United States Government Accountability Office

GAO Report to Congressional Committees

DOD CIVILIAN 

PERSONNEL 

Greater Oversight and 

Quality Assurance 

Needed to Ensure 

Force Health 

Protection and 

Surveillance for Those 

Deployed 

September 2006 

 

GAO-06-1085 
What GAO Found

United States Government Accountability Office

Why GAO Did This Study

Highlights

Accountability Integrity Reliability

September 2006

DOD CIVILIAN PERSONNEL 

Greater Oversight and Quality Assurance 

Needed to Ensure Force Health 

Protection and Surveillance for Those 

Deployed 

Highlights of GAO-06-1085, a report to 

congressional committees 

As the Department of Defense 

(DOD) has expanded its 

involvement in overseas military 

operations, it has grown

increasingly reliant on its federal 

civilian workforce to support 

contingency operations. The Senate

Armed Services Committee 

required GAO to examine DOD’s

policies concerning the health care

for DOD civilians who deploy in 

support of contingency operations 

in Afghanistan and Iraq. GAO

analyzed over 3,400 deploymentrelated records for deployed

federal civilians and interviewed 

department officials to determine 

the extent to which DOD has 

established and the military

services and defense agencies 

(hereafter referred to as DOD

components) have implemented 

(1) force health protection and 

surveillance policies and 

(2) medical treatment policies and 

procedures for its deployed federal 

civilians. GAO also examined the 

differences in special pays and

benefits provided to DOD’s 

deployed federal civilians and 

military personnel. 

What GAO Recommends

To strengthen DOD’s force health

protection and surveillance for its 

deployed federal civilians, GAO 

recommends that the Secretary of

Defense establish an oversight and

quality assurance mechanism to

ensure that all components fully 

comply with its requirements. In 

commenting on a draft of this

report, DOD partially concurred 

with GAO’s recommendation. 

DOD has established force health protection and surveillance policies to 

assess and reduce or prevent health risks for its deployed federal civilian 

personnel, but it lacks procedures to ensure implementation. Our review of 

over 3,400 deployment records at eight component locations found that 

components lacked documentation that some federal civilian personnel who 

deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq had received, among other things, required

pre- and post-deployment health assessments and immunizations. These 

deficiencies were most prevalent at Air Force and Navy locations, and one 

Army location. As a larger issue, DOD lacked complete and centralized data 

to readily identify its deployed federal civilians and their movement in 

theater, further hindering its efforts to assess the overall effectiveness of its 

force health protection and surveillance capabilities. In August 2006, DOD 

issued a revised policy which outlined procedures that are intended to 

address these shortcomings. However, these procedures are not 

comprehensive enough to ensure that DOD will know the extent to which its 

components are complying with existing health protection requirements. In 

particular, the procedures do not establish an oversight and quality 

assurance mechanism for assessing the implementation of its force health 

protection and surveillance requirements. Until DOD establishes a 

mechanism to strengthen its force health protection and surveillance 

oversight, it will not be effectively positioned to ensure compliance with its 

policies, or the health care and protection of deployed federal civilians. 

DOD has also established medical treatment policies for its deployed federal 

civilians which provide those who require treatment for injuries or diseases

sustained during overseas hostilities with care that is equivalent in scope to 

that provided to active duty military personnel under the DOD military 

health system. GAO reviewed a sample of seven workers’ compensation 

claims (out of a universe of 83) filed under the Federal Employees’ 

Compensation Act by DOD federal civilians who deployed to Iraq. GAO 

found in three cases where care was initiated in theater, that the affected 

civilians had received treatment in accordance with DOD’s policies. In all 

seven cases, DOD federal civilians who requested care after returning to the 

United States had, in accordance with DOD’s policies, received medical 

examinations and/or treatment for their deployment-related injuries or 

diseases through either military or civilian treatment facilities. 

DOD provides certain special pays and benefits to its deployed federal 

civilians, which generally differ in type and/or amount from those provided 

to deployed military personnel. For example, both civilian and military 

personnel are eligible to receive disability benefits for deployment-related 

injuries; however, the type and amount of these benefits vary, and some are 

unique to each group. Further, while the survivors of deceased federal 

civilian and military personnel generally receive similar types of cash 

survivor benefits, the comparative amounts of these benefits differ. 

www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-1085.

To view the full product, including the scope 

and methodology, click on the link above. 

For more information, contact Valerie Melvin 

at (202) 512-6304 or melvinv@gao.gov. 
Contents 

Letter 1

Results in Brief 5 

Background 7

DOD Has Established Force Health Protection and Surveillance 

Policies for Deployed Federal Civilians, but Should Do More to 

Ensure That Components Comply with Its Requirements 8 

DOD Has Established and Implemented Medical Treatment 

Policies Which Provide for the Care of Its Deployed Federal 

Civilians 20

Special Pays and Benefits Provided to Deployed DOD Federal 

Civilian and Military Personnel Generally Vary in Type and 

Amount 23

Conclusions 34

Recommendation for Executive Action 35 

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation 35 

Appendix I Scope and Methodology 40 

Appendix II Temporary and Permanent Partial Disability 

Benefits Provided to DOD Federal Civilian and 

Military Personnel 47 

Appendix III Comments from the Department of Defense 50 

Appendix IV GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments 55 

Tables 

Table 1: DOD Federal Civilian Deployment Records Lacking 

Documentation of Pre-deployment Health Assessments 10 

Table 2: DOD Federal Civilian Deployment Records Lacking 

Documentation of Required Immunizations 12 

Table 3: DOD Federal Civilian Deployment Records Lacking 

Documentation of Current Tuberculosis or HIV Screenings 14 

Page i GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
Table 4: DOD Federal Civilian Deployment Records Lacking 

Documentation of Post-deployment Health Assessments 16 

Table 5: Overview of Selected Types of Special Pays for Deployed 

DOD Federal Civilian and Military Personnel 24 

Table 6: Scenario 1: Comparisons of Compensation Provided to 

DOD Federal Civilian and Military Personnel Deployed to 

Afghanistan or Iraq for One Year 25 

Table 7: Scenario 2: Comparisons of Compensation Provided to 

DOD Federal Civilian and Military Personnel Deployed to 

Afghanistan or Iraq for Six Months 26 

Table 8: Overview of the Type and Amount of Lump Sum Benefits 

Provided to Survivors of DOD Federal Civilian and Military 

Personnel 32

Table 9: Overview of the Type and Amount of Recurring Benefits 

Provided to Survivors of DOD Federal Civilian and Military 

Personnel 33

Table 10: Summary of Noncash Benefits Provided to Survivors of 

 DOD Federal Civilian and Military Personnel 34 

Table 11: DOD Component Locations and Number of DOD Federal 

 Civilian Deployment Records Included in Our Review 41 

Table 12: Sample Disposition for Fort Benning Federal Civilian 

 Deployment Records 43 

Table 13: Temporary Disability Compensation Payments, Payment 

 Formula, and 2006 Payment Caps for DOD Federal 

 Civilian and Military Personnel 47 

Table 14: Permanent Partial Disability Compensation Payment 

 Formulas and Time Limits on Benefits for DOD Federal 

 Civilian and Military Personnel 48 

Figures 

Figure 1: Overview of the Levels of DOD Medical Care Provided 

While Deployed 20 

Figure 2: Medical Treatment and Claims Processes for DOD 

Federal Civilians Who Require Treatment for DeploymentRelated Injuries or Diseases After They Return to the 

United States 22 

Page ii GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
Abbreviations 

AMSA Army Medical Surveillance Activity

CITA Comprehensive Immunization Tracking Application 

CONUS Continental United States 

CSRS Civil Service Retirement System 

DCMA Defense Contract Management Agency 

DEERS Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System 

DMDC Defense Manpower Data Center 

DMSS Defense Medical Surveillance System 

DOD Department of Defense 

FECA Federal Employees’ Compensation Act 

FERS Federal Employees’ Retirement System 

HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus 

MEDPROS Medical Protection System 

OWCP Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs 

PIMR Preventive Health Assessment and Individual Medical 

 Readiness 

SSDI Social Security Disability Insurance 

TPC Transatlantic Programs Center 

TSP Thrift Savings Plan 

VA Veterans Affairs 

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Page iii GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
United States Government Accountability Office

Washington, DC 20548 

September 29, 2006 

Congressional Committees 

As the Department of Defense (DOD) has expanded its involvement in 

overseas military operations, it has grown increasingly reliant on its 

federal civilian workforce to provide support in times of war or national 

emergency.1

 In recent years, DOD has undertaken efforts to expand the 

use of its civilian workforce to perform combat support functions 

traditionally performed by military personnel. Since fiscal year 2004, it has 

been in the process of converting thousands of military positions to 

civilian positions, with additional conversions planned in the future. 

DOD’s 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review Report has acknowledged the 

department’s growing dependence on its civilian personnel to support 

contingency operations beyond Afghanistan and Iraq. 

However, DOD’s use of its civilian personnel to support military 

operations has long raised questions about its policies relating to the 

deployment of civilians in support of contingency operations. In 1994, we 

reported on the adequacy of DOD’s planning for the future use of civilian 

personnel to support military operations in combat areas and noted a 

number of problems in deploying civilians to the Gulf War and caring for 

them in theater.2

 For example, we noted that many civilians had not been 

screened to ensure that they were medically fit to serve in desert 

conditions. Thus, some had arrived in the desert with medical and physical 

limitations, such as severe heart problems and kidney disorders that 

precluded them from effectively performing their duties. Other problems, 

while not as grave, indicated a lack of preparation for civilians in theater. 

For example, clear procedures did not exist to ensure that civilians 

received medical care comparable to that received by military personnel. 

In addition, procedures were not in place to provide for overtime or 

danger pay that the deployed civilians were eligible to receive. Questions 

 1

 DOD’s civilian workforce includes federal government employees, foreign nationals hired 

directly or indirectly to work for DOD, and contractor personnel. This review focuses on 

DOD’s federal government employees, whom we refer to in this report as DOD’s federal 

civilians.

2

 GAO, DOD Force Mix Issues: Greater Reliance on Civilians in Support Roles Could

Provide Significant Benefits, GAO/NSIAD-95-5 (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 19, 1994). 

Page 1 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
had also existed concerning whether civilian life insurance policies 

contained war exclusion clauses that would preclude survivors of 

deceased civilian personnel from receiving accidental death benefits if 

civilians were killed while deployed in support of the Gulf War. 

The Senate Armed Services Committee required us to examine DOD’s 

policies concerning its federal civilians who deploy in support of 

contingency operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.3

 In accordance with that 

requirement and agreements with your offices, we examined the extent to

which DOD has established and the military services and one defense 

agency (hereafter referred to as DOD components)4

 have implemented 

(1) force health protection and surveillance policies for the department’s 

deployed federal civilians and (2) medical treatment policies and 

procedures for the department’s deployed federal civilians who require 

treatment for injuries and diseases. In addition, per your request, we 

examined the special pays and benefits provided to DOD’s deployed 

federal civilian personnel, including the extent to which these special pays 

and benefits differ from those provided to deployed active duty military 

personnel. We provided briefings on the preliminary results of our work to 

congressional committees in March 2006. This report updates our 

preliminary observations and provides further information regarding DOD 

federal civilian deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. 

To determine the extent to which DOD has established force health 

protection and surveillance policies for its deployed federal civilians, we 

reviewed DOD deployment health requirements for contingency 

operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and discussed these policies with the 

appropriate DOD officials. Our review focused on DOD federal civilians 

who (1) deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq for 30 continuous days or more 

between June 1, 2003, and September 30, 2005, and (2) returned to the 

United States by February 28, 2006.5

 Because DOD had difficulty 

identifying the total number of federal civilians who had deployed to 

 3

 S.R. No. 109-69, at 380 (2005). 

4

 For this report, we examined the Departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, and the

Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA). We selected DCMA because it deployed 

the largest numbers of federal civilian personnel compared to other defense agencies.

5

 For the purposes of health surveillance, DOD considers a deployment to be 30 continuous 

days or greater to a land-based location outside the continental United States that does not 

have a permanent U.S. military treatment facility. We selected these deployment dates to

incorporate DOD’s most recent changes to the post-deployment health assessment criteria. 

Page 2 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
Afghanistan or Iraq, we assessed the implementation of DOD’s deployment 

health requirements at eight component locations that were selected using 

a number of approaches. Given that DOD components have flexibility in 

where they conduct deployment processing, we selected the locations for 

our review accordingly. Specifically, the Army uses a centralized 

approach, deploying its federal civilians at three primary locations; 

therefore, we selected all three locations for review. By contrast, the Navy 

and Air Force use a decentralized approach, deploying their federal 

civilians at their home stations. For these components, we selected five 

locations based on data which indicated that these locations had deployed 

the largest numbers of federal civilian personnel to Afghanistan and Iraq. 

