Air Force Materiel Command public affairs (Aug. 3, 2006): Personnel Centers scheduled for realignment.

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- In an effort to provide and deliver services in the most effective and efficient way for the Air Force, military officials plan to realign about 170 civilian personnel positions to the Air Force Personnel Center at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas.

From the 170 positions, 135 are slated to realign from Air Force Materiel Command's four Interim Personnel Centers. Realignment has been programmed for fiscal 2011 to accomplish centralized work loads.

Within Air Force Materiel Command, it will involve positions at IPCs located at Hill Air Force Base, Utah; Robins Air Force Base, Ga.; Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.; and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The Air Force also will realign positions from Bolling Air Force Base, Washington, D.C.

Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC, directed the Air Force to centralize some Air Force Materiel Command civilian personnel servicing functions at Air Force Personnel Center.

These decisions supplement Air Force's long-established strategy called "PALACE Compass"--part of Defense Department regionalization efforts directed by BRAC to consolidate transactional civilian personnel services.

The Air Force began consolidating civilian personnel services to Air Force Personnel Center in 1996 in response to the DoD-mandated regionalization of civilian personnel operations.

The Air Force presently provides a full range of personnel services for approximately 85,000 Air Force civilians and limited services for all employees Air Force-wide (approximately 140,000).

According to Roger Blanchard, assistant deputy chief of staff for manpower and personnel, Headquarters U.S Air Force, the Service is approaching the implementation of the BRAC language in the context of the larger things that are happening to the Air Force across the institution.

"That means that we're going to do this in a way that helps the Air Force recapitalize and balance its portfolio," Blanchard said. "We're going to do this in a way that respects and preserves the mission capability of critical interim personnel center institutions. We're going to do it in a way that is deliberate, systematic, and we're not going to rush to judgment."

Blanchard, along with Barbara Westgate, Air Force Materiel Command executive director, is a co-chair of the Air Force Service Level Agreement Steering Group.

The steering group will include participation from a commander at one of Air Force Materiel Command's three air logistics centers, a senior level representative from a customer command, and the executive director of the Air Force Personnel Center.

The steering group will define the required level of service for review and approval by Gen. Bruce Carlson, commander of Air Force Materiel Command, and Lt. Gen. Roger Brady, deputy chief of staff for Manpower and Personnel.

Service-level agreement efforts will position the Air Force to implement consolidation efforts meaningfully, efficiently, and without degrading mission capability.

According to Westgate, it's important to understand what transactional services can move to Randolph Air Force Base versus those non-transactional activities that should be accomplished locally.

"Our working group has the experience needed to make that determination," she said. "Gen. Carlson is not going to let any servicing resources leave until we're sure our core mission will be supported adequately."