A New Approach to Building a 21st Century Defense Acquisition Workforce

Advocates of acquisition reform have long sought changes in the civil service rules to make it easier to build the talent that the Department needs to meet this challenge, but despite the wide array of legislative authorities now available, little has changed. What is needed is not a new set of rules, but a new mindset: If the DOD wants to develop employees rather than just managing them for immediate performance, it must stop making hiring decisions position by position and establish a system that enables it to rotate future civilian leaders through a series of time-limited, career-building assignments.