U.S. Department of Defense Experiences with Substituting Government Civilian Employees for Military Personnel: Executive Summary

As budget pressures persist for the federal government, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) continues to seek ways to gain efficiencies and reduce costs. Optimizing the DoD workforce by implementing the most cost-effective mix of military service members, government civilian personnel, and contracts for services offers promising opportunities for savings. One force-shaping tool at the departments disposal is the ability to convert military positions to positions filled by federal civilian employeesreferred to as military-to-civilian conversions. At the request of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, RAND researchers examined DoDs most recent experience with military-to-civilian conversions. The research did not address whether the department should convert additional positions; instead, it examined the most effective ways to do so in order to inform the departments decisions on future use of this force-shaping tool.