WashingtonExec held a conference call last week on how the 2018 government shutdown will specifically impact federal contracting businesses. The 1-hour agenda included topics such as which agencies are affected, financial and legal implications, and effective employee communications. Speakers for the call were Kay Curling, chief human resource officer of Salient CRGT, and Tami Simon, managing director in the HR Consulting Services division at Conduent. Conduent is a global business process outsourcing firm valued at $6.5 billion.
Depending on the timeline of the shutdown, many govcon issues may be impacted, including employee furloughs, contract award announcements slipping to the right, and important services like eVerify becoming unavailable. Cost plus contracts are at the highest risk of being impacted by the furlough.
It is important to not only document, but to also establish separate charge numbers shutdown-related employee time off, as well as maintain pristine record-keeping to make sound claims in the future.
“Employers need a plan aligned with their culture and their mix of contracts and customers,” Curling said.
Dozens of executives participated in the call, including CEOs, chief financial officers, vice presidents and HR heads. The new continuing resolution only kicks the can down the road. Unless a budget is passed, we’ll be revisiting these shutdown plans again soon.
WashingtonExec hosted a similar call in 2012. The 2013 shutdown lasted 16 days and affected over 800,000 federal employees.