One in four Defense Department headquarters managers and support personnel and 40 percent of the department's acquisition workforce would lose their jobs in the next four years under a bill introduced in the House last week.
House National Security Committee Chairman Floyd Spence, R-S.C., and Rep. Ronald Dellums, D-Calif., the committee's ranking democrat, introduced a bill (H.R. 1778) that would downsize the Defense Department by more than 130,000 workers over four years and outsource a third of the department's support services by fiscal year 2000.
"The Department of Defense spends far too much of its shrinking resources on burdensome regulations, excessive support staff and inefficient business practices," Spence said. "The 'business as usual' approach, where 60 percent of the defense budget is spent on infrastructure and support functions, is no longer acceptable when we continue to cut combat forces in order to pay bills."
Dellums said he does not support all of the bill's provisions.
"I view this as the first step in the deliberative legislative process, one that will begin the debate which is meant to produce meaningful and necessary reform within the Pentagon," Dellums said.
Under the bill, DoD would be required to eliminate 12,500 headquarters management and support personnel over four years. That would amount to a 25 percent cut in headquarters staff. The reduction would be phased in, with a 10 percent reduction in fiscal 1998 and a 5 percent reduction each of the following three years.
The bill also calls for a dramatic reduction in the number of acquisition personnel in the department. About 124,000 positions would be eliminated over the next four years. The first 40,000 jobs would be cut next year.
To help the department meet those goals, the bill would give DoD additional buyout authority and waive half of the retirement penalty for employees who decide to take early outs.
The department would also be required to outsource at least one third of all of its commercial services. The department now outsources about 14 percent of its commercial activities. Three defense agencies would be directed to compete or outsource most of their services: the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, the Defense Information Systems Agency and the Defense Automation and Printing Service.
The bill would also establish a new commission to review the department's organizational structure and recommend ways to further streamline its operations.
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