The Department of Defense announced new policy and procedures Thursday that will prioritize performance over other considerations for future reduction in force decisions determining which civilian employees should be retained. Previously, RIF decisions prioritized tenure, then veteran’s preference, length of service, and performance. The new policy, which was mandated by the Fiscal 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, establishes a retention register that will rank employees based on current performance review first, then tenure, followed by an average of all performance reviews, veteran’s preference, and finally DOD Service Computation Date, according to a DOD release.
The Air Force on March 12 awarded contract modifications worth a combined $2.4 billion to Boeing to procure an undisclosed number of E-7 Wedgetail as part of the program's engineering and manufacturing development phase and continue work on the airborne battle management aircraft’s radar.