Pentagon pilot cuts Army civilian hiring time from 161 days to 47 – Federal News Network

Pentagon pilot cuts Army civilian hiring time from 161 days to 47  Federal News Network

The Defense Department has also doled out more than $1 billion in bonuses, averaging $13,000 per person, to over 90,000 employees it says are top performers. A senior Pentagon official says the department is making progress on speeding up civilian hires as it rebuilds the workforce it gutted last year. Michael Cogar, who oversees the Defense Department’s civilian personnel policies, says a pilot program has slashed the Army’s average civilian hiring times from 161 days to 47 by introducing artificial intelligence and consolidating steps of the recruiting process. Pentagon policymakers are also rewriting and simplifying the department’s hiring authorities so service- and agency-level leaders can tailor them to their own needs.

The goal, Cogar said, is to prevent the national security risks that can arise when military jobs sit empty. “When a command takes 180 days, or in our overseas theater, 300 days, to hire an artificial intelligence specialist, a cyber operations engineer or an organic industrial-based machinist, we do not simply just lose a qualified candidate to the private sector. We lose our operational edge,” he said Oct. 14 at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference in Washington. Explore how DoD, GSA, NASA and OFPP are modernizing workforce strategies, streamlining procurement and leveraging tech to deliver mission outcomes at speed and effectively in our new ebook, sponsored