Pretty much a jobs program for the incompetent
Pros
Work life balance is incredible because you're assigned maybe 4-10 hours of actual work per week. Contractors work very hard and are competent employees.
Cons
Where to start? Middle management and above is infested with a bunch of boomers who only got the job because they're disabled or vets or they're related to someone in upper management. Managers spend the bulk of their time walking around drinking coffee or out at lunch networking with other managers so they can build relationships to increase the quality of their conversations over coffee and lunch. The only way to get promoted is for someone above you to retire or die. Over 50% of people working at BPA are contractors who are underpaid and overworked while dealing with constantly changing directions from multiple levels of leadership, all while having some of the worst benefits you've ever seen. Senior management is a complete disaster, refusing to hold anyone accountable to executing tasks in a timely manner. They claim to want disruptive leaders to fix big issues, but when those disruptive leaders emerge, they're immediately quashed by mountains of paperwork, bureaucracy, and nonsense. The rank and file federal employees are some of the most abhorrently-behaved people I've ever had the displeasure of working alongside. Between rants about how many people they could kill with a handgun or complaining that they have to show up to two meetings this week, they're typically surfing the internet either doing online shopping or planning their 5th week-long vacation of the year (as if they need a vacation from doing nothing).