Through an informal agreement between DCMA and Army, the Army 

processes DCMA’s federal civilians for deployment through two of the 

Army’s three deployment locations. Therefore, DCMA deployment data in

this report are included in the Army results to the extent that DCMA 

federal civilian deployments were documented at the two relevant Army 

locations. At all eight component locations, we reviewed either all 

available hard copy or electronic deployment records, or in one instance, a 

sample of the deployment records for deployed federal civilian personnel 

who met our criteria above. In total, we reviewed hard copies of records 

for 454 (out of the reported 822) federal civilian deployments at seven 

component locations and electronic records for 2,977 (out of the reported 

2,977) federal civilian deployments at the other location where all 

deployment records were being maintained electronically. Deployed 

federal civilians included in our review may have deployed more than once 

during our selected deployment time frame; consequently, there may be 

fewer unique civilians than deployments reviewed. The results of these 

deployment record reviews, however, could not be projected beyond the 

reviewed records to all federal civilians who had deployed during this time 

frame. To facilitate our review of federal civilian deployment records at 

the selected component locations, we developed a data collection 

instrument to review and collect deployment health information from each 

individual civilian’s deployment record. After our review of hard copy 

deployment records, we requested each component’s medical personnel to 

reexamine those hard copy deployment records that were missing 

required health documentation, and we adjusted our results where 

documentation was subsequently provided. We also obtained and analyzed 

other documentation from information systems used by the components 

to capture deployment and related health information, making

adjustments to our results where documentation was subsequently found 

in the systems. We took steps to assess the reliability of the civilian 

deployment and related health data for the purposes of this review, 

including consideration of issues such as the completeness of the data 

Page 3 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
from the respective information systems’ program managers and 

administrators. We also examined whether the data were subjected to 

quality control measures, such as periodic testing of the data against 

deployment records to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the data. 

In addition, we reviewed existing documentation related to the data 

sources and interviewed knowledgeable agency officials about the data. 

Although we found these deployment and health data not sufficiently 

reliable for (1) identifying the universe of deployed DOD federal civilians 

or (2) use as the sole source for reviewing the health and immunization 

information for DOD federal civilian deployments, we found the data in

the information systems sufficiently reliable when used as one of several 

sources in our review of deployment records. In those instances where we 

did not find evidence of a deployment health assessment or immunization 

in either the deployment records or in the electronic data systems, we 

concluded that the health assessment or immunization was not 

documented.

To determine the extent to which DOD and the selected components had 

established medical treatment policies for deployed federal civilian 

personnel who required treatment for injuries, illnesses, and diseases, we 

analyzed DOD policies and guidance related to defense health care and

discussed these with senior DOD and service surgeon general officials. To 

assess the implementation of the policies, we requested all of the workers’ 

compensation claims that had been filed under the Federal Employees’ 

Compensation Act6

 by DOD federal civilians who had deployed to 

Afghanistan and Iraq. However, our actual review of claims filed by DOD 

federal civilian personnel was limited to those who had deployed to Iraq 

because the responsible DOD officials were unable to identify the specific 

claims that had been filed by those federal civilians who had deployed to

Afghanistan. We selected and reviewed a non-probability sample of 

workers’ compensation claims to reflect a range of casualties, including

injuries, physical and mental illnesses, and diseases. The scope of our 

review did not extend to the Department of Labor’s claims review process, 

which covers the workers’ compensation claims process. 

To determine the types of and differences in special pays and benefits 

provided to DOD federal civilian and military personnel who deploy in 

 6

 The Federal Employees’ Compensation Act is a comprehensive workers’ compensation

law for federal employees that calls for medical coverage and compensation for federal 

employees with injuries and occupational illnesses incurred in the performance of their 

duties.

Page 4 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
support of contingency operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, we examined 

the major provisions for special pays and disability and death benefits for 

civilian and military personnel, relying primarily on statutes, Department 

of State regulations, and DOD guidance. To illustrate how special pays 

affected overall compensation provided to DOD federal civilian and 

military personnel, we modeled scenarios for both groups based on similar 

circumstances, such as pay grades, length of deployment, and special pays. 

With regard to disability benefits, we compared benefits provided to DOD 

federal civilians for line-of-duty injuries with benefits provided to military 

personnel for service-connected injuries, focusing on three main 

categories of disability: (1) temporary disability, (2) permanent partial 

disability, and (3) permanent total disability. With regard to death benefits, 

we primarily reviewed statutes governing both cash and noncash 

government-provided benefits. In this report, we do not take a position 

regarding the adequacy or appropriateness of the special pays and benefits

provided to DOD federal civilian and military personnel. 

We performed our review from March 2006 through August 2006 in 

accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. For 

more detailed information on our scope and methodology, see appendix I.

DOD has established force health protection and surveillance policies 

aimed at assessing and reducing or preventing health risks for its deployed

federal civilian personnel, but it lacks procedures to ensure the 

components’ full implementation of these policies. Our review of 

deployment records at eight locations found that the components lacked 

documentation to show that some federal civilian personnel who deployed 

to Afghanistan and Iraq had received, among other things, required preand post-deployment health assessments and immunizations. These 

deficiencies were most prevalent at Air Force and Navy locations, and at 

one Army location. As a larger issue, DOD lacked complete and 

centralized data to ensure that it could identify its deployed civilians and 

track their movement in theater, further hindering its efforts to assess the 

overall effectiveness of its force health protection and surveillance 

capabilities. As a positive step, in August 2006, DOD issued a revised 

policy (to be effective in December 2006) that outlines procedures for 

addressing these shortcomings. However, the procedures are not 

comprehensive enough to ensure that DOD will be sufficiently informed of 

the extent to which its components are complying with the department’s 

health protection requirements for deployed federal civilians. In particular, 

the procedures do not establish an oversight and quality assurance 

mechanism to enable DOD to effectively assess and ensure the full 

Results in Brief 

Page 5 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
implementation of its force health protection requirements. Until DOD 

establishes an oversight and quality control mechanism to strengthen its 

force health protection and surveillance oversight, it will not be effectively 

positioned to ensure the components’ compliance with its policies, or 

ensure the health care and protection of its deployed federal civilian 

personnel. 

DOD has also established medical treatment policies that cover its federal 

civilians while they are deployed in support of contingency operations in 

Afghanistan and Iraq, and selected workers’ compensation claims that we 

reviewed confirmed that those deployed federal civilians received care 

that was consistent with the policies. These policies state that DOD 

civilians who require treatment for injuries, illnesses, or diseases sustained 

during overseas hostilities may be provided care equivalent in scope to 

that provided to active duty military personnel under the DOD military 

health system. In this regard, DOD’s military health system provides four 

levels of medical care to military service personnel, as well as DOD federal 

civilians, while they are deployed in support of contingency operations in 

Afghanistan or Iraq—ranging from level one, which consists of basic first 

aid and emergency care in theater, to level four, involving medical 

treatment at DOD’s Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany. Our 

review of a sample of seven workers’ compensation claims (out of a 

universe of 83) filed under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act by 

DOD federal civilians who deployed to Iraq, found that in three cases 

where care was initiated in theater, the affected civilians had received 

treatment in accordance with DOD’s policies. Further, DOD’s policies 

state that civilian personnel who require treatment for deployment-related 

injuries or illnesses after they return to the United States may select either 

a qualified local physician or hospital of their choice, or a military medical 

treatment facility to provide the necessary treatment. We found that in the 

seven cases reviewed, DOD federal civilians who requested care after 

returning to the United States, had, in accordance with DOD’s policies, 

received medical examinations and/or treatment for their deploymentrelated injuries or illnesses and diseases through either military or civilian 

treatment facilities. 

DOD provides certain special pays and benefits to its deployed federal 

civilians which generally differ in type and/or amount from those provided 

to deployed military personnel. For example, in cases where injuries are 

sustained while deployed, both DOD federal civilian and military 

Page 6 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
personnel are eligible to receive two broad categories of disability 

benefits—disability compensation7

 and disability retirement;8 however, the 

type and amount of the benefits vary, and some are unique to each group. 

In addition, while survivors of deceased DOD federal civilian and military 

personnel generally receive similar types of cash survivor benefits for 

Social Security, burial expenses, and death gratuity, the comparative 

amounts of these benefits differ. However, survivors of DOD federal 

civilian personnel almost always receive lower noncash benefits than 

military personnel. 

In written comments on a draft of this report, DOD partially concurred 

with our recommendation to establish an oversight and quality assurance 

mechanism to ensure that the components comply with its force health 

protection and surveillance requirements. The department outlined several 

steps it is taking to determine appropriate implementation of our 

recommendation but took issue with some of our specific findings. DOD’s 

comments and our evaluation of them are discussed in the agency 

comments section of this report. 

The structure of the armed forces is based on the Total Force concept,

which recognizes that all elements of the structure—active duty military 

personnel, reservists, defense contractors, host nation military and civilian 

personnel, and DOD federal civilian employees—contribute to national 

defense. In recent years, federal civilian personnel have deployed along 

with military personnel to participate in Operations Joint Endeavor, 

conducted in the countries of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and Hungary; 

Joint Guardian, in Kosovo; and Desert Storm, in Southwest Asia. Further, 

since the beginning of the Global War on Terrorism, the role of DOD’s 

Background 

 7

Under workers’ compensation and veterans’ compensation programs, benefits typically 

include medical treatment for the injury, vocational rehabilitation services, and cash 

payment to replace a percentage of the individual’s loss in wages while injured and unable 

to work. 

8

Disability retirement programs typically provide benefits that allow qualified individuals 

who are unable to return to work to retire earlier and/or to retire with a higher percentage

of their pre-injury salary level than would otherwise be permitted with normal retirement 

based on age and length of service at the time of injury. 

Page 7 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
federal civilian personnel has expanded to include participation in combat 

support functions in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.9

DOD relies on the federal civilian personnel it deploys to support a range 

of essential missions, including intelligence collection, criminal 

investigations, and weapon systems acquisition and maintenance. To

ensure that its federal civilian employees will deploy to combat zones and 

perform critical combat support functions in theater, DOD established the 

emergency-essential program in 1985. Under this program, DOD 

designates as “emergency-essential” those civilian employees whose 

positions are required to ensure the success of combat operations or the 

availability of combat-essential systems. DOD can deploy federal civilian 

employees either on a voluntary or involuntary basis to accomplish the 

DOD mission. 

DOD has established force health protection and surveillance policies 

aimed at assessing and reducing or preventing health risks for its deployed

federal civilian personnel; however, the department lacks procedures to 

ensure the components’ full implementation of its policies. In reviewing 

DOD federal civilian deployment records and other electronic 

documentation10 at selected component locations, we found that these 

components lacked documentation to show that they had fully complied 

with DOD’s force health protection and surveillance policy requirements 

for some federal civilian personnel who deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. 

As a larger issue, DOD’s policies did not require the centralized collection 

of data on the identity of its deployed civilians, their movements in theater, 

or their health status, further hindering its efforts to assess the overall 

effectiveness of its force health protection and surveillance capabilities. In 

August 2006, DOD issued a revised policy (to be effective in December 

2006) that outlines procedures to address its lack of centralized 

deployment and health-related data. However, the procedures are not 

comprehensive enough to ensure that DOD will be sufficiently informed of 

DOD Has Established 

Force Health 

Protection and 

Surveillance Policies 

for Deployed Federal 

Civilians, but Should 

Do More to Ensure 

That Components 

Comply with Its

Requirements 

 9

Operation Enduring Freedom includes ongoing operations in Afghanistan and in certain 

other countries; Operation Iraqi Freedom includes ongoing operations in Iraq. 

10In addition to DOD federal civilian deployment records, other documentation reviewed 

included data from information systems used by the components to capture deployment

and related health information. Although we found these data not to be sufficiently reliable 

for (1) identifying the universe of DOD federal civilian deployments or (2) use as the sole 

source for reviewing the health and immunization information for all DOD federal civilian 

deployments, we found the information systems to be sufficiently reliable when used as 

one of several sources in our review of deployment records. 

Page 8 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
the extent to which its components fully comply with its requirements to 

monitor the health of deployed federal civilians. 

DOD Components Did Not 

Always Implement All 

Force Health Protection 

and Surveillance 

Requirements 

The DOD components included in our review lacked documentation to 

show that they always implemented force health protection and 

surveillance requirements for deployed federal civilians. These 

requirements include completing (1) pre-deployment health assessments 

to ensure that only medically fit personnel deploy outside of the United 

States as part of a contingency or combat operation; (2) pre-deployment 

immunizations to address possible health threats in deployment locations; 

(3) pre-deployment medical screenings for tuberculosis and human 

immunodeficiency virus (HIV); and (4) post-deployment health 

assessments to document current health status, experiences, 

environmental exposures, and health concerns related to their work while 

deployed. 

DOD’s force health protection and surveillance policies require the 

components to assess the medical condition of federal civilians to ensure 

that only medically fit personnel deploy outside of the United States as 

part of a contingency or combat operation.11 The policies stipulate that all 

deploying civilian personnel are to complete pre-deployment health 

assessment forms within 30 days of their deployments, and health care 

providers are to review the assessments to confirm the civilians’ health 

readiness status and identify any needs for additional clinical evaluations 

prior to their deployments. 

Pre-deployment health 

assessments 

While the components that we included in our review had procedures in 

place that would enable them to implement DOD’s pre-deployment health 

assessment policies, it was not clear to what extent they had done so. Our 

review of deployment records and other documentation at the selected 

component locations found that these components lacked documentation

to show that some federal civilian personnel who deployed to Afghanistan

and Iraq had received the required pre-deployment health assessments. 

