Feral Jundi

    I see a couple of failures here.  For one, you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. I would guarantee if the companies paid a decent salary for these positions, they would attract employees that would care.  But the one salary they certainly should not skimp on is the supervisor.  A well paid supervisor that knows what they are doing, could easily shore up these security issues brought up by the GAO.

  Be that as it may, most of these companies could care less about customer service or satisfaction, and most could care less about Kaizen.  Primarily because the feds have yet to put the pressure on them, and doing just ‘good enough’ is financially sound to them.  It costs money to train and costs money to get good people.  Might as well just run the show all shabby until someone blows the whistle–no one cares, until now.

   And then there is the lapse of federal oversight, which continues to be lightly mentioned in the MSM over and over.  I will not beat that dead horse.  Although I will go back to the main solution to these problems.  It’s leadership all the way.  It’s a good leader that monitors and tests the abilities of it’s security force and insures that the post orders are being followed.  It’s a good leader that recognizes deficiencies in the guard force and corrects them on the spot.  It’s a good leader that applies Kaizen, customer service and customer satisfaction to their security services. If the FPS and the companies recognized the value of focusing on these supervisors, and insuring that they are in fact getting the right man for the job, then these issues will be corrected.

   The leadership within the FPS and Companies need to be evaluated as well.  Did those leaders tasked with managing these supervisors and regions do the things necessary to insure things were going well out there?  Did they have a ‘shared reality’ with their men out in the field, or did they lead from a desk?  I think we know the answer, and the proof is in the pudding. –Matt

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GAO finds major security lapses at federal buildings

The Federal Protective Service comes under fire as government investigators tell Congress they were able to carry bomb-making materials through all 10 security checkpoints tested.

From the Los Angeles Times

By Kristina Sherry

July 9, 2009

Reporting from Washington — The Government Accountability Office told a congressional panel Wednesday that its investigators were able to carry bomb-making materials through 10 security checkpoints monitored by the Federal Protective Service, which guards nearly 9,000 facilities throughout the country.

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