Susan M. Gates

Provides a descriptive overview of the Department of the Navy's civilian acquisition workforce over the past decade and presents the results of preliminary analyses of data related to specific workforce management issues: retention, professional development, and leadership.

The evidence presented in this paper raises concerns that the current U. S. Department of Defense (DoD) system of in-kind subsidies for child care is not meeting DoD recruitment, readiness, and retention goals or service member needs in an optimal way. The authors explore how civilian employers approach the issue of child care benefits for employees and suggest how child care resources might be more effectively directed to support DoD goals. In support of recruitment, readiness, and retention goals, this paper suggests that the U. S. Department of Defense may wish to expand its child care benefits to cover more military families and a broader set of child care needs.

This book summarizes defense acquisition workforce analysis that RAND has undertaken in support of human capital strategic planning. The report covers the civilian acquisition workforce, the careers of acquisition workforce senior executive service members, and the military acquisition workforce and its implications for the larger workforce. It also provides projection model that uses data on the civilian acquisition workforce as a key input.

What are the differential effects of regulation and policy on small businesses? What is the impact of special regulatory treatment for small businesses? This book sheds light on these issues through analysis of the regulatory and public policy environment with regard to small businesses, including focused studies in four key areas: health insurance, workplace safety, corporate governance, and business organization.

Describes and analyzes the results of a 2004 survey on the child care needs and choices of military families. It defines outcomes of potential interest to DoD (reported child-care usage, unmet child-care need, and unmet child-care preference), details the distribution of these outcomes among military families, and analyzes the relationships between these outcomes and military readiness and retention.

Presents findings and policy recommendations on internships in support of DoDOs goal of determining effective ways to recruit the civilian workforce it needs to replace the large number of retiring workers and to respond to the workforce changes likely to accompany the impending U. S. military transformation. The Department of Defense faces a challenge: how to replace a large number of retiring civilian workers and provide the larger civilian workforce likely to be needed for the impending U. S. military transformationOs new force structure. One goal in meeting this challenge is to find effective recruitment methods. The authors offer policy recommendations for DoD intern programs based on interviews with managers of public- and private-sector intern programs, literature reviews, and personnel data analyses.

Looks at how Department of Defense (DoD) education, training, and development institutions are affected by the consolidation of DoD facilities and changes in governance structure. The Department of Defense (DoD) often improves its efficiency by consolidating facilities (mainly through base realignment and closure, or BRAC) and changing its governance structure. These shifts significantly affect the education, training, and development (ET&D) institutions that support DoD personnel, with such impact as relocation. With an eye toward the 2005 BRAC, RAND researchers look at four case studies of the 1990s and from them make recommendations for ET&D institutions that may be affected by future shifts in defense infrastructure. (PW)

The Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) provides finance and accounting services to customers within the Department of Defense. The authors examine the DFAS pricing structure and its impact on customer demand, the agency's workload, and equity in pricing. The authors found that the DFAS's uniform pricing for finance outputs creates cross-customer subsidization, suggesting a need for nonlinear, customer-specific pricing. The authors also examine whether any negative effects arose from the October 1999 switch from unit billing to hourly billing for DFAS accounting work and found no significant evidence that they had.

There is concern that schools and districts will be unable to attract and retain enough qualified school administrators. The authors analyse data on school administrators' careers and the factors influencing decisions to enter these careers. They find no national crisis but do find three primary areas of concern: state and local variation in financial rewards, barriers to entry into the field, and the number of administrators nearing retirement.

The first comprehensive analysis of child-care costs across the military services The military child-care system, the largest system of employer-sponsored child care in the country, has received high marks for providing quality, accessible care for children of military employees. In an effort to control expenses, the Department of Defense (DoD) has considered a number of different approaches to delivering this care. This book presents estimates of the cost of providing care in DoD-operated Child Development Centers (CDCs), Family Child Care (FCC) homes, and centers operated by outside providers under contract to the DoD. The authors conclude that child care is a costly employee benefit and the costs are particular high for infants and toddlers. Their survey of CDCs revealed dramatic differences across installations in the cost of care per child, with significantly lower per-child costs in larger centers. FCC costs are considerably lower than those for CDC care because cost is not so closely tied to a child's age in FCC homes. Costs for contractor-operated centers fall within the range observed for DoD-run centers. There is no evidence that contractor-run centers are 10-percent cheaper to operate than DoD-run centers, the cost differential that is a DoD requirement for outsourcing.