Defense Department employees who have a need for an official
government cellular phone could be paid a flat rate or
monthly stipend for use of their personal cell phones for
official business, under authority DoD is seeking from
Congress.
In a legislative request, DoD noted that it currently
provides cell phones to certain managers and other officials
who have what the agency calls a “validated need.” But the
process of reimbursing those without government-issued
phones for duty-related calls “is tedious, redundant and
overly burdensome. As a result, many employees now carry
two telephones, or absorb the costs of government-related
calls,” the Pentagon said.
Providing those individuals with a flat rate or monthly
stipend for use of their personal phones when used for
official government business “would be more fair, just,
equitable and efficient,” the request said.