§2200h Program Elements

Summary

The Secretary of Defense must set up a program to fix important civilian skill shortages in areas like acquisition, science, engineering, or other jobs the Secretary picks. The Secretary must choose how to find and target those gaps, how to track and report if the program is working, what colleges can join, who can be a student, who can get financial help and the work term required for that help, when someone can be released from the work term, how a successful graduate can get hired right away, and what resources the program needs. A DoD office that partners with a participating school can hire a program member to a one‑year job without following some usual civil‑service hiring rules. The office can renew that one‑year hire each year until the person gets a permanent job, but it cannot renew more than four one‑year terms. No more than 60 graduates may be hired this way in any calendar year. Hires are paid at the GS‑9 level (or an equivalent level they qualify for) and can skip minimum time‑in‑grade or time‑based experience rules. Basic pay comes from the Department of Defense Acquisition Workforce Development Account established under section 1705, and pay can cover only the appointment time and not more than four years per person. This does not stop the Secretary from using other available funds. The hiring authority ends on December 31, 2029.