US Army Corps Workamper Positions - RV-Dreams Community Forum

DreamerBob · RV-Dreams Family Member

US Army Corps Workamper Positions

Janeen · RV-Dreams Family Member

Bob, there are many things to ask when inquiring about these or any workamping position. In the seminar on this very subject at the rally last week we learned that asking questions and a lot of them is the best way to determine if one particular job is right for you. For instance, a job in a forest setting would be quite different from a Southeast Arizona desert workamping position. Many of the COE jobs I've seen all have the same description however, some campsites are free with no hook ups, others have water, none that I've seen have sewer so you would have to ask if as a worker do you get a full hook up site? Ask for a picture of the site, ask for referances of a past workamper, ask about hours expected, any question you can think of that is pertinent to your comfort or needs is a good question to ask.

From what I gather no two are alike so unless someone has worked at a particular site you are interested in, you have to inquire. Ask direct questions, the last thing they want is for you to show up to work and then bail out because it's not what you expected.

TXRVr · RV-Dreams Family Member

Dreamerbob> The typical COE gate attendant job (paid) is one where you have to apply for the position by making a monetary bid for that job and location. A bid is the amount of money you are willing to work for per each day of duty. It can be a competitive process if there is more than one bidder.

There are some "government" hoops that one must jump thru in the application process. One is to obtain a DUNN number. You can google that for more information. Another is that you typically bid on a two year contract. If you are the winner, then you are expected to service 6 months this year and 6 months next year.

The duty day is long. Typically, from 8 am to 10 pm for a campground. It usually requires a couple team to manage that. However, your bid is what will be paid regardless of the number of people doing the job.

I've been in many COE facilities. Everyone had a nice full hook up site for the gate attendants. The only negative is that they are located close to the entrance gate. Anyone who has camp hosted knows that is not a "private" location.

I have been thru the bid process a couple of times. I didn't get them because I was not the low bidder. That's OK by me because I'm not going to work 12 hours a day for minimum wage. The best advise that I can give you is to find out who is the supervisor for the COE park you would like to work for. Call them and ask questions.

PattiRon · RV-Dreams Family Member

Sounds to me like TXRVr has some very sound advice, especially that last bit about "call them".

In our modern world of fax machines, emails, websites and such it sure is easy to lose the human element. You may find in your 'voice' contact that some old grouch runs the place and you want to stay away. On the other hand they may like your 'voice' personality enough to give you some inside details both about the location and about the job.

Sometimes, I'd like to pick up the cell and call some of the posters on this forum cause they just seem so nice. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a phone call is at least worth 995.

Ron

jrp · RV-Dreams Family Member

Bob,

Most COE campgrounds are very nice facilities. They use volunteers for the campground hosts. The "bid" positions are gate attendants and actually involve a government contract. The volunteers and the bidders are handled completely differently and separately. To bid on the gate attendant positions they require you to register ahead of the bid as a government contractor, obtain a D&B business registration number, have the ability to accept electronic government payments, the ability to obtain a performance bond, liability insurance, etc. All easy to accomplish, but it takes some time & planning upfront to even be allowed to submit a bid. The gate attendant collects fees at the entrance and deposits the funds at the government designated bank, so there is some handling of cash and accounting for the governments funds. The contract has a very detailed & specific "scope of work" listing of mandatory requirements & responsibilities. Since the workday is more than 8 hours, it is mandatory to have multiple people performing the contract responsibilities. Since you actually sign a legally binding contract, you have some potential legal liability if you fail to perform as required.
None of those contract requirements apply to their volunteer positions. The Corps has very detailed websites describing both the volunteer and bid positions and their process.

Jim

Dan and Gail · RV-Dreams Family Member

Here is the link to COE volunteer positions listed by state. Not all of them are campgrounds. Some are day use parks, but usually have a campsite for volunteers.

http://www.lrn.usace.army.mil/volunteer/joblistings.html#NH

We've been looking for a possible position after Christmas somewhere in the south or southeast. Plan to call two or three this next week for more details.

We love to stay at COE parks and have visited with many volunteers at COE parks over our years of camping.