As we noted in last month’s Washington Report, the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service, created by the Fiscal Year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, submitted its final report in March 2020. FMA worked with the commission, and we are pleased with the final product, and are working with other organizations to create a strategy to support many of the proposals the commission recommends.

You can read the final report here: https://inspire2serve.gov/reports.

Here are some of the proposals FMA is exploring:

• Sec. 205. Information sharing to advance military and national service 

• Sec. 206. Transition opportunities for military service members and national service participants

• Sec. 303.Pilot program on technical civilian professional credentials.

• Sec. 323. National service public awareness campaign. 

• Sec. 341. Enhanced awareness of the value of Federal public service. 

• Sec. 342. Responsibility for determining eligibility for hiring preferences and special hiring options. 

• Sec. 344.Noncompetitive eligibility for high-performing civilian employees. 

• Sec. 346. Criteria for granting direct-hire authority to agencies. 

• Sec. 349. Demonstration project flexibility for the Office of Personnel Management. 

• Sec. 350. Advanced assessment tools for Federal agency hiring. 

• Sec. 366. Establishment of Pathways Program. 

• Sec. 367. Enhanced hiring for recent college graduates and post-secondary students.

• Sec. 371. Facilitation of Federal employee reskilling. 

• Sec. 405. Critical skills for the Department of Defense.