The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report regarding the appointment of temporary and term personnel by the Department of Defense (DoD).
The (DoD) uses term and temporary appointments to hire personnel to non-permanent positions that have uncertain funding or workload. Term appointments are longer and can last up to eight years, while temporary appointments can last up to three years. Both of these appointment durations were recently extended.
However, the GAO found that the DoD did not report their employeesʻ perceptions of these changes to Congress. This information would provide insights for members of Congress on the effectiveness of the extensions.
Consequently, the GAO recommends that the Secretary of Defense ensures that the Director of the Defense Civilian Personnel Advisory Service reports the results of the assessment of employee perceptions of modifications to term and temporary appointments to the Congress and the GAO. DoD officials concurred with the recommendation.
The GAO found that from 2016 through 2019, DoD increased term personnel by 40 percent and decreased temporary personnel by 3 percent. Further, GAO found that approximately 35 percent of DoD term and temporary personnel were converted to permanent civilian positions within the federal government with the Army employing 72 percent of them. The Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer employed 32 percent of DOD’s term and temporary personnel.