Officials have said they are looking to the Department of Homeland Security’s special personnel provisions as a model for the planned personnel reform, and also would like to build on several demonstration projects and other special authorities in effect in parts of DoD. They have said they will respect current obligations to bargain with unions, as well as preserve merit principles, veterans preference, equal opportunity rights and similar protections. However, the potential scope of the change for the government’s largest employer of civilian workers virtually guarantees that the plan will be controversial. For example, the plan would largely remove the department from government-wide controls imposed by the Office of Personnel Management-controls that employee organizations and some outside experts say are needed to keep the civil service from becoming too fragmented.