Research for Personnel Reductions

During the 1990s the Department of Defense set out on a path to reengineer many of its functions in order to reduce cost and improve efficiency. In 1993, in the area of civilian personnel management, the Office of the Secretary of Defense took the lead in coordinating a Defense-wide effort to reduce the number of personnelists - the staff that provides and manages civilian personnel services - to a servicing ratio (personnelists per civilian employee) of 1:85 by the end of FY99, and of 1:100 by the end of FY01. At the beginning of FY95, the servicing ration stood at 1:67. Real reductions are forthcoming for the civilian personnel management world. By the end of FY01, personnel management resources will be reduced by over 40 percent. Consolidation of operations and technical modernization will accompany the resources reduction. Personnel services delivery will be split into small onsite units and offsite hubs. We consider the DoN s proposed regional consolidation of the system of civilian personnel management. We ask: By the end of FY99, will efficiency increase as expected?