Ginger Groeber

This report documents the constraints the U. S. Air Force must operate under in comparison with alternative compensation and benefit structures found in other federal agencies and the private sector. It provides recommendations for actions the Air Force can take to improve the competitiveness of its compensation and benefits packages for select hard-to-fill and mission critical occupations.

The federal government is working to enable simple and strategic hiring practices. Toward this end, the authors identified best practices for recruiting, hiring, and compensation in 41 federal demonstration projects and alternative personnel systems that began between January 2008 and May 2019. These best practices offer solutions for agencies seeking to modernize and refine current personnel programs.

The Department of the Air Force (DAF) manages the acquisition workforce as a whole in the U. S. Space Force (USSF) and the U. S. Air Force (USAF). The authors assess whether the DAF's current acquisition workforce management and development structures can meet the needs of both services. They pinpoint potential misalignments and make recommendations to address them.