For those deployed federal civilians in our review, we found that, overall, a 

 11 DOD Instruction 1400.32, DOD Civilian Workforce Contingency and Emergency

Planning Guidelines and Procedures, April 24, 1995; DOD Instruction 6490.3, 

Implementation and Application of Joint Medical Surveillance for Deployments, August 

7, 1997; DOD Directive 6490.2, Comprehensive Health Surveillance, October 21, 2004; and 

Office of the Chairman, The Joint Chiefs of Staff, Memorandum MCM-0006-2, Updated

Procedures for Deployment Health Surveillance and Readiness, February 1, 2002. 

Page 9 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
small number of deployment records (52 out of 3,771) were missing 

documentation to show that they had received their pre-deployment health 

assessments, as reflected in table 1. 

Table 1: DOD Federal Civilian Deployment Records Lacking Documentation of Predeployment Health Assessments

Location 

Number of federal 

civilian deployment 

records reviewed 

Number (and percent) with

no documentation in

either records or data files

Army 

Fort Benning CONUS 

Replacement Centera

578 2 (0.3)

Fort Bliss CONUS Replacement 

Centera

2,977b

0 (0.0)b

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

Transatlantic Programs Center

127 2 (1.6)

Total 3,682 4

Navy 

Naval Air Depot Cherry Point 52 19 (36.5)

Total 52 19

Air Force 

Andrews Air Force Base 10 9 (90.0)

Hill Air Force Base 8 5 (62.5)

Hurlburt Field 12 11 (91.7)

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base 7 4 (57.1)

Total 37 29

Grand Total 3,771c52

Source: GAO analysis of documentation from DOD federal civilian deployment records and component medical databases. 

Note: CONUS refers to the continental United States. 

a

DCMA federal civilians deployed through Forts Benning and Bliss CONUS Replacement Centers. At

Fort Benning, we selected a probability sample of 238 out of 606 deployment records for deployed 

federal civilians; consequently, the numbers and percentages shown are weighted estimates to

provide 95 percent confidence with a margin of error of 5 percentage points. 

b

Although the Army deploys its federal civilian personnel at three primary sites, Fort Bliss deployed

the largest number of federal civilians during our time frame. We reviewed the entire universe of 

deployment records for federal civilian personnel deployed from this location because the records

were being maintained electronically, which facilitated the review of all records. According to the 

program manager and database administrator, the quality of these data, in terms of their 

completeness and accuracy, is questionable because there are no assurances that all DOD federal 

civilian personnel who deployed are included in the database. 

c

Deployed federal civilians included in our review may have deployed more than once during our 

deployment time frame; consequently, there may be fewer than 3,771 unique federal civilians. 

Page 10 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
As shown in table 1, the federal civilian deployment records we included 

in our review showed wide variation by location regarding documentation

of pre-deployment health assessments, ranging from less than 1 percent to 

more than 90 percent. On an aggregate component-level basis, at the Navy 

location in our review, we found that documentation was missing for 19 of

the 52 records in our review. At the Air Force locations, documentation 

was missing for 29 of the 37 records in our review. In contrast, all three 

Army locations had hard copy or electronic records which indicated that 

almost all of their federal deployed civilians had received pre-deployment 

health assessments. 

In addition to completing pre-deployment health assessment forms, DOD’s

force health protection and surveillance policies stipulate that all DOD 

deploying federal civilians receive theater-specific immunizations to 

address possible health threats in deployment locations.12 Immunizations 

required for all civilian personnel who deploy to Afghanistan and Iraq 

include: hepatitis A (two-shot series); tetanus-diphtheria (within 10 years 

of deployment); smallpox (within 5 years of deployment); typhoid; and 

influenza (within the last 12 months of deployment). 

Pre-deployment Immunizations 

As reflected in table 2, based on the deployment records maintained by the 

components at locations included in our review, the overall number of 

federal civilian deployment records lacking documentation of only one of 

the required immunizations for deployment to Afghanistan and Iraq was 

285 out of 3,771. However, 3,313 of the records we reviewed were missing 

documentation of two or more immunizations. 

 12U.S. Central Command, Individual Protection and Individual/Unit Deployment Policy, 

January 6, 2005, and DOD Instruction 1400.32, DOD Civilian Work Force Contingency and

Emergency Planning Guidelines and Procedures, April 24, 1995. 

Page 11 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
Table 2: DOD Federal Civilian Deployment Records Lacking Documentation of 

Required Immunizations

Location 

Number of 

federal 

civilian 

deployment 

records 

reviewed

Number (and 

percent) 

missing

only one 

immunization

Number (and 

percent) missing

two or more

immunizations

Army 

Fort Benning CONUS 

Replacement Centera

578 246 (42.6) 195 (33.7)

Fort Bliss CONUS Replacement 

Centera

2,977b

0 (0.0) 2,977 (100.0)

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

Transatlantic Programs Center

127 25 (19.7) 85 (66.9)

Total 3,682 271 3,257

Navy 

Naval Air Depot Cherry Point 52 8 (15.4) 39 (75.0)

Total 52 8 39

Air Force 

Andrews Air Force Base 10 2 (20.0) 7 (70.0)

Hill Air Force Base 8 0 (0.0) 3 (37.5)

Hurlburt Field 12 3 (25.0) 3 (25.0)

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base 7 1 (14.3) 4 (57.1) 

Total 37 6 17

Grand Total 3,771c285 3,313

Source: GAO analysis of documentation from DOD federal civilian deployment records and component medical databases. 

Note: CONUS refers to the continental United States. 

a

DCMA federal civilians deployed through Forts Benning and Bliss CONUS Replacement Centers. At

Fort Benning, we selected a probability sample of 238 out of 606 deployment records for deployed 

federal civilians; consequently, the numbers and percentages shown are weighted estimates to

provide 95 percent confidence with a margin of error of 5 percentage points. 

b

Although the Army deploys its federal civilian personnel at three primary sites, Fort Bliss deployed

the largest number of federal civilians during our time frame. We reviewed the entire universe of 

deployment records for federal civilian personnel deployed from this location because the records

were being maintained electronically, which facilitated the review of all records. According to the 

program manager and database administrator, the quality of these data, in terms of their 

completeness and accuracy, is questionable because there are no assurances that all DOD federal 

civilian personnel who deployed are included in the database. 

c

Deployed federal civilians included in our review may have deployed more than once during our 

deployment time frame; consequently, there may be fewer than 3,771 unique federal civilians. 

At the Army’s Fort Bliss, our review of its electronic deployment data 

determined that none of its deployed federal civilians had documentation 

Page 12 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
to show that they had received immunizations. Officials at this location 

stated that they believed some immunizations had been given; however, 

they could not provide documentation as evidence of this. 

DOD policies require deploying federal civilians to receive certain 

screenings, such as for tuberculosis and HIV.13 Table 3 indicates that 55 of 

the 3,771 federal civilian deployment records included in our review were 

lacking documentation of the required tuberculosis screening; and 

approximately 35 were lacking documentation of HIV screenings prior to 

deployment.

Pre-deployment Medical 

Screenings 

 13 U.S. Central Command, Individual Protection and Individual/Unit Deployment Policy, 

January 6, 2005, and DOD Instruction 1400.32, DOD Civilian Workforce Contingency and

Emergency Planning Guidelines and Procedures, April 24, 1995. 

Page 13 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
Table 3: DOD Federal Civilian Deployment Records Lacking Documentation of 

Current Tuberculosis or HIV Screenings 

Location 

Number of 

federal 

civilian 

deployment 

records 

reviewed

Number (and 

percent) 

missing

tuberculosis 

screening

Number (and 

percent) 

missing HIV 

screening

Army 

Fort Benning CONUS 

Replacement Centera

578 2 (0.3) 12 (2.1)

Fort Bliss CONUS Replacement 

Centera

2,977b

3 (0.1) 2 (0.1)

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

Transatlantic Programs Center

127 28 (22.0) 2 (1.6)

Total 3,682 33 16

Navy 

Naval Air Depot Cherry Point 52 10 (19.2) 10 (19.2)

Total 52 10 10

Air Force 

Andrews Air Force Base 10 6 (60.0) 0 (0.0)

Hill Air Force Base 8 5 (62.5) 0 (0.0)

Hurlburt Field 12 1 (8.3) 8 (66.7)

USAF Wright-Patterson 7 0 (0.0) 1 (14.3)

Total 37 12 9

Grand Total 3,771c55 35

Source: GAO analysis of documentation from DOD federal civilian deployment records and component medical databases. 

Note: CONUS refers to the continental United States. 

a

DCMA federal civilians deployed through Forts Benning and Bliss CONUS Replacement Centers. At

Fort Benning, we selected a probability sample of 238 out of 606 deployment records for deployed 

federal civilians; consequently, the numbers and percentages shown are weighted estimates to

provide 95 percent confidence with a margin of error of 5 percentage points. 

b

Although the Army deploys its federal civilian personnel at three primary sites, Fort Bliss deployed

the largest number of federal civilians during our time frame. We reviewed the entire universe of 

deployment records for federal civilian personnel deployed from this location because the records

were being maintained electronically, which facilitated the review of all records. According to the 

program manager and database administrator, the quality of these data, in terms of their 

completeness and accuracy, is questionable because there are no assurances that all civilian 

personnel who deployed are included in the database. 

c

Deployed federal civilians included in our review may have deployed more than once during our 

deployment time frame; consequently, there may be fewer than 3,771 unique federal civilians. 

Page 14 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
DOD’s force health protection and surveillance policies also require 

returning DOD federal civilian personnel to undergo post-deployment 

health assessments to document current health status, experiences, 

environmental exposures, and health concerns related to their work while 

deployed.

14 The post-deployment process begins within 5 days of civilians’ 

redeployment from the theater to their home or demobilization processing 

stations. DOD’s policies require civilian personnel to complete a postdeployment assessment that includes questions on health and exposure 

concerns. A health care provider is to review each assessment and 

recommend additional clinical evaluation or treatment as needed. 

Post-deployment Health 

Assessments 

As reflected in table 4, our review of deployment records at the selected

component locations found that these components lacked documentation

to show that most deployed federal civilians (3,525 out of 3,771) who 

deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq had received the required postdeployment health assessments upon their return to the United States. 

Federal civilian deployment records lacking evidence of post-deployment 

health assessments ranged from 3 at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

Transatlantic Programs Center and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, 

respectively, to 2,977 at Fort Bliss. 

 14 U.S. Central Command, Individual Protection and Individual/Unit Deployment Policy, 

January 6, 2005, and DOD Instruction 1400.32, DOD Civilian Workforce Contingency and

Emergency Planning Guidelines and Procedures, April 24, 1995. 

Page 15 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
Table 4: DOD Federal Civilian Deployment Records Lacking Documentation of Postdeployment Health Assessments

Location 

Number of federal 

civilian deployment 

records reviewed 

Number (and percent) 

with no documentation 

in records or data files

Army 

Fort Benning CONUS Replacement 

Centera

578 502 (86.9)

Fort Bliss CONUS Replacement 

Centera

2,977b

2,977 (100.0)

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

Transatlantic Programs Center

127 3 (2.4)

Total 3,682 3,482

Navy

Naval Air Depot Cherry Point 52 15 (28.8)

Total 52 15

Air Force 

Andrews Air Force Base 10 9 (90.0)

Hill Air Force Base 8 6 (75.0)

Hurlburt Field 12 10 (83.3)

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base 7 3 (42.9)

Total 37 28

Grand Total 3,771c3,525

Source: GAO analysis of documentation from DOD federal civilian deployment records and component medical databases. 

Note: CONUS refers to the continental United States. 

a

DCMA federal civilians deployed through Forts Benning and Bliss CONUS Replacement Centers. At

Fort Benning, we selected a probability sample of 238 out of 606 deployment records for deployed 

federal civilians; consequently, the numbers and percentages shown are weighted estimates to

provide 95 percent confidence with a margin of error of 5 percentage points. 

b

Although the Army deploys its federal civilian personnel at three primary sites, Fort Bliss deployed

the largest number of federal civilians during our time frame. We reviewed the entire universe of 

deployment records for federal civilian personnel deployed from this location because the records

were being maintained electronically, which facilitated the review of all records. According to the 

program manager and database administrator, the quality of these data, in terms of their 

completeness and accuracy, is questionable because there are no assurances that all civilian 

personnel who deployed are included in the database. 

c

Deployed federal civilians included in our review may have deployed more than once during our 

deployment time frame; consequently, there may be fewer than 3,771 unique federal civilians. 

Page 16 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
Beyond the aforementioned weaknesses found in the selected 

components’ implementation of force health protection and surveillance 

requirements for deploying federal civilians, as a larger issue, DOD lacks 

comprehensive, centralized data that would enable it to readily identify its 

deployed civilians, track their movements in theater, or monitor their 

health status, further hindering efforts to assess the overall effectiveness 

of its force health protection and surveillance capabilities. The Defense 

Manpower Data Center (DMDC) is responsible for maintaining the 

department’s centralized system that currently collects location-specific 

deployment information for military servicemembers, such as grid 

coordinates, latitude/longitude coordinates, or geographic location codes.15

However, DOD has not taken steps to similarly maintain centralized data

on its deployed federal civilians. In addition, DOD had not provided 

guidance that would require its components to track and report data on 

the locations and movements of DOD federal civilian personnel in theaters 

of operations. In the absence of such a requirement, each DOD component 

collected and reported aggregated data that identified the total number of 

DOD federal civilian personnel in a theater of operations, but each lacked

the ability to gather, analyze, and report information that could be used to 

specifically identify individuals at risk for occupational and environmental 

exposures during deployments. 

