Staff Augmentation at Sandia National Laboratories
What is staff augmentation as Sandia defines it?
Staff augmentation is a process for increasing a department or program staff by contracting for
individuals (Contractor Associates) with specific labor skills.
Sandia retains authority and responsibility for the work.
The Contractor will perform work on-site, part-time up to full-time at one of Sandia’s facilities.
Contractor Associates work side-by-side with Sandians.
Sandia provides the following direction:
Prioritize work assignments and methods to complete the Statement of Work (SOW).
Direct the Contractor Associate to perform a particular task.
What does that mean in English?
Sandia augments its employee base by hiring outside workers through companies it has awarded
contracts. If you work for Sandia as a Contractor Associate, you are an employee of the staff
augmentation company, not Sandia National Laboratories. You negotiate your salary with the “staff aug”
company, and receive your salary and benefits from that company. Your Sandia “boss” will participate in
evaluating your performance each year, however.
Through which companies does Sandia hire Contractor Associates?
In June, 2008, Sandia reduced its “staff augmentation companies” from 10 prime contractors and 17
subcontractors to 3 prime contractors and 2 subcontractors. The three new prime contractors are as
follows:
Sandia Staffing Alliance, LLC (made up of WESTECH and Gram, Inc.).
LMATA Government Services, LLC (made up of L&M Technologies and ATA Services, Inc.)
Global Analytic IT Services (GAITS)
Sandia Staffing Alliance (SSA) has approximately 500 Contractor Associates. It is the professional
services company for Sandia. Most, if not all, technical writers and editors work for SSA.
The support services staff augmentation company for Sandia is LMATA. Like SSA, it acquired about
500 Contractor Associates. If you are seeking work as an Office Administrative Assistant (OAA) or
Administrative Staff Associate (ASA), get in touch with LMATA.
The last company, GAITS, is Sandia’s staff augmentation company for information technology (IT)
services. It has approximately 200 Contractor Associates.
The contracts that Sandia awarded in June, 2008, have a five-year term, so the companies Sandia uses for
staff augmentation services today could change in June, 2013.
How can I obtain more information about the “staff aug” companies, including job
openings and benefits?
Please see the web sites of the three companies at the following addresses:
Sandia Staffing Alliance, LLC http://www.sandiastaffingalliance.com
LMATA Government Services, LLC http://www.lmata.lmtechnologies.com
Global Analytic IT Services (GAITS) http://gaits.com
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Do restrictions exist for Contractor Associates on length of service to Sandia or conversion
to a regular Sandia position?
There are no restrictions on length of service, and conversion to a Sandia position is allowed.
How many openings does Sandia have for staff augmentation technical writers in a year?
A good guess would be 10 to 15 or so openings per year.
Is a security clearance needed?
For most technical writing positions, a Department of Energy L or Q clearance is required, since most
positions are in “limited areas” within Sandia. Occasionally a position might not require a clearance to
start, but you might be expected to obtain one eventually. Again, most positions do require a clearance.
Do any technical writing “staff aug” openings exist at Sandia right now?
Unfortunately no. A hiring freeze has been in place since mid-October, 2008. Currently the Department of
Energy is being funded under a continuing resolution of Congress. The fiscal 2009 budget has never been
passed. The resolution expires during the first week of March, 2009, but no one knows whether a budget
will be passed then or the continuing resolution will be extended. An “exception process” exists through
which persons with “critical skills” can be hired at Sandia during the freeze, but it’s impossible to know
whether a technical writing position would be considered critical to a department or program.
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