Pentagon sets plan to convert, outsource, military jobs

The Defense Department has embarked on a plan to eliminate as many as 300,000 military support jobs from its ranks.

The proposed $401 billion fiscal 2005 Defense budget released Monday calls for the "conversion" of 10,700 military positions. Those support jobs, such as accounting positions, would be turned over to civilian federal employees, contracted out, or simply eliminated.

The budget includes $572 million to cover the costs of converting or eliminating the positions.

A senior Defense official stressed that the military would not lose uniformed positions but rather, by transferring the tasks, gain slots to create new positions where the services have faced shortfalls, such as in military police, transportation, civil affairs and combat support functions. The official said meeting the military's commitments around the world "is not a stress problem, but a management problem," which can be solved by restructuring the force.

Previously, the Pentagon suggested that as many as 300,000 military jobs could be converted. The 2005 budget marks the first time Defense officials have offered a plan for beginning those conversions.

Defense budget officials said 10,000 positions are already slated for conversion in fiscal 2004, and a similar number would be converted annually for the next several years.

Unlike outsourcing civilian jobs in Defense, the military does not have to hold job competitions under Office of Management and Budget Circular A-76 before deciding to outsource uniformed jobs to the private sector.

A senior Defense official said legislation passed last year to overhaul the Defense civilian personnel system will make it easier to convert military jobs to civilian positions. One of the biggest benefits of that new law, the official said, is a streamlined hiring process that will allow new civilian workers to be brought on more quickly.

Defense officials declined to say how many of the 10,000 jobs would wind up in the civilian ranks. Budget projections show the number of Defense civilian employees barely increasing next year, from 686,000 workers in 2004 to 687,000 in 2005. By 2009, the Defense civilian workforce would have 689,000 workers, projections show.

The proposed conversion of military jobs to free up uniformed slots is likely to fuel debate over whether the military should be expanded. Lawmakers have called for increasing the size of the force because of the demands placed on the military services since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But the Pentagon has resisted those efforts, saying transforming its forces through restructuring and the use of new technologies obviates the need for adding troops.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has temporarily given the Army the option to add as many as 30,000 troops to meet demands around the world. Not allowing military members to retire and using bonuses to retain key personnel would allow the Army to add to its ranks, Army officials said.

The temporary increase could last as long as four years.