SMR Underbidding and Understaffing

[Duckbutta]

Can anyone shed some light on SMR's business practices? They have some labs in desirable locales but it seems that their reputation in this business is lousy. I have heard that they severely underbid their contracts and then run a bare bones operation in order to stay profitable. Just wondering if any current or former employees would like to give an honest assessment of the company and share their observations? I would hate to take a job with them only to find out later that I made a huge mistake.

[Broken_Wings]

Some locations they subcontract to or are the subcontractor with http://www.rsinsa.com/pmel.html

RSINSA has Andrews clearly
http://www.jobtarget.com/c/job.cfm?site_id=8928&jb=7794096

I heard or overheard that one or more of the SMR locations the contract has penalties if they do not maintain the staffing that they bid. In order to avoid a skeleton crew or bare bones operation I would look for information about this.

However with all the CBAs out there just do your job and do it right if you go to a union location. You will get paid well. There were two recent SMR postings here with an e-mail address that you could inquire about openings and CBA rates.

[Boatkook]

SMR/Rothe takes passing the AFMETCAL evaluations very seriously.   They have a quality and training program second to none.   The management is fair and the wages are good.   I'm proud to work for them!
No regrets.

[msrichmond]

Isn't that the contractor at Robins?

[step30044]

yes it is

[Disgruntled]

So what game is this?. . . a rival contractor or disgruntled employee trying to stir things up?  LOL

I've worked for commercial labs and contractors - and I've seen games played over and over again - both by someone trying to make a name for themselves, as well as a competing contractor.   If I had to lay odds, I'm betting this contract is coming up for bid in a couple of months, and someone is trying to demoralize the lot in an effort to get someone to 'sell-out' to a competitor (just my guess).   

I see crap all over the internet (although this forum seems to have more than the fair share) about someone or somebody who does this or that. . . blah blah blah.   The moderation (or lack thereof) on this forum is equally to blame for the lack of respect amongst true Metrology professionals for this forum. . . however, I digress -

So what's my interest in all of this?. . . none, except that at one time many years ago I was once a contractor working in a laboratory. . . and I was one of those who got screwed by a 'fellow' technician when said technician became a turn-coat and sold out to a competing contractor in exchange for a promotion.   My only interest is trying to help the hard-working, honest technician see some of the games that are played in this industry before it's too late.   

So, you might ask. . . why don't I use my real name?. . . because I am now very successful in the commercial world, and quite frankly, I prefer anonymity on this forum, simply because of my earlier point.

Oh, and one more thing - I've done some independent checking on this company called SMR - if they are Understaffing, it sure is ironic they are trying to hire technicians at nearly all of their laboratories across the country (like most every other company that has a calibration lab).   But hey, don't believe me. . . just pick up the phone and call their Corporate office (like I did). . I encourage you to check it out for yourself.

[PMEL Whore]

Not sure what game disgruntled is playing either!  This guy makes me look
like Mary Poppins!  I admit it, I have some issues.

If disgruntled knew half as much as he thought he knew, he would realize
that SMR just took over Robins in September, not that the contract is coming
up for bids.  I don't want to get off on a rant here, but.......

As far as the moderation on this forum goes, again the poster is off base.
This site is moderated just fine.  I certainly don't have the time to take
on a perpetual chore like this which is providing a great place to post
jobs, sound off, and keep in touch with PMEL issues.  I for one say a big Thanks!

Not sure what he is referring to as far as being sold out in a previous job,
but that kind of crap goes on in PMEL.  You know PMEL guys, "a bunch of
bitchy little girls."

Now to the actual thread of this post:  I'm not sure that the original
poster is even correct about SMR running a bare bones operation.  Believe me
there is no love lost between me and SMR, see my forum thread "I got out
again", I bumped it to the top, and you will get my drift, but every
contractor has to run the lab that way, it is the nature of the beast now.
Until some people wake up it will continue to be that way.  The Robins lab
did recently fail the audit badly and it is actually a train wreck over
there right now, the site manager was replaced and a new tech ops supervisor
has been installed to start the healing process, but it is a long road.  Not
that I was sorry to see them tank, I warned them at the beginning of the
contract that things were bad but they didn't listen to me, treated me
badly, and in the end I feel vindicated for the way things went down.  As a
PMEL guy, even out of the field now, I hate it for the good guys at the lab
who are now going to suffer the fallout from a failed audit when there is
nothing they could really do to keep it from happening.  Robins is a mess
for a variety of reasons too lengthy to go into anyway, but some pretty
wholesale changes need to be made to fix this place.

