The Lectern: The Fear Industry and the workforce crisis

I'm in Cincinnati today (in between teaching on Mondays and Wednesdays) to give a talk at the World Congress of the National Contract Management Association, the professional organization for contracting professionals. Last night at dinner I was having a conversation with a well-known contracting person, who noted that attendance at the World Congress from government contracting folks was at a record high. That sounds like a good sign, I responded, especially given the tight funding environment in agencies and some rumblings from agency ethics officials about government people attending events where industry people are also present.

No, it wasn't really a good sign, my dinner table partner said. He's been hearing from industry people at the conference that a lot of the government people are at the conference to network for contracting jobs outside the government. The word around is that the government people are sick of trying to work in the current environment of attacks, blame, and increased controls. That's why they're looking to leave.

Good job, fear industry. Is destroying the government's contracting capacity what you guys had in mind?

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