ENHANCED CAREER LONGEVITY AND RETIREMENT OPTIONS FOR DOE PROTECTIVE FORCE PERSONNEL

 

Recommendations from the Protective Force Career Options Initiative Study Group

 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

 

On March 31, 2009, the Office of Health, Safety and Security (HSS), the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the Office of Environmental Management, the Office of Nuclear Energy, the Office of Fossil Energy, and the National Council of Security Police (NCSP) came together in a joint effort to examine “realistic and reasonable options for improving the career opportunities and retirement prospects of protective force (PF) members while maintaining, within current and anticipated budgetary constraints, a robust and effective security posture.1]
 
A Study Group was formed consisting of senior representatives from each of the foregoing organizations, under the leadership of HSS.  Taking advantage of the significant personal experience represented by the Study Group membership and the numerous recent studies of the issues involved, the Study Group focused not on assembling new data, but instead upon formulating a series of practical recommendations for management consideration.  The primary focus was upon actions that could take place within existing budgets and without substantial change to existing PF governance.  However, in the course of its deliberations the Study Group also developed some potential actions that would require either additional funding or other changes.  It became clear from the outset that many worthwhile considerations for PF career enhancement necessarily require tangible investments in human capital.  Instead of simply “pigeonholing” these items, the group developed them as recommendations, but with the clear annotation that they transcended the original terms of its charter.  The study took place in parallel to a larger initiative by the NCSP to gain legislative support for the comprehensive transformation of the Department of Energy (DOE) PFs via Federalization.  The study did not consider the issues associated with Federalization and was in no way intended to impinge upon the NCSP’s legislative effort.
 
The study resulted in 29 recommendations.  These recommendations addressed issues ranging from the classification of Security Police Officers (SPOs) as “offensive” or “defensive” combatants, through the implementation of current physical and medical requirements, to proposals for a large-scale revamping of the retirement structure for both disability and age-related retirements.  It included a number of measures aimed at increasing the employment options available for PF members who, through age or injury, are confronted by a premature end to their PF careers.  The study also addressed a variety of “quality of life” issues for PF members, including matters such as arrest authority and uniforms and equipment.  The recommendations are grouped thematically, but, broadly speaking, the first 14 are viewed by the Study Group as appropriate to existing budgets and structures, while the last 15 will require some additional resources, some change in governance, or both.
 
One central theme emerged from the study, namely that the expectations placed upon PF personnel should be clearly related to job requirements and that, wherever demands are placed upon an individual’s tactical skills and physical capabilities, those demands should be matched by training opportunities sufficient to support the maintenance of these capabilities.
 
The potential contribution of these recommendations in improving the longevity and career potential of individual PF members will be obvious.  Less evident, but no less significant, is the potential contribution to the Department and its programs.  Every positive step toward improving the career environment of PF members improves morale.  It contributes to making our forces more efficient and effective.  By creating incentives for individuals to enter upon a PF career and then remain in the DOE security community for a lifetime of service, the Department minimizes the significant costs associated with hiring, vetting, and training PF members.
 
The options presented in this study are just that—options for senior management consideration.  While the Study Group membership believes that enactment of all or most of its recommendations would achieve the most for PF members, these were not conceived, nor are they presented, as an “all or nothing” package.  The collective hope of the Study Group is that management will act quickly on the most manageable recommendations, while taking the more challenging ones under advisement for action as resources and circumstances permit.  The most important outcome will be to make a strong start and then maintain the momentum.
 
Recommendations:
 
1.    PF deployment strategies should be re-examined to ensure that appropriate SPO skill sets and response capabilities (e.g., offensive vs. defensive capabilities) are matched to current response plan requirements in a manner that maximizes reliance on defensive combatants.
2.    Anticipated requirements for security escorts and other security-related unarmed positions (including current outsourcing practices) should be reviewed and procedures implemented to maximize work opportunities for unarmed PF members (SOs).
3.    Unarmed PF-related work should be identified as part of the career path for PF personnel.
4.     Measures should be adopted to minimize the impact of current physical fitness standards upon career longevity, and these standards should be reviewed against current job requirements.
5.     Revisions to current medical requirements should be developed to ensure that existing medical conditions do not represent (given the current state of the medical arts) unreasonable barriers to career longevity.
6.   So long as expectations remain for PF personnel to meet explicit medical and fitness standards, then reasonable means to prepare for testing and evaluation should be provided by the Department.
7.   Existing “fitness/wellness” programs should be expanded to help SPOs maintain and prolong their ability to meet physical fitness requirements and to achieve medical cost savings that result from maintaining a well managed program.  (This recommendation is not offered as cost-neutral.)
8.   Retirement/transition planning should be integrated into PF training. 
9.   The capabilities of the National Training Center should be employed to facilitate career progression and job transition training.
10. PF organizations should be encouraged to appoint “Career Development/Transition” officers to assist personnel in career path and transition planning.
11. Strong actions should be taken to correct Human Reliability Program (HRP) administrative errors and to rigorously enforce existing prohibitions against using HRP in a punitive manner.
12. Contractor policies and actions that lead to PF members being placed in non-paid status without appropriate review or recourse should be closely monitored (and, where necessary, corrected).
13. DOE M 470.4-3A, Contractor Protective Force, should be reviewed to ensure that requirements are supportable by appropriate training.
14. To encourage future communication regarding the issues considered in this study, the life of the present Study Group should be extended as a standing committee and union participation in the DOE HSS Protective Force Policy Panel should be ensured.
 
Except where specifically noted, the preceding 14 recommendations were viewed by the Study Group as largely cost neutral and achievable within existing governance structures.  The remaining 15 recommendations are acknowledged to involve additional program costs—in some instances potentially substantial costs—and may also require changes to existing management and contractual approaches. 
 
15.  Existing defined contribution plans should be reviewed in order to identify methods to improve benefits, to ensure greater comparability of benefits from one site to the next, and to develop methods to improve portability of benefits.
16.  Consistency in retirement criteria should be established across the DOE complex (e.g., a point system incorporating age and years of service or something similar).
17.  The potential for incorporating a uniform cost-of-living allowance into defined benefit retirement programs based on government indices should be examined.
18.  Portability of service credit between PF and other DOE contractors should be explored.  This could be directed in requests for proposals for new PF contracts.
19.  Potential actions should be explored to create a reasonable disability retirement bridge for PF personnel when alternate job placement is unsuccessful.
20. Job performance requirements (such as firearms proficiency) should be supported by training sufficient to enable PF members to have confidence in meeting those requirements.
21.  A retraining fund should be created to assist personnel with job transitions/second careers.
22.  A centralized job register should be established to facilitate identification of job opportunities across the complex.
23.  Consideration should be given to sponsoring a student loan program to assist PF members in developing second careers.
24.  The Department, as a matter of policy and line management procedure, should establish the position that SPOs be considered for job placement within each respective site’s organizational structure prior to a contractor engaging in off-site hiring.
25.  “Save pay” provisions should be included in collective bargaining agreements to cover specified periods when a PF member must be classified to a lower paying position because of illness, injury, or aging.
26.  DOE should explore the potential for facilitating partnerships among the various contractor organizations in order to broaden employment opportunities for aging or injured personnel, and to encourage PF personnel seeking alternative career paths to actively compete for such opportunities.
27.  Where possible, the Department should review its separate PF prime contracts and convert them to “total” security and emergency management contracts.
28.  PF arming and arrest authority should be reviewed with the objective of enhancing the capabilities of SPOs.
29.  Where possible, equipment, uniforms, weapons, badges, etc., should be standardized throughout the Department.


Citing resource limitations, the Office of Science determined that it could not play an active role in the study.