Lack of Centralized 

Deployment Information 

Hinders the Overall 

Effectiveness of Force 

Health Protection and 

Surveillance for Deployed 

Federal Civilian Personnel 

In previously reporting on the military services’ implementation of DOD’s 

force health protection and surveillance policies in 2003, we highlighted 

the importance of knowing the identity of servicemembers who deployed

during a given operation and of tracking their movements within the 

theater of operations as major elements of a military medical surveillance 

system.16 We further noted the Institute of Medicine’s finding that 

documentation on the location of units and individuals during a given 

deployment is important for epidemiological studies and appropriate 

medical care during and after deployments. For example, this information 

allows epidemiologists to study the incidences of disease patterns across 

populations of deployed servicemembers who may have been exposed to

diseases and hazards within the theater, and health care professionals to 

treat their medical problems appropriately. Without location-specific 

information for all of its deployed federal civilians and centralized data in

 15 DOD Instruction 6490.3, Implementation and Application of Joint Medical Surveillance 

for Deployments, August 7, 1997. 

16 GAO, Defense Health Care: Quality Assurance Process Needed to Improve Force Health

Protection and Surveillance, GAO-03-1041 (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 19, 2003). 

Page 17 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
its department-level system, DOD limits its ability to ensure that sufficient 

and appropriate consideration will also be given to addressing the health

care concerns of these individuals. 

DOD also had not provided guidance to the components that would 

require them to forward completed deployment health assessments for all 

federal civilians to the Army Medical Surveillance Activity (AMSA), where 

these assessments are suppose to be archived in the Defense Medical 

Surveillance System (DMSS), integrated with other historical and current 

data on personnel and deployments, and used to monitor the health of 

personnel who participate in deployments. The overall success of 

deployment force protection and surveillance efforts, in large measure, 

depends on the completeness of health assessment data. The lack of such 

data may hamper DOD’s ability to intervene in a timely manner to address 

health care problems that may arise from DOD federal civilian 

deployments to overseas locations in support of contingency operations. 

DOD Has Taken Steps to 

Address Policy 

Shortcomings, but Lacks 

Mechanism to Oversee 

Components’ Compliance 

With increases in the department’s use of federal civilian personnel to 

support military operations, DOD officials have recognized the need for 

more complete and centralized location-specific deployment information 

and deployment-related health information on its deployed federal 

civilians. In this regard, in August 2006, the Office of the Under Secretary 

of Defense for Personnel and Readiness issued revised policy and program 

guidance that generally addressed the shortcomings in DOD’s force health

protection and surveillance capabilities.17 The revised policy and guidance,

scheduled to become effective in December 2006, require the components 

within 3 years, to electronically report (at least weekly) to DMDC, 

location-specific data for all deployed personnel, including federal 

civilians. In addition, the policy and guidance require the components to 

submit all completed health assessment forms to the AMSA for inclusion 

in DMSS. 

Nonetheless, DOD’s new policy is not comprehensive enough to ensure 

that the department will be sufficiently informed of the extent to which its 

components are complying with existing health protection requirements 

for its deployed federal civilians. Although the policy requires DOD 

components to report certain location-specific and health data for all of 

 17 DOD Instruction 6490.3, Deployment Health, August 11, 2006 (to be effective December 

2006). 

Page 18 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
their deployed personnel, including federal civilians, it does not establish 

an oversight and quality assurance mechanism for assessing and ensuring 

the full implementation of the force health protection and surveillance 

requirements by all DOD components that our prior work has identified as 

essential in providing care to military personnel.

In a September 2003 report18 on the Army’s and the Air Force’s compliance 

with force health protection policy for servicemembers, we noted that 

neither of the military services had fully complied with DOD’s force health

protection and surveillance policies for many active duty servicemembers, 

including the policies requiring that servicemembers be assessed before 

and after deploying overseas and receive certain immunizations. We 

further noted that DOD, at that time, did not have an effective quality 

assurance program to provide oversight of, and ensure compliance with, 

the department’s force health protection and surveillance requirements, 

and that the lack of such a system was a major cause of the high rate of 

noncompliance that we identified at the units we visited. In response to a 

legislative mandate19 and our recommendation, DOD established an 

oversight mechanism to evaluate the success of its force health protection

and surveillance policies in ensuring that servicemembers received preand post-deployment medical examinations and that record-keeping 

requirements were met. This oversight mechanism included (1) periodic 

site visits jointly conducted with staff from the Office of the Assistant 

Secretary for Health Affairs and staff from the military services to assess 

compliance with the deployment health requirements, (2) periodic reports

from the services on their quality assurance programs, and (3) periodic 

reports from AMSA on health assessment data maintained in the 

centralized database. Until the department provides a similar oversight 

and quality assurance mechanism for its deployed federal civilians, it will 

not be effectively positioned to ensure compliance with its policies, or 

ensure the health care and protection of these individuals as they continue

to support contingency operations. 

 18 GAO-03-1041. 

1910 U.S.C. § 1074f. 

Page 19 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
DOD has established medical treatment policies that cover its federal 

civilians while they are deployed to support contingency operations in 

Afghanistan and Iraq, and available workers’ compensation claims we 

reviewed confirmed that those deployed federal civilians received care 

consistent with the policies. These policies state that DOD federal civilians 

who require treatment for injuries or diseases sustained during overseas 

hostilities may be provided care under the DOD military health system.20

Thus, DOD’s deployed federal civilians may receive care through the 

military’s treatment facilities. As shown in figure 1, DOD’s military health 

system provides four levels of medical care to personnel who are injured 

or become ill while deployed. 

DOD Has Established 

and Implemented 

Medical Treatment 

Policies Which 

Provide for the Care 

of Its Deployed 

Federal Civilians 

Figure 1: Overview of the Levels of DOD Medical Care Provided While Deployed

Source: Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs.

Level I Level II Level III

Patient flow

Level IV

Unit Aid station Theater hospital Hospital outside theater

• First Aid

• Buddy aid

• Emergency care

• Resuscitative care

• Surgery

• Examination/evaluation to 

determine priority of 

continued movement to 

the next level of care

• Stabilization

• Evacuation

• Resuscitative care

• Surgical

• Postoperative treatment

• Definitive care

• Rehabilitative care

Combat

zone

Return

to the

United

States

Specifically, medical treatment during a military contingency begins with 

level one care, which consists of basic first aid and emergency care at a 

unit in the theater of operation. The treatment then moves to a second 

level of care, where, at an Aid station, injured or ill personnel are 

examined and evaluated to determine their priority for continued 

movement outside of the theater of operation and to the next (third) level 

 20 DOD Directive 1404.10, Emergency Essential (E-E) DOD U.S. Citizen Civilian 

Employees, April 10, 1992, and DOD 1400.25-M, Department of Defense Civilian Personnel

Manual, April 12, 2005. 

Page 20 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
of care. At the third level, injured or ill personnel are treated in a medical 

installation staffed and equipped for resuscitation, surgery, and 

postoperative care. Finally, at the fourth level of care, which occurs far 

from the theater of operation, injured or ill personnel are treated in a 

hospital staffed and equipped for definitive care. Injured or ill DOD federal 

civilians deployed in support of contingency operations in Afghanistan and 

Iraq who require level four medical care are transported to DOD’s 

Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany. 

Injured or ill DOD federal civilians who cannot be returned to duty in 

theater are evacuated to the United States for continuation of medical 

care. In these cases (or where previously deployed federal civilians later 

identify injuries or diseases and subsequently request medical treatment), 

DOD’s policy provides for its federal civilians who require treatment for 

deployment-related injuries or occupational illnesses to receive medical 

care through either the military’s medical treatment facilities or civilian 

facilities. The policy stipulates that federal civilians who are injured or 

become ill as a result of their deployment must file a Federal Employees’ 

Compensation Act (FECA) claim21 with DOD, which then files a claim with 

the Department of Labor’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs 

(OWCP). 

The Department of Labor’s OWCP is responsible for making a decision to

award or deny medical benefits. OWCP must establish—based on evidence 

provided by the DOD civilian—that the employee is eligible for workers’ 

compensation benefits due to the injury or disease for which the benefits 

are claimed. To obtain benefits under FECA, DOD federal civilians must 

show that (1) they were employed by the U.S. government, (2) they were 

injured (exposed) in the workplace, (3) they have filed a claim in a timely 

manner, (4) they have a disabling medical condition, and (5) there is a 

causal link between their medical condition and the injury or exposure. 

Three avenues of appeal are provided for DOD federal civilians in the 

event that the initial claim is denied: (1) reconsideration by an OWCP 

claims examiner, (2) a hearing or review of the written record by OWCP’s 

Branch of Hearings and Review, and (3) a review by the Employees’ 

Compensation Appeals Board. DOD’s medical treatment process and the 

OWCP’s claims process are shown in figure 2. 

 21 The Federal Employees’ Compensation Act, 5 U.S.C. §§ 8101 et seq., is a comprehensive 

workers’ compensation law for federal employees.

Page 21 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
Figure 2: Medical Treatment and Claims Processes for DOD Federal Civilians Who Require Treatment for Deployment-Related 

Injuries or Diseases After They Return to the United States 

Source: GAO analysis.

DOD federal civilian files a

notice of traumatic injury

DOD federal civilian files a notice 

of occupational disease

DOD federal civilian may seek initial

medical treatment from a physician selected by

the employee

DOD management authorizes medical care

if needed at a military treatment facility if

space available or at a civilian treatment facility

DOD management sends claim to OWCP

OWCP reviews DOD federal civilian’s claim

OWCP decides case

Request for additional information 

from DOD federal civilian and DOD

 OWCP denies claim OWCP accepts claim

Reconsideration by 

claims examiner

Oral hearing or review of 

written record by Branch

of Hearings and Review

 Appeal to Employees’

Compensation

Appeals Board

OWCP notifies federal civilian of appeal process

DOD federal civilian appeals decision DOD federal civilian accepts decision

DOD management verifies claim information

DOD medical treatment process

OWCP claims process

DOD management notified of DOD federal

civilian’s traumatic injury or occupational disease

Note: OWCP refers to the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs. 

Overall, the claims we reviewed showed that the DOD federal civilians 

who sustained injuries or diseases while deployed had received care that 

was consistent with DOD’s medical treatment policies. Specifically, in

reviewing a sample of seven workers’ compensation claims (out of a 

universe of 83) filed under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act by 

DOD federal civilians who deployed to Iraq, we found that in three cases 

where care was initiated in theater the affected federal civilians had 

Page 22 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
received treatment in accordance with DOD’s policies. For example, in 

one case, a deployed federal civilian was treated for traumatic injuries at a 

hospital outside of the theater of operation and could not return to duty in 

theater because of the severity of the injuries sustained. The civilian was 

evacuated to the United States and received medical care through several

of the military’s medical treatment facilities as well as through a civilian 

facility. Further, in all seven claims that we reviewed, DOD federal 

civilians who requested medical care after returning to the United States, 

had, in accordance with DOD’s policy, received initial medical 

examinations and/or treatment for their deployment-related injuries or 

illnesses and diseases through either military or civilian treatment 

facilities. While OWCP has primary responsibility for processing and 

approving all FECA claims for medical benefits, as noted earlier, the scope 

of our review did not include assessing actions taken by the Department of 

Labor’s OWCP in further processing workers’ compensation claims for 

injured or ill civilians and authorizing continuation of medical care once 

their claims were submitted for review. 

DOD provides a number of special pays and benefits to its federal civilian 

personnel who deploy in support of contingency operations, which are 

generally different in type and in amount from those provided to deployed 

military personnel. Both groups receive special pays, but the types and 

amounts differ. In our modeled scenarios, the overall amounts of 

compensation, which include special pays, were higher for DOD federal 

civilian personnel than for military personnel. DOD federal civilian 

personnel also receive different types and amounts of disability benefits, 

depending on specific program provisions and individual circumstances. 

Further, survivors of deceased DOD federal civilian and military personnel 

generally receive comparable types of cash survivor benefits—lump sum, 

recurring, or both—but benefit amounts differ for the two groups. 

Survivors of DOD federal civilian personnel, however, almost always 

receive lower noncash benefits than military personnel. 

Special Pays and 

Benefits Provided to 

Deployed DOD 

Federal Civilian and 

Military Personnel 

Generally Vary in 

Type and Amount 

Page 23 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
DOD federal civilian and military personnel are both eligible to receive 

special pays to compensate them for the conditions of deployment. As 

shown in table 5, some of the types of special pays are similar for both 

DOD federal civilian and military personnel, although the amounts paid to 

each group differ. Other special pays were unique to each group. 

