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ITT is one of the companies bidding for the new contract that comes up next year. Other than planning staff that have probably already been hired, anyone else they hire, wont be going down this season.
MPlus, a significant portion of their job listings are pretty obviously ripped straight from positions on Raytheon’s site. The beginning of the Network Engineer position, which is still up on both sites, stretches the definition of paraphrasing to the extreme. I don’t know anything more than other people on this forum who haven’t been to the Ice, but it looks to me like ITT decided that they’d be a more competitive bidder if they could preemptively “hire” everybody that Raytheon already does in order to demonstrate that they were ready to go. If I were someone who was seriously interested in working in Antarctica (which I am), and I had applied via their site instead of Raytheon’s for this season (which I haven’t), I would be pretty furious. Not to mention that it’s plain lazy.
Basically, regardless of the end date. I think everyone who has been on the ice should submit their resume..
just in case.one of the followup questions is Have you been down to antarctica before?
Sucks for people like me who have not been there.Looks like if they win, regulars will get a guaranteed first pick.
So, I’d say, don’t take a chance on getting screwed out if something happens. Get your foot in the door now.
I’ll shut up now. Heh.
-FloydOn the job descriptions there is a disclaimer at the top stating “This contract has not been awarded,” and on others “This position is pending contract approval” (or something like that).
Either way, as others pointed out, they’re trying to be competitive. ‘Nuff said.
ITT and another company have been happily collecting resumes for Antarctic positions in anticipation of being awarded the contract in 2010 (I sent mine in to both companies last year, with a cover letter, but targeting no specific position). Yes, they are especially interested in people who already know how the USAP works — having a pool of ready, experienced people to draw on looks good. I don’t know if they are required to solicit applicants for the contract bid, but the rumor last time (2000-01) was that the NSF required the new contractor to hire, or attempt to hire, a certain percentage of people who had prior experience — the numbers 60% and 70% were batted around. BT would have better knowledge of this than I. (Mike — any comments?)
For a list of the vendors interested in bidding on the contract, go to FBO.gov: https://www.fbo.gov/?s=main&mode=list&tab=list and do a quick search for solicitation NSF-AIL-DRFP-08-0001 (or just type in Antarctic Support Contract). When you find the right page, select the “Interested Vendors List” tab to see who’s bidding.
Even if you don’t have USAP experience it won’t hurt you to apply, but since these are only potential positions for the following year — assuming ITT gets the contract — I wouldn’t get too worked up about it.
It’s no surprise that the position descriptions read the same: the jobs remain the same regardless of the primary contractor chosen. Many of the same workers will simply hire-on with whoever wins…
Good one Glenn. BT any comments?
As one who has spent time on thei ice with 3 contractors and a consultant (not to mention the Navy) I offer up my historical perspective on this contracting process in case you haven’t seen it:
http://www.southpolestation.com/trivia/ncs/ncs.html
Polie Nick Johnson has a good description of what happened the last time the contract got awarded, never thought we’d be discussing this again 10 years later.
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