A new National Defense Business Operations Plan calls for removing arbitrary caps on federal civilian personnel to allow for possibly converting some contractor positions to government jobs if it makes economic sense.

The fiscal 2018–2022 plan signed by Pentagon Chief Management Officer John H. Gibson II comes as the federal government sheds federal civilian workers while the Defense Department grows thanks to extensive special hiring authorities intended to improve efficiency and flexibility in the hiring process. Gibson’s report says the hiring authority is used for the information technology, intelligence, security and financial management communities.

For almost two decades, the Defense Department has been increasingly reliant on contractors to perform many functions and services once done by the federal civilian workforce. This tide may be reversing. Gibson said there will be increased flexibility for the services and defense components to “identify economical alternatives to needlessly expensive contractor actions” and find alternatives to having uniformed military personnel perform nonmilitary jobs.

The goal, he said, is to reduce the cost of doing business by “in-sourcing,” with savings allocated to readiness, modernization and recapitalization. Additionally, the Pentagon will try to identify functions that are commercial in nature that would be better done by the private sector.

The report is available here.