DOD promises to remain focused on workforce plan

The Pentagon says it has in place a plan to achieve savings in its civilian and contractor workforces, according to a new letter submitted to the Government Accountability Office.

A GAO report released today criticized the Pentagon's plan, noting that it "does not describe a process for implementing the planned reductions."

"Also, DOD did not address savings the department intends to achieve through reductions in the number of military, civilian, and contractor personnel," the GAO added. "Instead the report outlined reductions in full-time equivalent (FTE) positions, which may not equate to savings, and did not outline savings in funding for the contractor workforce beyond fiscal year 2015. Without this information, Congress has limited assurance on how the department will achieve required savings."

In a Dec. 15 response to GAO, Monique Dilworth, director of the operations directorate within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, writes that DOD agrees "with including a more robust description of the initiatives that comprised the plan to achieve savings for the civilian and contractor workforce."

Dilworth notes that the plan in place resulted from the DOD budget process and took into account a "comprehensive workforce to workload review that had been completed."

"The Office of the Secretary of Personnel and Readiness remains actively engaged in decisions affecting the workforce," she adds.