Table 5: Overview of Selected Types of Special Pays for Deployed DOD Federal 

Civilian and Military Personnel 

Deployed DOD Federal 

Civilian and Military 

Personnel Generally 

Receive Various Special 

Pays to Compensate Them 

for Conditions of 

Deployment, but the Types 

and Amounts Differ 

Type of special pay Civilian personnel Military personnel 

Premium pay Overtime, night differential, 

Sunday/holiday work, 

compensatory time off 

No equivalent 

Post differential (Civilian) 

Hardship duty pay (Military) 

35 percent of basic pay $100 per month 

Danger pay (Civilian) 

Hostile fire pay/imminent 

danger pay (Military) 

35 percent of basic pay $225 per month 

Family separation 

allowance 

No equivalent $250 per month 

Combat zone tax exclusion No equivalent For enlisted personnel, all 

compensation is tax-free; 

officers are capped at 

$6,724.50 per month 

Savings deposit program No equivalent 10 percent interest on 

savings deposits up to 

$10,000 

Source: GAO analysis of military and federal data. 

DOD federal civilian and military personnel deployed to posts with 

unusually difficult or unhealthful conditions or severe physical hardships 

are authorized a similar type of post (hardship) differential. In addition, 

danger pay is granted to both groups serving at a post where civil 

insurrection, civil war, or war-like conditions exist. In this context, DOD 

federal civilian personnel who are deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq are 

eligible to receive post (hardship) differential and danger pay, each 

equivalent to 35 percent of their base salaries. In contrast, military 

personnel receive monthly pays of $100 for hardship duty and $225 for 

imminent danger. 

However, some special pays are unique to each group. For example, to 

partially reimburse those who are involuntarily separated from their 

Page 24 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
dependents, military personnel are eligible to receive a family separation 

allowance that is not available to deployed DOD federal civilian personnel. 

Additionally, unlike DOD federal civilian personnel, military personnel 

also receive a combat zone tax exclusion while deployed to Afghanistan 

and Iraq that excludes certain income from federal taxes. DOD federal 

civilian personnel, by contrast, are eligible for a variety of premium pays, 

such as overtime and night differential, that are not available to military 

personnel. 

Although DOD federal civilian and military personnel generally receive 

various special pays to compensate them for conditions of deployment, in

certain scenarios that we modeled, the overall amounts of compensation 

payments were higher for DOD federal civilian personnel than for military 

personnel, as illustrated in tables 6 and 7. 

Table 6: Scenario 1: Comparisons of Compensation Provided to DOD Federal Civilian and Military Personnel Deployed to 

Afghanistan or Iraq for One Year 

Comparison 1 Comparison 2 Comparison 3 

Types of Compensation

Civilian

(GS-11)

Military

(O-3)

Civilian

(GS-13)

Military 

(O-5)

Civilian

(GS-15)

Military

(O-6)

Base pay $61,510 $54,036 $87,664 $79,567 $121,856 $98,575

Basic allowance for subsistence 

(BAS)a

0 2,250 0 2,250 0 2,250

Basic allowance for housing (BAH)a0 26,784 0 31,644 0 31,908

30 hours overtime (per week) 55,396 0 65,520 0 91,088 0

Post differential/hardship duty payb21,529 1,200 30,682 1,200 42,650 1,200

Danger pay/ hostile fire/imminent 

danger pay b 

21,529 2,700 30,682 2,700 42,650 2,700

Family separation allowancea0 3,000 0 3,000 0 3,000

Gross Pay 159,963 89,970 183,500c120,361 183,500c139,633

TSP contributiond15,000 4,498 15,000 6,018 15,000 6,982

Combat zone tax exclusione0 56,736 0 80,694 0 80,694

Military tax exclusionf0 32,034 0 36,894 0 37,158

Adjusted gross incomeg144,963 0 168,500 0 168,500 14,799

Federal taxes dueh23,687 0 30,528 0 30,528 -4,970

Income After Taxes $136,276 $89,970 $152,972 $120,361 $152,972 $144,603

Source: GAO’s analysis. 

Notes: Scenario assumes comparable pay grades, Washington, D.C., location, and married with two 

children. Numbers may not add due to rounding. 

a

Not taxable for military personnel. 

Page 25 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
b

Post differential and danger pays are 35 percent of base pay for deployed DOD federal civilians. 

Hardship duty and hostile fire/imminent danger pays are $100 and $225 per month, respectively, for 

deployed military personnel. 

c

Although total compensation for the calendar year is capped at $200,000, Title 5 § 5307 provides 

that an employee may be paid premium pay only to the extent that the premium pay does not cause 

the aggregate of total compensation for the calendar year to exceed the annual rate of basic pay for 

Level I of the Executive Schedule (currently $183,500 for 2006). Section 1105 of Pub. L. No. 109-163 

authorized the Secretary of Defense to increase the annual premium pay limitation for 2006 to 

$200,000 for employees serving overseas in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility.

Premium pay in excess of $183,500, up to $200,000, will be paid to employees during the first pay 

period of 2007. 

d

Assumes $15,000 was paid into the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) by DOD federal civilians, and 5 

percent of gross pay for military personnel. TSP is a retirement savings plan for civilians who are 

employed by the United States government and members of the uniformed services.

e

The combat zone tax exclusion is authorized by 26 U.S.C. § 112. Military personnel serving in direct

support of operations in the combat zone are eligible for the combat zone tax exclusion. All enlisted 

income is eligible for this exclusion. Officers are capped at the highest enlisted basic pay plus any 

imminent danger pay received, which currently is $6,724.50 per month. 

f

Includes nontaxable family separation allowance, BAS, and BAH. 

g

Adjusted Gross income minus TSP, combat zone tax exclusion, and other military tax exclusions. 

h

Computed using commercial tax preparation software. 

Table 7: Scenario 2: Comparisons of Compensation Provided to DOD Federal Civilian and Military Personnel Deployed to 

Afghanistan or Iraq for Six Months

Comparison 1 Comparison 2 Comparison 3 

Types of Compensation

Civilian

(GS-11)

Military

(O-3)

Civilian

(GS-13)

Military 

(O-5) 

Civilian

(GS-15)

Military

(O-6)

Base pay $61,510 $54,036 $87,664 $79,567 $121,856 $98,575

Basic allowance for subsistence (BAS)a0 2,250 0 2,250 0 2,250

Basic allowance for housing (BAH)a0 26,784 0 31,644 0 31,908

30 hours overtime (per week) 27,698 0 32,760 0 45,544 0

Post differential/hardship duty payb10,764 600 15,341 600 21,325 600

Danger pay/ hostile fire/imminent 

danger pay b

10,764 1,350 15,341 1,350 21,325 1,350

Family separation allowancea0 1,500 0 1,500 0 1,500

Gross Pay 110,736 86,520 151,106 116,911 183,500c136,183

TSP contributiond15,000 4,326 15,000 5,846 15,000 6,809

Combat zone tax exclusione0 28,368 0 40,347 0 40,347

Military tax exclusionf0 30,534 0 35,394 0 35,658

Adjusted gross incomeg95,736 23,292 136,106 35,324 168,500 53,369

Federal taxes dueh9,561 -4,790 21,007 -1,155 30,528 1,856

Income After Taxes $101,175 $91,310 $130,099 $118,066 $152,972 $134,327

Source: GAO’s analysis. 

Page 26 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
Notes: Scenario assumes comparable grades, Washington, D.C. location, and married with two 

children. Numbers may not add due to rounding. 

a

Not taxable for military personnel. 

b

Post differential and danger pays are 35% of base pay for deployed DOD federal civilians. Hardship 

duty and hostile fire/imminent danger pays are $100 and $225 per month, respectively, for deployed 

military personnel. 

c

Although total compensation for the calendar year is capped at $200,000, Title 5 § 5307 provides 

that an employee may be paid premium pay only to the extent that the premium pay does not cause 

the aggregate of total compensation for the calendar year to exceed the annual rate of basic pay for 

Level I of the Executive Schedule (currently $183,500 for 2006). Section 1105 of Pub. L. No. 109-163 

authorized the Secretary of Defense to increase the annual premium pay limitation for 2006 to 

$200,000 for employees serving overseas in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility.

Premium pay in excess of $183,500, up to $200,000, will be paid to employees during the first pay 

period of 2007. 

d

Assumes $15,000 was paid into Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) by DOD federal civilians, and 5% of gross

pay for military personnel. TSP is a retirement savings plan for civilians who are employed by the 

United States government and members of the uniformed services.

e

The combat zone tax exclusion is authorized by 26 U.S.C. § 112. Military personnel serving in direct

support of operations in the combat zone are eligible for the combat zone tax exclusion. All enlisted 

income is eligible for this exclusion. Officers are capped at the highest enlisted basic pay plus any 

imminent danger pay received, which currently is $6,724.50 per month. 

f

Includes nontaxable family separation allowance, BAS, and BAH. 

g

Adjusted Gross income minus TSP, combat zone tax exclusion, and other military tax exclusions. 

h

Computed using commercial tax preparation software. 

DOD Federal Civilian and 

Military Personnel Receive 

Different Types and 

Amounts of Disability 

Benefits, Depending on 

Specific Program 

Provisions and Individual 

Circumstances 

In the event of sustaining an injury while deployed, DOD federal civilian 

and military personnel are eligible to receive two broad categories of 

disability benefits—disability compensation22 and disability retirement.23

However, the benefits applicable to each group vary by type and amount,

depending on specific program provisions and individual circumstances. 

Within these broad categories, there are three main types of disability: (1) 

temporary disability, (2) permanent partial disability, and (3) permanent 

total disability. 

 22 Under workers’ compensation and veterans’ compensation programs, benefits typically 

include medical treatment for the injury, vocational rehabilitation services, and cash 

payment to replace a percentage of the individual’s loss in wages while injured and unable 

to work. 

23Disability retirement programs typically provide benefits that allow qualified individuals 

who are unable to work to retire earlier and/or to retire with a higher percentage of their 

pre-injury salary level than would otherwise be permitted with normal retirement based on 

age and length of service at the time of injury. 

Page 27 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
Both DOD federal civilian and military personnel who are injured in the 

line of duty are eligible to receive continuation of their pay during the 

initial period of treatment and may be eligible to receive recurring 

payments for lost wages. However, the payments to DOD federal civilian 

personnel are based on their salaries and whether the employee has any 

dependents, regardless of the number, which can vary significantly, 

whereas disability compensation payments made by the Department of 

Veterans Affairs (VA) to injured military personnel are based on the 

severity of the injury and their number of dependents. DOD federal civilian 

personnel are eligible to receive continuation of pay (salary) for up to 45 

days, followed by a recurring payment for wage loss which is based on a

percentage of salary and whether they have any dependents, up to a cap.24

In contrast, military personnel receive continuation of pay of their salary 

for generally no longer than a year, followed by a recurring VA disability 

compensation payment for wage loss that is based on the degree of 

disability and their number of dependents, and temporary DOD disability 

retirement for up to 5 years. Appendix II provides additional information 

on temporary disability compensation payments for federal civilian and 

military personnel. 

Temporary Disability Benefits 

To illustrate the way in which the degree of impairment and an individual’s 

salary can affect temporary disability compensation, in our April 2006 

review,25 we compared the disability benefits available to military 

personnel with those available to comparable civilian public safety officers 

at the federal, state, and local levels. We found that VA compensation 

payments for military personnel were based on a disability rating, 

regardless of salary level; in contrast, compensation payments for civilian

public safety officers were based on salary level, regardless of disability 

level. Thus, for an individual with severe injuries and relatively low wages, 

VA compensation payments for military personnel were generally higher 

than those of the civilian public safety officers included in the reviews. 

However, if an individual had less severe injuries and high wages, VA 

compensation payments for military personnel were generally lower than 

those of the civilian public safety officers included in the review. 

 24 Payment caps for federal civilians are based on the pay level for a General Schedule 

(GS)-15, step 10 position, which was $118,957 per year or ($6,608 per month without

dependents or $7,435 per month with dependent) in 2006. 

25 GAO, Disability Benefits: Benefit Amounts for Military Personnel and Civilian Public 

Safety Officers Vary by Program Provisions and Individual Circumstances, GAO-06-4 

(Washington, D.C.: Apr. 7, 2006). 

Page 28 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
When a partial disability is determined to be permanent, DOD federal 

civilian and military personnel can continue to receive recurring 

compensation payments. For DOD federal civilian personnel, these 

payments are provided for the remainder of life as long as the impairment 

persists, and can vary significantly depending upon the salary of the 

individual and the existence of dependents. Military personnel are also 

eligible to receive recurring VA disability compensation payments for the 

remainder of their lives, and these payments are based on the severity of 

the servicemember’s injury and the number of dependents. In addition, 

both groups are eligible to receive additional compensation payments 

beyond the recurring payments just discussed, based on the type of 

impairment. DOD federal civilians with permanent partial disabilities 

receive a schedule of payments based on the specific type of impairment 

(sometimes referred to as a schedule award). Some impairments may 

result in benefits for a few weeks, while others may result in benefits for 

several years. Similarly, military personnel receive special monthly VA 

compensation payments depending on the specific type and degree of 

impairment. Appendix II provides more detailed information on 

permanent partial disability compensation payments for DOD federal 

civilian and military personnel. 

