Defense Force Management

Reflecting congressional concerns about the Defense Department's (DOD) management of its civilian workforce, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1991 requires DOD to submit a five-year master plan for industrial and commercial workers, projecting work load, employment levels by worker category, employee furloughs, and involuntary separations. The legislation also requires DOD to develop guidelines for reducing the workforce by setting priorities for reductions for categories of workers. This report (1) evaluates the accuracy and completeness of the five-year Civilian Employment Master Plan that DOD submitted to Congress in April 1991 and determines whether it provided a baseline for monitoring force reductions and (2) examines the force reduction guidance DOD issued in response to a congressional mandate, as well as its likely impact.

GAO found that: (1) the 5-year DOD plan provides a limited basis for monitoring force reductions of industrial and commercial workers; (2) all DOD organizations, except the Navy, provided projections in the requested areas for the full 5-year period; (3) the plan included some incomplete, inaccurate, and inconsistent data involving work load, workers, and projected force reductions; (4) DOD has made several conclusions regarding its 5-year plan, which appear premature in light of data limitations; (5) DOD issued guidance regarding the order in which categories of civilian workers should be considered for reduction, but the decentralized nature of DOD civilian personnel management could limit the guidance's impact; (6) the legislatively mandated master plan provides a limited perspective, since it only addresses one portion of the DOD civilian work force; and (7) broader assessments could determine the impact of military downsizing on the total DOD civilian work force.