GovernmentExecutive.com

Three years ago, a Pentagon study concluded that more than half of the Defense civilian acquisition workforce would retire between 2005 and 2007. The report set off alarm bells, suggesting the loss of employees could lead to delays in delivering weapons to warfighters. The Defense Department inspector general said contracting reforms were already being hindered because so many civilians were leaving their jobs. Defense officials said the report showed the need for a more flexible human resources system to adapt to the department's swiftly changing needs.

But the report's dire predictions have not come to pass. "Clearly, we are not having the type of mass exodus" that was expected, says Richard Sylvester, deputy director of the Defense acquisition workforce. He says a renewed sense of patriotism since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the sagging stock market have led many of Defense's 132,000 acquisition workers, who range from contracting officers to physicists, to stay on the job beyond their retirement eligibility at age 55.

Sylvester says many of the workers, whose average age is 49, still are expected to retire soon, but at a slower rate than initially anticipated. Research shows that most workers who remain beyond age 55 do not stay more than two or three additional years. As a result, he says, Defense is working on borrowed time to ease the impact of the coming retirements.

Sylvester says pending legislation to reform Defense's civilian personnel system would go along way toward easing the loss of workers by giving managers more freedom to retain employees and recruit new ones. Even without the legislation, Defense is taking steps to rejuvenate its acquisition corps.

Better marketing of government work is one way. For example, the brochures federal recruiters from the Naval Air Station in Patuxent, Md., hand out at college career fairs have changed recently. Gone are the ones with white, middle-aged, male scientists on the cover. Instead, the latest glossy handouts have a picture of a 5-year-old girl throwing a paper airplane. The makeover is meant to underscore a larger message: Patuxent River, one of the Navy's top acquisition and research organizations, is a diverse, exciting and challenging place for young workers. "Where else can you work on the F-22 or the Joint Strike Fighter?" says Sylvester.

Even without major legislation, Defense is seeking to change its policies to make it easier to hire skilled workers away from the private sector at mid-career. For example, many acquisition management jobs require certifications earned from the Defense Acquisition University. Sylvester says Defense is considering ways to count commercial experience toward such certification.

Other steps the department is taking include cutting headquarters acquisition positions by as much as 15 percent in order to hire more front-line procurement workers, collecting lessons learned from acquisition experts before they retire, and expanding government-industry exchange programs for procurement experts.

Despite such initiatives, Sylvester knows there's one factor Defense cannot control--the economy. As it improves, he fears, the retirement rate will accelerate.

COMMENTS

• The reason half the civil servants are not retiring is that it is not 2005 yet. They are supposed to retire between 2005 and 2007. Believe me, there are plenty of us who are just waiting for the right reason. Buyout?? Uncle Sam is offering the same package it offered 15 years ago, $25K. Pleeaassee. Norfolk Southern Railroad has a very successful buyout program. 3 weeks salary times the number of years you have been employed. Now that's a package. Wake up Uncle Sugar. Tired Logistician. GovExec.com reader Posted December 2, 2003 5:46 AM
• The problem is the retirement package itself ... if you live on either coast where the cost of living far outstrips the rest of the nation, you simply can not afford to leave after 30 years because your monthly income, after taxes, will not pay the bills or your kids' college tuition. So, since the percentage of your annual salary that figures into your retirement income increases astronomically between 30 and 40 years of service, a lot of people choose to stay. Forget Social Security because civilians are still penalized heavily if trying to collect that as well as their civil service retirement, and TSP was too little too late for those in CSRS. Bottom line, if you're going to have to work another job after retiring from civil service, why leave? Unless a package adding 5 years to service time comes down the pike or a full PCS funding relocation to a retirement location of your choice is offered, count on the majority of CSRS employees hanging on for at least another half decade. Bonus points to anyone thinking that now would be the perfect time to team younger with older so the transition is smooth. GovExec.com reader Posted December 1, 2003 3:56 PM
• Having fifteen years as a civil servant and being age 55, I have talked with many people that are in the same situation that I am in and if the administration came out with a buy-out giving us five years on our age and five years on our service we would gladly take it. The primary reason being that this administration says it's behind the civil servant but yet every year it's been a last minute raise, alot of talk about outsourcing and the general feeling is that if this administration can get away with doing less for the average civil servant it will. And with this administration being totally in control of the goverment it proably will. Thank you GovExec.com reader Posted December 1, 2003 6:42 AM