Permanent Partial Disability

Benefits 

Our April 2006 review26 compared the compensation benefits available to 

military personnel with those available to federal civilian public safety 

officers, among others, using several scenarios. Our analysis showed that 

when able to return to duty, military personnel often received a greater 

amount of compensation benefits over a lifetime than did civilians, even 

when the monthly benefit payment was substantially lower and receipt of 

benefits was delayed for several years. 

Permanent partial disabilities that prevent civilian and military personnel 

from returning to duty in their current jobs may entitle them to receive

disability retirement benefits based on a percentage of salary in addition to 

compensation benefits; however, the eligibility criteria and benefit 

amounts differ. Under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), DOD 

federal civilian personnel must be unfit for duty and have 5 years of 

service to qualify for disability retirement benefits. Under the Federal 

Employees’ Retirement System (FERS), civilian personnel must be unfit 

 26GAO-06-4. 

Page 29 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
for duty and have 18 months of service.27 DOD federal civilian personnel 

must elect either compensation benefits or disability retirement. Military 

personnel who are unfit for duty are eligible for DOD disability retirement 

benefits if they have a disability rating of 30 percent or more regardless of 

length of service, or if they have 20 years or more of service regardless of 

disability rating. The amount of the DOD disability retirement payment is

offset dollar for dollar, however, by the amount of the monthly VA 

disability compensation payment unless they have at least 20 years of 

service and a disability rating of 50 percent or more, or combat-related 

disabilities. 

Our April 2006 review of disability benefits28 showed that when military 

personnel and federal civilian public safety officers were unable to return

to duty due to a permanent partial disability, such as a leg amputation, the 

combined compensation and retirement benefits provided to the military 

personnel over a lifetime were sometimes more, and sometimes less, than 

the combined benefits provided to civilian public safety officers. 

When an injury is severe enough to be deemed permanent and total,29 DOD 

federal civilian and military personnel may receive similar types of 

benefits such as disability compensation and retirement payments; 

however, the amounts paid to each group vary. For civilian personnel, the 

monthly payment amounts for total disability are generally similar to those 

for permanent partial disability described earlier, but unlike with 

permanent partial disabilities, the payments do not take into account any 

wage earning capacity. Both groups are eligible to receive additional 

compensation payments beyond the recurring payments that are similar to 

those for permanent partial disability. DOD federal civilians with 

permanent disabilities receive a schedule award based on the specific type

of impairment. In addition, DOD federal civilian personnel may be eligible

for an additional attendant allowance—up to $1,500 per month during 

2006—if such care is needed. Military personnel receive special monthly 

VA compensation payments for particularly severe injuries, such as 

Permanent Total Disability

Benefits 

 27 The Federal Employees’ Retirement System (FERS) generally covers all federal 

employees hired after January 1, 1984. Those hired before 1984 still may be covered by the 

Civil Service Retirement System; however, that system has been closed to new members 

since FERS was implemented in 1984. 

28 GAO-06-4. 

29 Permanent total disability generally means that an individual is unable to maintain gainful 

employment. 

Page 30 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
amputations, blindness, or other loss of use of organs and extremities. The 

payments are designed to account for attendant care or other special 

needs deriving from the disability. 

In addition to disability compensation, both DOD federal civilian and 

military personnel have access to disability retirement benefits for 

permanent total disabilities. The provisions for election and offset of 

disability compensation and disability retirement benefits in cases of 

permanent total disability are similar to provisions in cases of permanent 

partial disability discussed earlier. 

Another benefit available to DOD federal civilian and military personnel 

with permanent total disabilities is Social Security Disability Insurance 

(SSDI). SSDI benefits are available to individuals who incur a physical or 

mental impairment that prevents them from performing substantial gainful 

activity and that is expected to last at least 1 year or to result in death. The

benefit is based on the employee’s earnings history and lifetime 

contributions to Social Security; therefore, the benefit amounts vary 

widely among individuals. DOD federal civilian personnel covered by 

FERS and military personnel pay into Social Security and thus may be 

eligible to receive SSDI benefits. The maximum benefit to both groups in 

2006 was $2,053 per month. However, DOD federal civilian personnel must 

choose between either compensation payments and SSDI benefits or have 

their disability retirement payments reduced when receiving SSDI 

benefits.30

Survivors of DOD Federal 

Civilian and Military 

Personnel Received 

Comparable Types of 

Benefits, but Benefit 

Amounts Differ 

Survivors of deceased DOD federal civilian and military personnel 

generally receive similar types of cash survivor benefits—either as a lump 

sum, a recurring payment, or both—through comparable sources. 

However, the benefit amounts generally differ for each group. Survivors of 

DOD federal civilian and military personnel also receive noncash benefits 

that differ in type and amounts. 

As shown in table 8, survivors of deceased DOD federal civilian and 

military personnel both receive lump sum benefits in the form of Social 

Security, a death gratuity, burial expenses, and life insurance.

 30 In the first year of FERS disability retirement benefits, FERS reduces the retirement 

payment by the full amount of any SSDI payment. In subsequent years, FERS reduces the

disability retirement payment by 60 percent of the SSDI payment. 

Page 31 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
Table 8: Overview of the Type and Amount of Lump Sum Benefits Provided to 

Survivors of DOD Federal Civilian and Military Personnel 

Selected types of

survivor benefits Civilian personnel Military personnel 

Social Security Lump sum: $255 Lump sum: $255 

Death gratuity Up to $10,000 $100,000 

Burial expenses Up to $800, plus $200 for 

costs associated with 

terminating employee

status 

Up to $7,700 

Life insurance Basic pay, rounded to the 

nearest thousand, plus 

$2,000 

Servicemembers’ Group Life 

Insurance up to $400,000 

Retirement plan Basic death benefit of 

$24,866.19 (for fiscal year 

2006) plus 50 percent of 

the civilian’s final salary or 

an average of the civilian’s 

highest 3 years of salary 

No equivalent 

Source: GAO analysis of federal data. 

Social Security provides $255 upon the death of a DOD federal civilian 

employee or military member. In addition, survivors of deceased DOD 

federal civilian personnel receive a death gratuity of up to $10,000, while 

survivors of deceased military personnel receive $100,000. The payment 

for funeral expenses provided to survivors of deceased DOD federal 

civilian personnel can be as high as $800, plus $200 for costs associated 

with terminating employee status, while it can be $7,700 for deceased 

military personnel. Life insurance is another common source of benefits 

for the survivors of many deceased civilian and military personnel. 

Survivors of deceased federal civilian personnel receive a payment equal 

to the civilian’s rate of basic pay, rounded to the nearest thousand, plus 

$2,000. Military personnel automatically are insured as part of the 

Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance for up to $400,000, unless they 

elect less or no coverage. DOD federal civilian employees also receive a 

survivor benefit in their retirement plans. 

Survivors of deceased DOD federal civilian and military personnel are also 

eligible for recurring benefits, some of which are specific to each group, as 

shown in table 9. 

Page 32 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
Table 9: Overview of the Type and Amount of Recurring Benefits Provided to

Survivors of DOD Federal Civilian and Military Personnel 

Type of recurring survivor 

benefit Civilian personnel Military personnel 

Social Security Recurring payment based

on earnings in covered 

employment 

Recurring payment based on

earnings in covered 

employment 

Survivor benefit plan No equivalent 55 percent of the military 

member’s monthly 

retirement pay, offset by 

Dependency Indemnity 

Compensation

Dependency and indemnity 

compensation 

No equivalent $1,033 per month plus $257

per month for each 

dependent child, plus an 

additional $250 for the first 2 

years for dependent children

Workers’ compensation (only 

if the death occurs while in 

the line of duty)

Up to 75 percent of 

employee’s monthly salarya

No equivalent 

Retirement plan (included if 

DOD contributes to the 

survivor benefit) 

50 percent of monthly 

retirement payment if the 

employee had 10 years of 

servicea

No equivalent 

Source: GAO analysis of federal data. 

a

The survivor of a deceased DOD federal civilian can choose the benefit through either the retirement 

plan or workers’ compensation, which normally pays a higher amount. 

Survivors of both deceased DOD federal civilian and military personnel 

may be eligible to receive recurring Social Security payments based on the 

deceased individual’s earnings in a covered period. However, other types 

of recurring payments are specific to either civilian or military personnel. 

For example, survivors of DOD federal civilian personnel may receive 

recurring payments from a retirement plan or workers’ compensation if 

the death occurred while in the line of duty. Survivors of deceased military 

personnel also receive payments through the Survivor Benefit Plan, 

Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, or both. 

In addition to lump sum and recurring benefits, survivors of deceased

DOD federal civilians and military personnel receive noncash benefits. As 

shown in table 10, survivors of deceased military personnel receive more 

noncash benefits than do those of deceased DOD federal civilian 

personnel, with few benefits being comparable in type. 

Page 33 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
Table 10: Summary of Noncash Benefits Provided to Survivors of DOD Federal 

Civilian and Military Personnel 

Noncash Benefit Civilian personnel Military personnel

Continuation of health 

insurance coverage 

Survivors may continue to 

participate in the Federal

Employees’ Health 

Benefits Program at the 

same cost as a federal 

employee if, prior to 

employee’s death, these 

individuals were covered 

as family members under 

the plan. 

Surviving family members of 

the deceased servicemember 

remain eligible for health care

benefits under TRICAREa

 at 

active duty dependent rates 

for a 3-year period, after 

which they are eligible for 

retiree dependent rates. 

Education benefits for 

spouse, children, or both 

No equivalent Surviving spouse and 

children are eligible for up to 

45 months of education 

benefits. 

Military-specific No equivalent Surviving spouse and 

children are eligible for rentfree government housing or 

tax-free housing allowance 

up to 365 days, relocation 

assistance, and commissary 

and exchange privileges. 

Source: GAO analysis of federal data. 

a

TRICARE is a regionally structured program that uses civilian contractors to maintain health care 

provider networks that complement health care provided at military treatment facilities.

For example, eligible survivors of military personnel who die while on 

active duty obtain benefits such as rent-free government housing or taxfree housing allowances for up to 365 days, relocation assistance, and

lifetime access to commissaries and exchanges that are not available to 

civilian personnel who die in the line-of-duty. However, survivors of both 

deceased DOD federal civilian and military personnel do continue to 

receive health insurance that is wholly or partially subsidized. 

As DOD’s federal civilian employees assume an expanding role in helping 

the department support its contingency operations overseas, the need for 

attention to the policies and benefits that affect the health and welfare of 

these individuals becomes increasingly significant. DOD currently has 

important policies in place that relate to the deployment of its federal 

civilians. However, it lacks an adequate oversight and quality assurance 

mechanism to ensure compliance and quality of service. Thus, not all of its 

policies—such as those that define the department’s requirements for 

Conclusions 

Page 34 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
force health protection and surveillance—are being fully implemented by 

the DOD components. Until DOD improves its oversight in this area, it will 

jeopardize its ability to be effectively informed of the extent to which its 

federal civilians are screened and deemed medically fit to deploy in 

support of contingency operations; deployed civilian personnel receive 

needed immunizations to counter theater disease threats; and what 

medical follow-up attention federal civilians require for health problems or 

concerns that may arise following their deployment. 

To strengthen DOD’s force health protection and surveillance for its 

federal civilian personnel who deploy in support of contingency 

operations, we recommend that the Secretary of Defense direct the Office

of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to 

establish an oversight and quality assurance mechanism to ensure that all 

components fully comply with its requirements. 

In written comments on a draft of this report, DOD partially concurred 

with our recommendation. The department acknowledged the necessity 

for all deployed civilians to receive required medical assessments and 

immunizations, and that documentation must be available in every 

instance. The department outlined several steps it intends to take to 

determine appropriate implementation of our recommendation. 

Specifically, the department stated that it has written and coordinated a 

new DOD instruction, scheduled to become effective before the end of 

2006, that establishes a comprehensive DOD force health protection 

quality assurance program that will apply to DOD civilian personnel 

accompanying deploying military forces. While DOD’s response is 

encouraging, we remain concerned that the department’s description of 

the actions it plans to take to assess the components’ compliance with its 

requirements lacks sufficient detail. DOD was unable to provide us with a 

copy of the new instruction; thus, we could not evaluate the 

comprehensiveness of its new force health protection quality assurance 

program or determine whether the program identifies specific actions the

department plans to take for assessing and ensuring the full 

implementation of the force health protection and surveillance 

requirements by all DOD components. DOD also stated that proposed 

revisions to its directives and instructions that address the planning, 

preparation, and utilization of DOD civilians include, among other things, 

annual assessments for compliance with pre-and post-deployment medical 

assessment requirements. However, the department did not describe what 

actions, if any, it plans to take to ensure that it will be sufficiently 

Recommendation for 

Executive Action 

Agency Comments 

and Our Evaluation 

Page 35 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
informed of the extent to which its components are complying with 

existing health protection requirements for its deployed federal civilians. 

In the absence of more specific details on its planned actions, we continue 

to emphasize the department’s need for a comprehensive oversight and 

quality assurance mechanism without which it will not be effectively 

positioned to ensure compliance with its policies, or ensure the health

care and protection of its deployed federal civilians as they continue to 

support contingency operations. 

