April 17 2020 Defense Primer Department of Defense Civilian Employees Background The foundation for the modern federal civil service which includes defense civilians is the statutory Merit System Principles found in Title 5 of the U S Code The Office of Personnel Management OPM oversees the system Historically by the 1830s challenges in hiring and managing government civilians had become severe when the spoils system in which each presidential administration replaced the federal workforce with its political supporters or party members sparked increased interest in reform Post-civil war efforts to eliminate the spoils system were underway in the Congress when a catalyst for immediate change arose from President Garfield’s assassination in 1881 by a disgruntled supporter who was denied a job in the President’s administration Beginning in 1883 the Congress periodically passed civil service reform bills for almost a century before establishing the current federal civil service in 1978 Federal Employment DOD civilians are appointed to the federal civil service to perform a federal function under the supervision of another federal employee or an appropriate federal official DOD may employ individuals in the various federal civil service employment classes consistent with its yearly appropriation for direct hire employees Indirect-hire government contractor and non-appropriated fund employees are not members of the federal civil service DOD civilians may exercise management or supervisory authority over servicemembers when authorized but they do not have command or military justice authority over them Civil Service Employee Classification There are three classes of federal civil service appointments under Title 5 of the U S Code competitive service excepted service and senior executive service SES The competitive service consists of all federal civil service positions that are not specifically excluded by OPM statute or the President The majority of federal employees and over 80 percent of DOD civilians are appointed in the competitive service The excepted service consists of all federal civil service positions that are not included in the competitive service or SES SES positions are those with high-level managerial supervisory and policy making responsibilities The SES makes up less than one percent of the federal civil service A SES position in DOD is often analogous to a flag or general officer military position but it does not include command authority Civil Service Authority and Oversight The general law governing DOD civilians is found in Titles 5 and 29 of the U S Code and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 among others and their associated federal regulations Title 5 identifies 14 Prohibited Personnel Practices which complement the Merit System Principles Some of the federal entities overseeing most DOD civilians include the      Office of Personnel Management OPM Merit Systems Protection Board MSPB Equal Employment Opportunity Commission EEOC Federal Labor Relations Authority FLRA and Office of Special Counsel OSC The FLRA oversees DOD civilians who are members of a collective bargaining unit union Because OPM does not typically have jurisdiction over elements of the U S Intelligence Community IC OSC does not have jurisdiction over IC elements in DOD and with the exception of preference eligible veterans with more than one year of federal civilian service MSPB does not have jurisdiction over the DOD civilian intelligence workforce Specific law and policies governing DOD civilians are found in Title 10 of the U S Code and defense or military department directives instructions and manuals The DOD official with direct responsibility for DOD civilians is the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness USD P R who also serves as DOD’s Chief Human Capital Officer CHCO 10 U S C §136 5 U S C §1402 Civilians DOD appropriates funds each year for DOD civilians based on the number of direct-hire Full-Time Equivalent FTE units needed to meet its requirements 1 unit equals 2080 hours per year The actual number of DOD civilians typically fluctuates from the budgeted FTE number The Defense Manpower Data Center DMDC reported 755 386 total DOD civilians as of September 30 2019 Table 1 includes the FY2020 authorized and FY2021 requested DOD FTE units Table 1 DOD Direct-Hire FTE DOD Component FY2020 Authorized FY2021 Requested Percent Change Defense 217 300 210 400 -4 00% Army 180 800 186 100 2 90% Navy 207 000 208 900 0 90% Air Force 169 800 168 100 -1 00% Total 774 900 773 600 -0 20% Source DOD Budget Overview for FY2021 p 2-8 available at https comptroller defense gov Portals 45 Documents defbudget fy2021 fy2021_Budget_Request_Overview_Book pdf Note FTE numbers rounded by source https crsreports congress gov Defense Primer Department of Defense Civilian Employees Policy DOD personnel policies procedures and programs for managing DOD civilians are to be binding on all DOD components DOD civilians fill positions that do not require military servicemembers DOD policy mandates that managers of DOD civilians apply merit system principles and prohibits certain personnel practices DOD civilian policy is to be issued only when necessary to meet DOD unique needs or supplement federal civil service policy DOD Directives 1400 5 1400 25 Development Career development models in DOD are to be designed to achieve a flexible and adaptable workforce of competent employees Developmental assignments are to be available to aspiring civilian leaders to develop the competencies needed to succeed at higher levels of responsibility and to provide