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The Air Force Achieved Its 20-Percent Reduction Goal and Used Sound Practices

• We determined that the Air Force did achieve the 20-percent reductions in spending and end strength when using a technical count of positions coded with program element codes ending in 98. And all major commands contributed to the reductions.
• The Air Force approach to reducing its headquarters management functions included some examples of sound practices, such as identifying improved business processes that streamline information flow and eliminate work, eliminating or combining redundant organizations, and ensuring work is conducted at an appropriate organizational level. However, sound practices were not applied consistently across the Air Force; different major commands employed different strategies with differing results.
• We found that while additional opportunities to reduce major headquarters activities may exist, no areas stand out as immediate targets. Major commands have already eliminated low-priority activities and are currently addressing the residual adverse effects from those reductions. Process reengineering and other efficiencies identified during previous reduction efforts can provide targets for future reductions, but they will take time and detailed analyses from the Air Force.

The U.S. Department of Defense is one of the world's largest employers, with more than 1 million men and women on active duty and hundreds of thousands of civilian personnel. To control costs, the government has implemented several initiatives over time to adjust personnel levels, reduce spending outright, and streamline management. In this report, RAND researchers analyze several issues related to direction from the Secretary of Defense in 2013 to reduce headquarters spending by 20 percent and to strive for 20-percent reductions in headquarters staff authorizations. Specifically, they assess whether the Air Force achieved a 20-percent reduction in headquarters spending and personnel end strength by fiscal year 2015 (when compared with plans for fiscal year 2018); compare the Air Force's methodology and approach to reductions with practices from literature and industry, focusing on organizational design, process improvement, consulting practices, and sound management practices; and identify opportunities for further reductions.

The authors conclude that the Air Force did indeed achieve its planned 20-percent reduction in spending and end strength, and that all major commands contributed to those savings. In addition, they found that the Air Force's approach to reducing its headquarters management functions included many sound practices, such as identifying improved business processes that streamline information flow and eliminate work, eliminating or combining redundant organizations, and ensuring that work is conducted at an appropriate organizational level.

• Chapter One

  Background, Purpose, and Analytic Approach

• Chapter Two

  Assessment of Air Force Headquarters Reductions

• Chapter Three

  Comparing Practices from Literature and Industry with the Services' Approach to Streamlining and Delayering

• Chapter Four

  Opportunities for Additional Savings and Staff Reductions

• Chapter Five

  Conclusions and Recommendations

• Appendix A

  Detailed Discussion of Reductions and Data

• Appendix B

  Delayering in the Air Staff and Secretariat

• Appendix C

  Annotated Bibliography

• Appendix D

  Findings from Literature

• Appendix E

  Findings from Industry

• Appendix F

  Navy and Army Approaches to Reductions