw you under the bus at any hint of management dis-satisfaction.  I've never seen so much finger pointing in my life.  The hardest part of the job was trying to figure out how long you would have a job.  The day they hired me a federal employee told me they had just recently laid off 40 people so this was beginning to sound a lot like a temp agency. After talking with other employees I finally realized that the majority of new hires were temporary expendable independent contractors.  Unless you just need some extra money I would avoid this company and seek a more reputable one.

The contract in which I work for was terrible, the level of micromanaging they did to their employers was at a toddler level. As a good worker we were not allow to make up time, if we had a doctor appointment we had to use our leave which in return left us with nothing when it came to taking an actual vacation. Our work still remain whether we needed more time or not, no one else would pick up the slack. There was zero flexibility, and the company didn't really stand out for the employee when the people who we were contract under (DoS) were constantly adding more and more duties with same pay. 
My coworker got fired at 7 months pregnant because the office in which we work for there was a misunderstanding between my coworker an another girl, Gap let her go instead of trying to relocate her at least temporary until her baby was born.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Employee friendly, you could speak with Top management; capable of being reached at anytime! 

Pay could be a tad bit more😉

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Truthfully, I dreaded leaving extremely personal messages. And they want it a detailed message when you had a question for HR. They will get back to you in 24 to 48 hours mostly via email which is not very interpersonal. Sometimes that saddened me.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
to be 100% honest, I telework so I didn’t deal a lot with the characteristics of the human person personally; however, telephonically they were closely knit and cordial.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
a typical day for me was smooth sailing as a pertain to Gap Solutions.

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