Military Personnel: DOD Needs More Effective Controls to Better Assess the Progress of the Selective Reenlistment Bonus Program
Highlights
The Department of Defense (DOD) uses the Selective Reenlistment Bonus (SRB) program to reenlist military personnel in critical specialties. In fiscal years 1997-2003, the program budget rose 138 percent, from $308 million to $734 million. In fiscal year 2003, the House Appropriations Committee directed the Secretary of Defense to reassess program efficiency and report on five concerns: (1) how effective the program is in correcting retention shortfalls in critical occupations, (2) how replacement guidance will ensure targeting critical specialties that impact readiness, (3) how DOD will match program execution with appropriated funding, (4) how well the services' processes for administering the program work, and (5) advantages and disadvantages of paying bonuses in lump sum payments. The committee also directed GAO to review and assess DOD's report.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Defense | To assist Congress in its efforts to monitor the management of the SRB program and to ensure that DOD is effectively and efficiently targeting retention bonuses to critical occupations, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to retain the requirement for an annual review of the SRB program. |
Closed – Implemented
DOD Has Begun Conducting Annual Reviews of the Selective Reenlistment Bonus Program and Reporting the Results
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| Department of Defense | To assist Congress in its efforts to monitor the management of the SRB program and to ensure that DOD is effectively and efficiently targeting retention bonuses to critical occupations, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to develop a consistent set of methodologically sound procedures and metrics for reviewing the effectiveness and efficiency of all aspects of each service's SRB program administration. |
Closed – Not Implemented
In response to this recommendation, DOD developed a new metric to track reenlistment rates for personnel deemed by each of the Services as critical. This metric was implemented on May 31, 2005, as part of the Balanced Scorecard Briefing presented to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. DOD reported that this new metric would require each Service to annually identify approximately 10 specialties deemed most critical for retention. The metric measures the achievement of retention goals for the identified skills. Based on this description, the new metric will not provide a comprehensive understanding of all the services retention critical occupations. Since the services will be required to identify only 10 occupational areas for review annually, it is not clear how this metric will address retention problems in all critical occupational areas. In addition, the lack of a consistent process used by the services for identifying critical occupations further limits the effectiveness of this metric. Without a consistent and comprehensive means of measuring retention shortfalls in all critical occupational areas, DOD and Congress will be hindered in their efforts to effectively monitor the management of the SRB program and ensure that retention bonuses are effectively and efficiently targeted to all critical occupations.
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