Research for Best Value Accession Sources

We evaluate the “best value” accession source among the Unrestricted Line (URL) Navy officer accession programs. The three biggest officer accession programs are the Naval Academy (USNA), the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC), and Officer Candidate School (OCS). We evaluate the Navy’s current practice of seeking to access officers from these three sources in roughly equal shares. First, we evaluate the cost-effectiveness of deviations from the “one-third” plan. Second, we examine whether officers are more likely to achieve certain career milestones if they came from one particular accession source. Finally, we look at how the accession sources provide the URL with racial/ethnic and gender diversity. Our evaluation of “best value” among the accession sources shows that no single source dominates. We also provided analytical support to the USNA submarine accessions working group and to the Navy Diversity Directorate (N134). The working group made recommendations to increase the visibility and desirability of the submarine community and to change the service selection process. To support N134, we analyzed data on recent applications to USNA and to the NROTC scholarship program and find that both programs will have to substantially increase the number of minority applications to reach diversity goals.