I know SMR is advertising for techs at a lot of places, some probably just
because people move on, but a bunch because of the situation at Robins and
having to move people to solve the problems.  Having said that, I personally
can understand why people would leave them after what I have seen, but there are also a bunch of people that come rallying to their defense on this forum so maybe they just don't treat everyone the same.  In their defense, if you look at the number of positions out there and the number of good techs
looking to fill those positions, our field is in some jeopardy.  The school
is turning less students, which means less good techs are getting out to go
to work for contractors.  Who can blame them as the way contractors treat
their employees in many cases, I refer to my previous I got out again
thread.  And as far a commercial metrology training, while I am not familiar
with all of it, I can tell you that the local school here is not going to
make a PMEL tech out of anybody.

SMRs business practices as a whole from what I heard before they came to
Robins and what I saw the 2 months I worked for them were not anything I
personally wanted to be associated with, so I did what anyone should do if
they find themselves in that position, get another job and leave.  And if he
thinks calling the corporate office to get the true story is the way to go
he is certainly confused.  If I wanted to know something about the company I
am not calling for the "party line" I want to talk to the guys in the
trenches, if there are one or two disgruntled that's one thing, but if half
the place is ticked off that could be a warning sign.

If disgruntled finds it so distasteful on this forum and he is so successful
in commercial cal and doesn't want to tarnish his reputation, such as it is,
maybe he should just stay away.

Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

[Broken_Wings]

 If I had to lay odds, I'm betting this contract is coming up for bid in a couple of months, and someone is trying to demoralize the lot in an effort to get someone to 'sell-out' to a competitor (just my guess).   



So what's my interest in all of this?. . . none, except that at one time many years ago I was once a contractor working in a laboratory. . . and I was one of those who got screwed by a 'fellow' technician when said technician became a turn-coat and sold out to a competing contractor in exchange for a promotion. 

Only quoting what I want to address.
The contract was awarded last year. Somebody can dig you up a FBO link. I could too probably. I don't know if an audit failure would have the contract awarded to another bidder or if it would go back up for rebid. For now there is nothing one can assume is happening in a few months.
How do I sell out my co-workers to the competition? You didn't state it but I am curious how I sell out my curent employer to the competition?
Perhaps it wasn't just one person that was gunning for you.

[Broken_Wings]

SMR/Rothe takes passing the AFMETCAL evaluations very seriously.   They have a quality and training program second to none.   The management is fair and the wages are good.   I'm proud to work for them!
No regrets.

They can take it as seriously as they want and they should. Lack of preparation is another category. How often do you receive training? You should get at least a half day a quarter if you call it second to none.
  They can't have a quality program. They follow 00-20-14. Now if you are at a location with a non-shared quality manual and it is top notch that is another thing.
   At the ALC the IIA and organic (type V /civil service) should not be on the same certificate. The audits can be done at the same time but because of how things work the failure of one group isn't always the failure of the other.

[Observer]

SMR contract at Robins is for 1 year with options for 1 year extensions.  Failing an audit and poor turn around time should weight heavy for extension consideration.  New contract format is "performance based".  So far not much "performance".

[PMEL Whore]

You would think that poor performance would be enough to have the government look at finding someone else, but I don't really see it happenning.  It would require contracting to step up and flex a bit, not sure if that will happen.  This isn't the first place they have had poor performance but I haven't heard of a lost contract.  Maybe this will be the first.  They, the government, better start now, it took them 3 years to award this contract, if they want to replace SMR and have to go with another RFP it could take 3 more years.

[Broken_Wings]

This may not be the appropriate thread for the question but since the subject came up I am going to ask. I know the Whore's opinion already.

Under a performance based contract can the contractor still be fined?
Do they still fine for items not meeting the turn around time?

[Bill the Cat]

Yes

[lollame]

lol.
more whiney old pmel'ers bitching about nothing hahaha.

[PMEL Whore]

At least we have the stones to put our user name to our post.