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1 [1] (February 15, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/govegwg0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Con gressiona Re ea rch Service Informfing Ih legisIlive cI bat £since 1914 0 Updated February 15, 2022 Defense Primer: Department of Defense Civilian Employees Background Federal employment evolved into a civil service system in the late 1800s. It replaced a spoils system that allowed each presidential administration to appoint its political supporters as federal employees. Congress established the current federal civil service system with the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (P.L. 95-454). Its primary features are merit- based hiring and merit system principles. Civil Service The civil service consists of three subservices: competitive, excepted, and senior executive. The competitive service is the largest and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) administers it. The excepted service is distinguishable by its agency-level administration and selection procedures. The senior executive service (SES) is less than one percent of the civil service. OPM centrally manages SES selections with its merit staffing procedure and qualifications review board (QRB). The QRB must verify and certify an SES aspirant's executive core qualifications (ECQs). While OPM generally oversees the civil service, the following entities have specific oversight responsibilities: * Office of Special Counsel (OSC); * Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB); and * Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Just under a third of the civil service is in, or represented by, a union. Managers, supervisors, and servicemembers are excluded from unions, as are certain workforces. The Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) oversees dealings between unions and federal employers. Civil Service Data There are two common ways to enumerate civil servants: the full-time equivalent (FTE) and the on-board personnel (OBP) methods. Federal agencies typically use FTE for budget data and OBP for employment data. An FTE unit is a 2,080 hour work year; an OBP unit is one employee. FTE quantifies employment as the number of hours worked at the end of a fiscal year (FY), irrespective of the number of employees. OBP quantifies employment as the number of employees working on the last day of a FY quarter. An FTE count can be less than an OBP count as more than one OBP unit can equal one FTE unit, such as part-time employees. Defense C ilians Civilians are employed as civil servants in the Department of Defense (DOD) consistent with its annual appropriations for direct hire employees. Around 80% of them are in the competitive service and all of them fill positions that do not require military personnel. Servicemembers and other defense civilians may supervise civilians. Likewise, defense civilians may supervise servicemembers when authorized. DOD's defense civilian OBP data are in Table 1. Table I. Estimated Defense Civilian OBP Component FY20 FY21 FY22 Army 190,899 194,128 196,111 Navy 196,767 198,614 200,248 Marine Corps 22,206 22,553 22,653 Air Force 169,736 177,453 180,515 DOD 215,768 221,275 214,188 Total 795,376 814,023 813,715 Source: DOD, Defense Manpower Profile Report - July 2021, p. 2. Note: Air Force includes Space Force civilians. - Fiscal Year 2022, Defense Civilian Managerment The Secretary of Defense must establish policies and procedures for determining the most appropriate and cost efficient categories of personnel to perform DOD's mission. These category determinations must prioritize the attainment of DOD's missions over considerations of costs (10 U.S.C. §129a). The Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (USD(P&R)) is the principal DOD official with responsibility for defense civilian policy and programs. The USD(P&R) also is the federal government's statutorily designated Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO) for DOD. All DOD managers and supervisors of civilians must adhere to the federal civil service merit system principles and are prohibited from engaging in certain personnel practices (5 U.S.C. §§2301, 2302). DOD may not reduce the projected FTE of the civilian workforce without conducting all required analyses of how the reduction will affect its workload, military force structure, lethality, readiness, operational effectiveness, stress on the military force, and fully burdened costs (10 U.S.C. §129a) (Table 2). The legal framework governing defense civilians is included in Titles 5, 10, and 29 of the U.S. Code, as well as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. These laws are implemented in general federal regulations and in specific DOD directives, regulations, and instructions that are to be issued only when necessary to meet DOD-unique needs or to supplement federal civil service policy. DOD policies, procedures, and programs for managing defense civilians apply to all DOD components.

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