In addition to its comments on our recommendation, the department took 

issue with some of our specific findings. DOD questioned our findings that 

in many cases DOD components were unable to produce documentation 

confirming that deployed federal civilians had received necessary pre- or 

post-deployment medical assessments, or immunizations. The department 

stated that DOD activities, particularly regarding the Army Corps of 

Engineers, Transatlantic Programs Center (TPC), had determined that 

documentation did exist for many records included in our review, thus 

raising reservations about our findings. In particular, the department 

stated that the number (and percent) of records missing two or more 

immunizations that we reported for TPC was inaccurate. It stated that 

based on TPC’s review of the specific documentation that we used to 

support our findings, we had actually identified 69 records (54.3 percent) 

as missing two or more immunizations, rather than 85 (66.9 percent) noted

in our draft report. We disagree. TPC overlooked 16 records included in 

our review that lacked documentation of any immunizations. Moreover, as 

we noted in our report, to provide assurances that the results of our 

review of hard copy deployment records at the selected component 

locations were accurate, we requested that each component’s designated

medical personnel reexamine those deployment records that we 

determined were missing required health documentation. We then 

adjusted our results in those instances where documentation was 

subsequently provided. To provide additional assurances regarding our 

determinations, we requested that each component’s designated medical 

personnel review and sign the data collection instrument that we used to 

collect deployment health information from each individual civilian’s 

deployment record attesting to our conclusions regarding the existence of 

health assessment or immunization documentation. 

DOD also stated that we inappropriately mixed discussion of Veterans 

Affairs and DOD benefits without distinguishing between the two. 

However, our report appropriately discusses two broad categories of 

“government-provided” benefits: (1) those provided by DOD and (2) those 

provided by VA. Nonetheless, to further clarify this section of our report, 

Page 36 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
we added “VA” and “DOD” to our discussions of disability compensation 

and retirement benefits for military personnel. DOD also stated that our 

discussion of military disability benefits presented incorrect information 

in many cases, indicating that our statements that compensation payments 

for military personnel were based on a disability rating, regardless of 

salary level is only true with regard to VA disability benefits. DOD also 

stated that DOD disability payments do, in fact, take into account salary 

level, and that if a former member is entitled to both, there is an offsetting

mechanism. We agree. As we state in our report, under veterans’ 

compensation programs, benefits typically include cash payments to 

replace a percentage of the individual’s loss in wages while injured and 

unable to work. We also state that disability retirement benefits for 

military personnel are based on a percent of salary in addition to 

compensation benefits, and that the amount of retirement payment is 

offset dollar for dollar by the amount of monthly compensation payment 

unless military personnel have at least 20 years of service and a disability 

rating of 50 percent or more, or have combat-related disabilities. 

Further, DOD submitted detailed comments related to our analysis of 

special pays and benefits provided to deployed DOD federal civilian and 

military personnel. In particular, the department stated that our selection 

and presentation of the associated data on the special pays and benefits

provided to DOD federal civilian and military personnel could easily 

mislead the reader into drawing erroneous conclusions. The department 

also stated that our comparisons did not take into account the relative 

value of certain key benefits for which explicit dollar amounts cannot be

measured, such as retirement systems, health care systems, and military 

commissary exchange privileges. To the contrary, our report did discuss 

this limitation, and as is the case with any modeled scenarios based on 

certain assumptions, some of the factors with the potential to affect the 

overall outcomes of our comparisons could not be included because of, as 

DOD pointed out, the relative value of certain key benefits for which 

explicit dollar amounts cannot be measured. It is partly for this reason that 

we acknowledged in the report that we do not take a position on the 

adequacy or appropriateness of the special pays and benefits provided to 

DOD federal civilian and military personnel. DOD also requested that we 

clearly acknowledge the fundamental differences between the military and 

civilians systems. We believe that we have done so. As we noted in our 

report, we did not make direct analytical comparisons between 

compensation and benefits offered by DOD to deployed federal civilian 

and military personnel because such comparisons must account for the 

demands of the military service, such as involuntary relocation, frequent 

and lengthy separations from family, and liability for combat. 

Page 37 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
DOD provided other technical comments, which we have incorporated as 

appropriate. The department’s comments are reprinted in their entirety in

appendix III. 

We are sending copies of this report to the Chairman and Ranking 

Minority Member, Senate Committee on Armed Services; the Chairman 

and Ranking Minority Member, House Committee on Armed Services; the 

Chairman and Ranking Minority Member, Subcommittee on Defense, 

Senate Committee on Appropriations; and the Chairman and Ranking 

Minority Member, Subcommittee on Defense, House Committee on 

Appropriations; and other interested congressional parties. We are also 

sending copies to the Secretary of Defense and the Under Secretary of 

Defense for Personnel and Readiness. We will make copies available to 

other interested parties upon request. Copies of this report will also be 

made available at no charge on GAO’s Web site at http://www.gao.gov. 

Should you or your staff have any questions about this report, please 

contact me at (202) 512-6304 or by e-mail at melvinv@gao.gov. Contact 

points for our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may 

be found on the last page of this report. Key contributors to this report are 

listed in appendix IV. 

Valerie C. Melvin 

Acting Director, Defense Capabilities and Management 

Page 38 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
List of Congressional Committees

The Honorable John Warner 

Chairman 

The Honorable Carl Levin 

Ranking Minority Member 

Committee on Armed Services 

United States Senate 

The Honorable Ted Stevens 

Chairman 

The Honorable Daniel K. Inouye 

Ranking Minority Member 

Subcommittee on Defense 

Committee on Appropriations 

United States Senate 

The Honorable Duncan L. Hunter 

Chairman 

The Honorable Ike Skelton 

Ranking Minority Member 

Committee on Armed Services 

House of Representatives 

The Honorable C.W. Bill Young 

Chairman 

The Honorable John P. Murtha 

Ranking Minority Member 

Subcommittee on Defense 

Committee on Appropriations 

House of Representatives 

Page 39 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
Appendix I: Scope and Methodology Appendix I: Scope and Methodology 

To assess the extent to which DOD has established force health protection 

and surveillance policies for DOD federal civilians who deploy outside of 

the United States in support of contingency operations, and how the 

components (military services and the Defense Contract Management 

Agency) have implemented those policies, we reviewed pertinent force 

health protection and surveillance policies and discussed these policies 

with the following offices or commands: U.S. Central Command; Joint 

Chiefs of Staff, Manpower and Personnel; Under Secretary of Defense for 

Personnel and Readiness (including the Assistant Secretary of Defense for 

Health Affairs, Deployment Health Support Directorate; Civilian Personnel 

Policy; and Civilian Personnel Management Services); the Surgeons 

General for the Army, Navy, and Air Force; and the Defense Contract 

Management Agency (DCMA). 

Our review focused on DOD federal civilians who (1) deployed to 

Afghanistan or Iraq for 30 continuous days or more between June 1, 2003, 

and September 30, 2005, and (2) returned to the United States by February

28, 2006.

1

 Because DOD had difficulty identifying the total number of 

federal civilians who deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq, we assessed the 

implementation of DOD’s deployment health requirements at eight 

component locations that were selected using a number of approaches. 

Given that DOD components have flexibility in where they conduct 

deployment processing, we selected locations for our review accordingly.

Specifically, the Army uses a centralized approach, deploying its federal 

civilians at three primary locations; therefore, we selected all three 

locations for review. By contrast, the Navy and Air Force use a 

decentralized approach, deploying their federal civilians from their home 

stations. For these components, we selected five locations based on data

that indicated that these locations had deployed the largest numbers of 

federal civilian personnel. DCMA was included in our review because it 

had deployed the largest number of federal civilian personnel compared to

other defense agencies. DCMA has an informal agreement with the Army 

to process its federal civilians through two of the Army’s three deployment

locations. Therefore, DCMA federal civilian deployment data in this report 

are included in the Army results to the extent that DCMA federal civilian 

deployments were documented at the two relevant Army locations. At all

eight component locations, we reviewed either all available hard copy or 

 1

 For the purposes of health surveillance, DOD considers a deployment to be 30 continuous 

days or greater to a land-based location outside the continental United States that does not 

have a permanent U.S. military treatment facility. We selected these deployment dates to

incorporate DOD’s most recent changes to the post-deployment health assessment criteria. 

Page 40 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
Appendix I: Scope and Methodology 

electronic deployment records, or in one instance, a sample of the 

deployment records for deployed federal civilian personnel who met our 

criteria above. Table 11 shows the locations included in our review and the 

number of deployment records reviewed at each location. 

Table 11: DOD Component Locations and Number of DOD Federal Civilian 

Deployment Records Included in Our Review

DOD component locations

Number of DOD federal civilian 

deployment records reviewed

Army 

Fort Benning CONUS Replacement Center, Georgiaa238

Fort Bliss CONUS Replacement Center, Texasa2,977b

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Transatlantic 

Programs Center, Virginia 127

Navy 

Naval Air Depot, Cherry Point, North Carolina 52

Air Force 

Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland 10

Hill Air Force Base, Utah 8

Hurlburt Field, Florida 12

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio 7

Total 3,431

Source: GAO.

Note: CONUS refers to the continental United States. 

a

DCMA federal civilians deployed through Forts Benning and Bliss CONUS Replacement Centers. At

Fort Benning, we selected a probability sample of 238 out of 606 deployment records for deployed 

federal civilians and we reviewed those 238 deployment records. When presenting the Fort Benning 

review results in this report, we show numbers and percentages that are weighted estimates to 

provide a 95 percent confidence with a margin of error of 5 percentage points. 

b

Although the Army deploys its federal civilian personnel at three primary sites, Fort Bliss deployed

the largest number of federal civilians during our time frame. We reviewed the entire universe of 

deployment records for federal civilian personnel deployed from this location because the deployment

records were being maintained electronically, which facilitated the review of all records.

In total, we reviewed 3,431 hard copy and automated records for federal 

civilian personnel who deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. Specifically, we 

reviewed hard copies of deployment records for 454 (out of a reported 

822) federal civilian personnel at seven component locations and 

automated deployment records for 2,977 (out of the reported 2,977) 

federal civilian personnel at the other location where all deployment 

records were being maintained electronically. The results of deployment 

record reviews, however, could not be projected beyond the samples to all 

Page 41 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
Appendix I: Scope and Methodology 

DOD federal civilians who had deployed during this time frame. To 

facilitate our review of federal civilian deployment records at the selected 

component locations, we developed a data collection instrument to review 

and collect deployment health information from each individual civilian’s

deployment record. 

For federal civilians in our review at each location, we reviewed 

deployment records for documentation that the following force health 

protection and surveillance policy requirements were met: 

• Pre-and post-deployment health assessments; 

• Tuberculosis screening test (within 1 year of deployment); 

• Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) screening test; 

• Pre-deployment immunizations: 

• hepatitis A (first and second course); 

• influenza (within 1 year of deployment); 

• tetanus-diphtheria (within 10 years of deployment); 

• typhoid; and

• smallpox (within 5 years of deployment) 

After our review of hard copy deployment records, we requested each 

component’s medical personnel to reexamine those hard copy deployment

records that were missing required health documentation, and we adjusted

our results where documentation was subsequently provided. We also 

requested and queried other documentation from information systems 

used by the components to capture deployment and related health 

information, making adjustments to our results where documentation was 

found in the systems. These data sources included the Army’s Medical 

Protection System (MEDPROS), the Army’s medical database (MedBase), 

the Air Force’s Preventive Health Assessment and Individual Medical 

Readiness (PIMR) system and its Comprehensive Immunization Tracking 

Application (CITA), DOD’s Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting 

System (DEERS), which is used by the Navy, and the Army Medical 

Surveillance Activity’s Defense Medical Surveillance System (DMSS). 

At the Army’s Fort Benning, we created a sampling frame (i.e., total 

population) of records for 606 federal civilian deployments between June 

1, 2003, and September 30, 2005. Our study population was limited to DOD 

federal civilians who deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq. We then drew a 

stratified random sample of 288 deployment records and stratified the 

sample to isolate potential duplicate deployment records for the same 

federal civilian. We found two duplicate records and removed them from 

both the population and sample, as shown in table 12. We also removed 

Page 42 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
Appendix I: Scope and Methodology 

another 14 deployment records from our sample because those DOD 

federal civilians had been deployed to locations other than Afghanistan or

Iraq, and were not eligible for the duty population. In addition, we 

removed another 13 deployment records that were originally selected as 

potential replacement records; however, we found that those 

replacements were not needed. Ultimately, we identified 238 in-scope 

responses, for a weighted response rate of 87 percent. Each sampled 

record was subsequently weighted in the analysis to represent all DOD 

federal civilians deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq. The disposition of the 

federal civilian deployment records we reviewed at Fort Benning are 

summarized in the following table: 

Table 12: Sample Disposition for Fort Benning Federal Civilian Deployment 

Records 

Stratum description 

Total

population size

Total

sample size

Number of 

respondents

Stratum 1: Records with 

potential duplicates 2 2 2

Stratum 2: Records without 

potential duplicates 604 286 236

Total 606 288 238

Source: GAO.

