DoD Targets 30-Day Civilian Hiring With Generative AI After 92-Day Average in 2024
Updated
Updated · Federal News Network · Aug 7
DoD Targets 30-Day Civilian Hiring With Generative AI After 92-Day Average in 2024
3 articles · Updated · Federal News Network · Aug 7
Summary
The Pentagon wants to cut civilian hiring to 30 days, a sharp acceleration from its 80-day target for 2025-26 and the 92-day average recorded in 2024.
Contact-to-Contract, a pilot launched in 2023 and formalized departmentwide in 2024, is meant to speed candidates from referral to job offer by trimming steps such as background checks, drug testing and onboarding.
DoD says generative AI will handle routine administrative work and help remove what officials call self-imposed, risk-averse policies, though it has not detailed which tools it will use.
More than 78,000 civilian employees—about 10% of the workforce—left during last year's federal job cuts, leaving defense agencies rebuilding staff and treating slow hiring as a national security risk.
Rand warned in 2025 that wider AI hiring use would require cleaner personnel data and safeguards for privacy, security and equal-employment compliance, even as private companies already use AI to screen and assess applicants.