Faster Action on Work Force Test Urged

The House DoD authorization bill also would require the agency to develop an implementation plan by next February for improving personnel policies for its acquisition work force based on the demonstration project that started in February 1999. That project is testing simplified recruiting methods and pay banding, in which managers may set employees’ pay within broad ranges and link raises more closely to performance. However, only about 5 percent of the department’s nearly 100,000 employees in acquisition-related positions are participating. The House Armed Services Committee, in its report on the bill, says it supports the ideas being tested in the demonstration project and says DoD “must ensure that the lessons learned” are incorporated into its personnel policies.