Our probability sample is only one of a large number of samples that we 

might have drawn. Because each sample could have provided different 

estimates, we express our confidence in the precision of our particular 

sample’s results as a 95 percent confidence interval. This is the interval

that would contain the actual population value for 95 percent of the Fort 

Benning, Ga., samples we could have drawn. All percentage estimates 

from our sample have margins of error (that is, widths of confidence 

intervals) of plus or minus 5 percentage points or less, at the 95 percent 

confidence level, unless otherwise noted. 

We took steps to assess the reliability of DOD federal civilian deployment 

and health data for the purposes of this review, including consideration of 

issues such as the completeness of the data from the respective 

information systems’ program managers and administrators. We also 

examined whether the data were subjected to quality control measures 

such as periodic testing of the data against deployment records to ensure 

the accuracy and reliability of the data. In addition, we reviewed existing 

documentation related to the data sources and interviewed knowledgeable

agency officials about the data. We did not find these deployment and 

Page 43 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
Appendix I: Scope and Methodology 

health data to be sufficiently reliable for (1) identifying the universe of 

DOD federal civilian deployments or (2) use as the sole source for 

reviewing the health and immunization information for all DOD federal 

civilian deployments, but we found the information systems to be 

sufficiently reliable when used as one of several sources in our review of 

deployment records. In those instances where we did not find a 

deployment health assessment or immunization in either the deployment 

records or in the electronic data systems, we concluded that the health

assessment or immunization was not documented. 

To determine the extent to which DOD has established and the 

components have implemented medical treatment policies for DOD 

federal civilians who deployed in support of contingency operations, we 

examined pertinent medical treatment policies for DOD federal civilian 

employees who required treatment for injuries and diseases sustained 

while supporting contingency operations. In addition, we obtained 

workers’ compensation claims filed by DOD federal civilian personnel 

with the Department of Labor’s Office of Workers’ Compensation 

Programs(OWCP) showing those civilians who sustained injuries and 

diseases during deployment. We selected and reviewed a non-probability 

sample of claims to assess the components’ processes and procedures for 

implementing DOD’s medical treatment policies across a range of civilian 

casualties including injuries, physical and mental illnesses, and diseases. 

The scope of our review did not extend to the Department of Labor’s 

claims review process. 

To identify special pays and benefits provided to DOD federal civilians 

who deployed in support of contingency operations and to assess the 

extent that special pays and benefits differ from those provided to 

deployed active duty military personnel, we examined major statutory 

provisions for special pays, disability and death benefits for federal 

civilians and military personnel, including relevant chapters of Title 5 of 

the U.S. Code governing federal civilian personnel management; relevant 

chapters of Title 10 of the U.S. Code governing armed forces personnel 

management; Section 112 of Title 26 of the U.S. Code governing combat 

zone tax exemption; relevant chapters of Title 37 of the U.S. Code 

governing pay and allowances for the uniformed services; relevant 

chapters of Title 38 of the U.S. Code governing veterans’ benefits; relevant 

provisions of applicable public laws governing military and civilian pay 

and benefits; applicable directives and instructions related to active duty 

military and DOD federal civilian benefits and entitlements; DOD financial

management regulations; Department of State regulations; and prior GAO 

reports. In addition, we discussed the statutes and guidance with 

Page 44 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
Appendix I: Scope and Methodology 

cognizant officials of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for 

Personnel and Readiness, military services’ headquarters, and the Defense 

Contract Management Agency involved with the administration of active 

duty and federal civilian personnel entitlements. We did not perform a 

comprehensive review of all compensation—comprised of a myriad of 

pays and benefits—offered to active duty military and federal civilian 

personnel in general. Our analysis focused on selected elements of 

compensation such as special pays (e.g., hostile fire/imminent danger pay). 

Also, we did not make direct analytical comparisons between 

compensation and benefits offered by DOD to deployed federal civilian 

and military personnel because such comparisons must account for the 

demands of the military service, such as involuntary relocation, frequent 

and lengthy separations from family, and liability for combat. 

After reviewing documents and interviewing officials, we then compiled 

and analyzed the information on the types and amounts of special pays 

and benefits available to active duty military and DOD federal civilian

personnel who deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq. We interviewed DOD 

officials to discuss the basis for any differences in compensation. In 

addition, to illustrate how special pays affect overall compensation 

provided to DOD federal civilian and military personnel, we modeled 

scenarios for both groups using similar circumstances, such as length of 

deployment, pay grades, special pays (e.g., post differential pay, danger 

pay, overtime pay, family separation allowance, basic allowance for 

housing, basic allowance for subsistence), and duty location. Through 

discussions with senior DOD officials, we made an assumption that 

deployed DOD federal civilians worked 30 hours of overtime per week. 

For deployed DOD federal civilians, we subtracted a contribution of 

$15,000 to the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) to obtain the adjusted gross 

income. We assumed that DOD federal civilians, temporarily at a higher 

tax bracket, would take maximum advantage of the opportunity to defer

taxes. We assumed that the military personnel would contribute a smaller 

percentage of pay, 5 percent of gross income, to TSP. We made this 

assumption because much of the military pay was not subject to federal 

taxes, which removes the incentive to contribute to TSP, and because 

unlike for federal workers, military TSP does not have a matching 

component. For military personnel, we also deducted the amount of pay 

not subject to taxes due to the combat zone exclusion, family separation

allowance, basic allowance for subsistence, and basic allowance for 

housing. Using these assumptions, we generated an adjusted gross income 

and used that as input into a commercial tax program, Turbo Tax, to 

obtain federal taxes owed. We assumed that both DOD federal civilian and 

military personnel were married, filing jointly, with a spouse that earned 

Page 45 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
Appendix I: Scope and Methodology 

no income. We assumed that the family had two children and qualified for 

two child tax credits, and the Earned Income Tax Credit, if at that income 

level. This resulted in four exemptions and a standard deduction of 

$10,000 in 2005. For purposes of validation, we repeated this exercise 

using an alternate tax program, Tax Cut, and obtained identical results. 

We conducted our review from March 2006 to August 2006 in accordance 

with generally accepted government auditing standards. 

Page 46 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
Appendix II: Temporary and Permanent 

Partial Disability Benefits Provided to DOD Appendix II: TeFederal mporary and Permanent Civilian and Military Personnel

Partial Disability Benefits Provided to DOD 

Federal Civilian and Military Personnel 

Both DOD federal civilian and military personnel are eligible to receive 

disability benefits when they sustain a line-of-duty injury. However, these 

benefits vary in amount. Table 13 shows the temporary disability benefits

available to eligible DOD federal civilian and military personnel. 

Table 13: Temporary Disability Compensation Payments, Payment Formula, and 2006 Payment Caps for DOD Federal Civilian 

and Military Personnel 

DOD Personnel 

Payment calculation for temporary partial and

temporary total disability Maximum monthly payment cap in 2006

Civilian Continuation of pay up to 45 days, followed by a 

recurring payment for wage loss (based on a percentage 

of salary, up to a cap). 

• Partial disability (when able to work, but at a reduced 

salary): Payments are 66-2/3 percent of the wage loss 

(that is, the difference between the part-time and fulltime wages) without dependents; 75 percent with 

dependents. 

• Total disability (when unable to work): Payments are 

66-2/3 percent of the employee’s average weekly 

wage without dependents; 75 percent with 

dependents. 

$6,608 per month without dependents. 

$7,435 per month with dependents. 

Military Continuation of pay for generally no longer than a year, 

followed by recurring VA disability compensation 

payments. 

A servicemember’s disability rating ranging from 0 to 100 

percent, in 10 percent increments.a

Each disability rating level corresponds to 

an annually fixed monthly VA payment 

amount. During 2006, amounts ranged 

from $112 to $2,393 per month. 

“Add-ons” to basic payments 

If the disability rating is 30 percent or 

more, the individual is entitled to additional 

compensation for each dependent. During 

2006, the additional amounts ranged from 

$40-$233 for a spouse, and $27-$91 for a 

child, depending on the level of disability. 

Source: GAO analysis of federal statutes. 

a

Unlike civilian personnel, military personnel also can be temporarily released from service and be 

eligible to receive temporary DOD disability retirement benefits if they are found unfit for duty, and 

they may continue to receive a recurring VA disability compensation payment for wage loss.

However, the amount of the DOD retirement payment is reduced (offset) dollar-for-dollar by the 

amount of the recurring VA payment, unless they have at least 20 years of service and can qualify for 

an exception to this offset due to a disability rating of 50 percent or more, or combat-related 

disabilities. In our report on disability benefits provided to military personnel and civilian public safety

officers, we noted that the added increment available from disability retirement, even with applicable 

offsets, can increase military personnel’s monthly benefits significantly above that of comparable 

public safety officers at all levels. 

As table 13 shows, DOD federal civilians who are injured in the line of duty 

are eligible to receive continuation of their salary up to 45 days, followed 

by a recurring payment for wage loss that is based on a percentage of their 

salary and the existence of dependents, up to a cap. In contrast, military 

Page 47 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
Appendix II: Temporary and Permanent 

Partial Disability Benefits Provided to DOD 

Federal Civilian and Military Personnel

personnel receive continuation of their salaries for generally no longer 

than a year, followed by a recurring payment for wage loss, which is based 

on the degree of disability and their number of dependents, and temporary 

retirement pay based on salary for up to 5 years. 

When a partial disability is determined to be permanent, both DOD federal 

civilians and military personnel are eligible to continue receiving recurring 

compensation payments, but again, the amounts of these benefits vary, as 

shown in table 14. 

Table 14: Permanent Partial Disability Compensation Payment Formulas and Time Limits on Benefits for DOD Federal Civilian 

and Military Personnel 

Civilian personnel Military personnel 

Compensation

payments 

Payment calculation 

When able to work, but at a reduced salary, 

payments are 66-2/3 percent of the wage loss (that is, 

the difference between the part-time and full-time 

wages) without dependents; 75 percent with 

dependents.a 

Maximum period of time payments can be

provided

Payments provided for the remainder of life, as long 

as the impairment persists. 

Schedule award

Schedule of payments are based on the specific type 

of impairment. For example, up to 312 weeks (6 

years) compensation due to the loss of an arm, or the 

loss (or loss of use) of any other important external or 

internal organ of the body. 

Payment calculation

VA basic payment amounts established annually 

for disability ratings ranging from 10 percent to 90 

percent. During 2006, amounts ranged from $112 

to $1,436 per month. a 

“Add-ons” to basic payments 

If the disability rating is 30 percent or more, the 

individual is entitled to additional VA compensation 

for each dependent. During 2006, the additional 

amounts ranged from $40-$233 for a spouse, and 

$27-$91 for a child, depending on the level of 

disability. 

Special monthly VA compensation payments up to 

$4,176, depending on the specific type and degree 

of impairment.

Maximum period of time payments can be

provided

No time limit regardless of degree of impairment; 

payments provided for the remainder of life, as

long as the impairment persists. 

Source: GAO analysis of federal statutes. 

a Under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), DOD federal civilian personnel must be unfit for 

duty and have 5 years of service to qualify for disability retirement. Under the Federal Employees’ 

Retirement System (FERS), civilian personnel must be unfit for duty and have 18 months of service. 

DOD federal civilian personnel must elect either compensation benefits or disability retirement. 

Military personnel who are unfit for duty are eligible for DOD disability retirement benefits if they have

a disability rating of 30 percent or more regardless of length of service, of if they have 20 years or 

more of service regardless of disability. The amount of the DOD retirement payment is offset dollar 

for dollar, however, by the amount of the monthly VA compensation payment unless the 

servicemember has at least 20 years of service and a disability rating of 50 percent or more, or

combat-related disabilities.

Page 48 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
Appendix II: Temporary and Permanent 

Partial Disability Benefits Provided to DOD 

Federal Civilian and Military Personnel

As table 14 shows, DOD federal civilian personnel with permanent partial 

disabilities receive payments based on salary and dependents while 

military personnel receive payments based on the severity of the injury 

and their number of dependents, as long as the condition persists. 

Page 49 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel
Appendix III: Comments from the Department Appendix III: Comments from the of Defense 

Department of Defense 

Page 50 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel 
Appendix III: Comments from the Department 

of Defense 

Page 51 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel 
Appendix III: Comments from the Department 

of Defense 

Page 52 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel 
Appendix III: Comments from the Department 

of Defense 

Page 53 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel 
Appendix III: Comments from the Department 

of Defense 

Page 54 GAO-06-1085 DOD Civilian Personnel 
Appendix IV: 

A

GAO Contact and Staff 

cknowledgments 

Page 55 GAO-06-1085

Appendix IV: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgments 

Valerie Melvin, (202) 512-6304 

In addition to the contact named above, Sandra Burrell, Assistant Director; 

William Bates; Dr. Benjamin Bolitzer; Alissa Czyz; George Duncan; Steve 

Fox; Dawn Godfrey; Nancy Hess; Lynn Johnson; Barbara Joyce; Dr. 

Ronald La Due Lake; William Mathers; Paul Newton; Dr. Charles Perdue; 

Jason Porter; Julia Matta; Susan Tieh; John Townes; and Dr. Monica 

Wolford made key contributions to this report. 

DOD Civilian Personnel

GAO Contact 

Acknowledgments 

(350829) 
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