A study of the feasibility and benefits of converting certain fleet support community billets from military to civilian

Abstract

The latest Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) determined that the Department of Defense must reduce the amount of money it spends on infrastructure to recapitilize the armed forces. The QDR and the General Accounting Office (GAO) identified the civilianization of military support billets as a way to cut infrastructure spending. This thesis studied the Navy's Fleet Support Community (designator 1700) to determine the feasibility and potential savings of converting certain 1700 billets from military to civilian. Civilianization of billets would have a significant affect on the Fleet Support Community and, possibly, on the number of female Naval officers. This thesis explored options for the community's future and studied the impact changes might have on female officer manning. If the 628 billets this thesis identified as conversion candidates were civilianized, an annual savings of $7.4 million would result. However, military and civilian personnel cannot be compared on the basis of cost only, other issues must be considered before civilianization of billets could occur.