How Much Does a Government Contractor Make

In our employee interviews, we found that more than one-third receive some form of public support, 14 percent rely on food stamps, and 20 percent are enrolled in Medicaid programs. A janitor cleaning a federally owned building in Washington, D.C. told us, “I wish I didn`t need government help like Medicaid and food stamps, but without the help, we`d be homeless or starving.” Fact: Even assuming that repeated and high-profile stories of fraud and corruption by entrepreneurs are isolated cases, and that the always revolving door between government officials and private entrepreneurs does not lead to nepotism and lack of oversight, claims that outsourcing government work saves taxpayers` money and improves efficiency justify skepticism. And few of us realize the kind of employment practices that are funded on our behalf by these contracts. A surprising secret is that while companies seek huge contracts from the government, hundreds of thousands of private sector workers work in the public interest for poverty wages, under harsh conditions and with little protection from the law. As one of the largest buyers of goods and services in the country, our government has also become one of the biggest polluters of income inequality. Salaries for government contractors in the United States range from $13,019 to $349,254 with an average salary of $63,178. The 57% of local government entrepreneurs earn between $63,179 and $158,367, while the richest 86% earn between $349,254. Fact: Federal rules require government agencies to enter into contracts with “responsible” companies, but the bar is set low by defining those responsible simply as: (1) financially capable of performing the contract and (2) compliance with the law. Even this short list can be a big task for entrepreneurs, as those who can`t reach that low bar continue to receive lucrative contracts.

A 2007 government report found that more than 60,000 federal contractors owed more than $7 billion in unpaid taxes. An internal analysis by the Department of Defense found that it had awarded contracts worth more than $5 million to 16 contractors suspended or excluded for “fraud-related activities.” Between 2005 and 2010, the Department of Justice awarded 77 government contracts worth nearly $16 million to companies that had been suspended or excluded. These practices also underestimate the rights and lives of workers. In 2010, the GAO reported that of the companies that received the 50 largest fines for wages and hours or workplace safety over a four-year period, more than 60 percent received government contracts the following year, including an oil company with safety and health violations that resulted in 15 deaths and a $55 million fine. but still won an additional $2 billion in government contracts. .