Would withdrawing, after signing a contingent offer, get me blacklisted?
TLDR: I accepted TJO in June with an expected August start date. I completed every document I received before July 4. I just learned they were waiting on a form that was never sent to me, which may delay my background investigation and start date. If I receive another offer and withdraw from this one, could that blacklist me from the agency or fed. contractor in the future?
I recently graduated and have been unemployed since May. In June, I accepted a contingent offer for a federal contractor position supporting an agency (Not HR or IRS), with an anticipated August 31 start. I completed my fingerprinting and submitted every form and document I received as before 4th of July.
Well! I found out today that they are still waiting on another form (eAPP) from me to initiate my background check. The issue is that I never received it. I checked my spam, deleted messages, and everything else I could think of. There is no record of it ever being sent to me. They are going to resend it, but now I am concerned that this could delay the background investigation and push my start date beyond October if the background check has not even started yet and I cannot realistically remain unemployed indefinitely. What makes this harder is that I turned down another job offer about two weeks ago because I felt confident that this position was moving forward and that I would be starting in August.
If I receive another good offer, and this position is still delayed, would withdrawing at that point hurt me with the agency or potentially blacklist me from future opportunities? I would not be withdrawing because I am playing companies against each other or because I suddenly changed my mind, but I do need to make the financially responsible decision if another employer can give me a confirmed start date.