advancement opportunities commensurate with ability These assignments are to be made throughout DOD in other federal agencies and with private industry Unions In 1978 Congress found that labor organizations and collective bargaining in the federal civil service are in the public interest and concluded that unions contribute to the effective conduct of public business 5 U S C §7101 DOD intelligence law enforcement and other designated employee categories are excluded from bargaining units by statute or executive order Managers and supervisors in any employee category and servicemembers are specifically excluded by statute 5 U S C §7103 Excepted Service Excepted service appointments to the federal civil service are not subject to the competitive service requirements prescribed by OPM or Title 5 of the U S Code Such appointments are made throughout DOD and across the federal government DOD has additional authority to make excepted service appointments to the federal civil service under Title 10 of the U S Code for a designated system service workforce or position such as those discussed below DOD Civilian Intelligence Personnel System The Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel System DCIPS is a human resource system independent from OPM established in Sections 1601-1623 of Title 10 of the U S Code DCIPS is the exclusive system for DOD civilians serving in intelligence and security positons A DCIPS objective was to make the DOD intelligence and security enterprise an employer of choice for top talent The Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence USD I exercises overall supervision and policy oversight for DCIPS subject to coordination with the USD P R DCIPS has several features that distinguish it from the general civil service system Two of them include the authority for DOD intelligence organizations to establish a pay-banding and rank-in-person workforce This allows competitive qualification for a pay-level commensurate with one’s performance and responsibilities without rigid time in service requirements pay-band and retention of pay-level regardless of the position to which one is assigned rank-in-person DOD Cyber Excepted Service Section 1599f of Title 10 U S Code authorizes DOD to establish positions in the excepted service for carrying out the responsibilities of U S Cyber Command This authority includes individual pay setting for a DOD civilian required to perform manage or supervise U S Cyber Command operations Compensation under this authority is to be designed to attract and retain civilians with highly sought cyber skills needed for DOD cyber operations DOD Civilian Acquisition Workforce Section 1762 of Title 10 of the U S Code authorizes DOD to establish a demonstration project for a DOD civilian acquisition workforce The DOD civilian acquisition workforce includes all DOD civilians occupying designated defense acquisition positions Table 2 includes the current civilian acquisition workforce total and component populations A defense acquisition position is one that requires greater than 50 percent of its responsibilities to be acquisition functions Section 4703 of Title 5 of the U S Code allows DOD to apply recruitment appointment and pay setting practices for the demonstration project positions that differ from those that apply to the general civil service system Implemented in 1999 the project’s outcome after its termination in 2023 is expected to allow DOD to determine whether its modifications for improving the human resource management of the DOD civilian acquisition workforce should be permanent Table 2 DOD Civilian Acquisition Workforce DOD Component Inside U S Outside U S Component Total Army 12 039 230 12 269 Navy 7 228 20 7 248 Marine Corps 1 855 1 1 856 Air Force 19 416 96 19 512 Defense 5 248 54 5 302 AcqDemo Total 45 786 401 46 187 Source AcqDemo https acqdemo hci mil demographics html accessed April 4 2020 DOD Designated Positions Certain provisions in Title 10 of the U S Code allow DOD to appoint civilians into designated excepted service positions such as experts at departmental laboratories and faculty at service colleges and service academies Senior Executive Service DOD manages members of the SES as a cohort through a career lifecycle which includes selection training and assignments DOD integrates the SES with its political appointee and general and flag officer leadership The SES in DOD is to be designed for civilian leaders who possess the skill and experience needed to support its warfighting role and meet its management requirements Alan Ott Analyst in Defense and Intelligence Personnel Policy IF11510 https crsreports congress gov Defense Primer Department of Defense Civilian Employees Disclaimer This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service CRS CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff to congressional committees and Members of Congress It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of Congress Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other than public understanding of information that has been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role CRS Reports as a work of the United States Government are not subject to copyright protection in the United States Any CRS Report may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety without permission from CRS However as a CRS Report may include copyrighted images or material from a third party you may need to obtain the permission of the copyright holder if you wish to copy or otherwise use copyrighted material https crsreports congress gov IF11510 · VERSION 2 · NEW