R&D in Support of DOD Enlistment, Testing and Evaluation

Abstract

The Department of Defense Human Resources Activity (DHRA) is a DoD-wide Field Activity chartered to support the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (USD (P&R)). This PE includes application of R&D to expedite prototype development and mission support efforts to sustain and/or modernize operations required for general RDT&E. Project 1: Identity Credential Management (ICM). DMDC executes DHRA’s responsibility to provide a central source of identification and authorization of people throughout their affiliation with DoD for identity protection, security, and entitlements and benefits verification. This funding supports evaluation and testing of emerging technologies that develop more robust and secure capabilities for the Department’s ICM program. ICM will also research capabilities such as improved self-service solutions, and reusable-services that will enable more efficient credential delivery. Project 2: Office of People Analytics (OPA) Testing and Assessment Division administers testing programs, which enable the Armed Services to select highly qualified military recruits. The DoD uses a single test, the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), to determine eligibility of military applicants and students (high school and post-secondary) and to report recruit quality data to Congress. Despite the implications of the COVID pandemic, high quality recruits obtained from administering the ASVAB annually remain at approximately 600,000 applicants for Military Service as part of the DoD Enlistment Testing program, and over 750,000 students remain in the ASVAB career exploration program. There has been no definitive change to this trend. Each Service also uses ASVAB test forms developed in this program as part of their in-service testing programs. This allows DoD to make measurement improvements as well as decreasing the likelihood of test compromise. Ongoing RDT&E efforts include development and evaluation of procedures which (1) reduce or eliminate threats to the validity of the ASVAB test scores generated; (2) improve the efficiency of the test development, calibration, and validation process; and (3) improve selection and classification decisions made by each Service through more effective use of test score information. In addition, periodic assessments are required to provide DoD manpower planners and Congress with information on aptitude trends in the population from which recruits are drawn. Project 05: The Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) administers many of the federal responsibilities of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) of 1986 and other federal military voter registration and assistance laws. FVAP works to ensure Service members, their eligible family members and overseas citizens are aware of their right to vote and have the tools and resources to successfully do so – from anywhere in the world. FVAP works to increase the level of awareness of available DoD voting assistance resources among Active Duty Members, in order to increase the likelihood of returning their absentee ballots. FVAP conducts voting research projects with States, local election jurisdictions and private entities to assist UOCAVA voters to register to vote and submit their absentee ballot and improve federal, State and local election processes and procedures. Project 6: The Enterprise Data to Decisions Information Environment (EDDIE) introduces a streamlined way to provide person-based “data as a service” and “analytics as a service” to all of DoD and other Federal Agencies and will continue to expand DHRA data asset holding within the Advanced Analytics (ADVANA) platform. It enables and improves all types of analytics from standard reporting to more emergent and embedded predictive/prescriptive analytics. EDDIE will assist decision makers in forming relevant questions, retrieving pertinent information, and informing policy and program changes. EDDIE completed Initial Operating Capability (IOC) as of FY 2022 and will begin sustainment as of FY 2023. Next Generation Data Delivery will prototype a streamlined methodology for sharing data with external partners. It will allow either a real-time or batch broker service to any major DMDC database, eventually including the Person Data Repository (PDR), Uniformed Services Human Resource Information System (USHRIS), and most others. Authorized customers will be able to receive automated, real-time updates directly from these databases. This project has the potential to improve customer service and improve transaction efficiency for data processing throughout the DMDC enterprise. Duplicate Identity Resolution Process (DIRP) is undergoing modernization to improve the capability by leveraging cloud technology, reducing redundancy in the automated process, and Duplicate Identity Resolution Process (DIRP) is undergoing modernization to improve the capability by leveraging cloud technology, reducing redundancy in the automated process, and increasing efficiencies in correcting person identity date affecting benefits, credentialing, and access. Research and Processing (DIRP) is undergoing modernization to improve and increase automation of the capability to merge duplicate identities found in the PDR, the primary database supporting both Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) and Identity, Credential and Access Management (ICAM) services. Duplicate identities are inevitably introduced to large databases as individuals change their relationships to the organization and to other individuals. Although extensive controls exist within the PDR and its various applications and feeder systems, individuals marry, divorce, change employment and move daily and each occurrence is an opportunity for a duplicate record to be introduced because “someone” missed that “Robert” was also “Bob.” Further, military spouses and children often develop their own relationships to DoD, through enlistment, employment, marriage and so on. DIRP already uses modern, probabilistic search to identify such records, but the actual merge processes for the records identified as duplicates rely on tools that have been built incrementally over the last 20 years, depending heavily on manual confirmation and processing. This effort will consolidate DIRP’s multiple applications into a single service, to reduce redundancy and enhance overall merge processes. It will focus on reducing the types and number of cases requiring manual intervention, to increasing efficiencies improve processing timeliness and reduce the overall cost of correcting person identity data. These changes will affect DoD benefits, credentialing, and access. Research management markedly, but will also enhance patient safety within shared DoD-VA patient records in MHS-GENESIS. Requirement research begins in FY 2023 with development expected in FY 2024. Defense Sexual Assault Incident Database (DSAID). DSAID serves as the Department’s only centralized, case-level database for the collection and maintenance of information regarding sexual assaults involving Service members, via both Unrestricted and Restricted Reporting options. Also, DSAID accommodates a variety of uses, including the tracking of sexual assault victim support services, as well as supporting sexual assault prevention and response (SAPR) program administration, congressional reporting requirements, and data analysis. DSAID will also facilitate reports to Congress on claims of retaliation in connection with an Unrestricted Report of sexual assault made by or against a member of the Armed Forces, and serve as a repository for documents necessary for future victim support. Service Sexual Assault Response Coordinators (SARCs) use the system to track support to victims of sexual assault throughout the lifecycle of support requirements that facilitate sexual assault case transfer between SARCs and Services. The DoD SAPR Office and Service headquarters-level users access the system as a management tool for statistical analysis, tracking, congressional and ad-hoc reporting, evaluating program effectiveness, conducting research, and case and business management. The system can easily export data for analysis in statistical applications, such as Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) to facilitate analysis at the DoD-level. DSAID includes safeguards to shield personally identifiable information (PII) from unauthorized disclosure and stringent user access control in place. Project 8: Personnel Accountability and Security (PAS) is a new program that subsumes the Personnel Accountability (PA) program with the remaining Personnel Security Assurance (PSA) program. The Personnel Accountability and Security (PAS) program is comprised of several systems undergoing development and testing, including: Synchronized Pre-Deployment Operational Tracker Enterprise Suite (SPOT-ES,) Noncombatant Evacuation Operations (NEO) Tracking System (NTS). Joint Personnel Accountability Reconciliation and Reporting (JPARR), Personnel Accountability Reporting Suite of System. PAS will be using RDT&E money to evaluate and re-architect the PA Products and current structure of the portfolio. Funding was re-phased starting in FY 2024, development and modernization funding will resume in FY 2027. Project 09: Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) program is helping DoD evolve its distributed learning systems (e.g., online courses, smartphone-based learning, and DoD-wide enterprise systems for training and education). These improvements benefit DoD in several ways: (1) EFFICIENCY: Increase business systems’ efficiency, saving time and resources, by eliminating duplications and developing shared services for digital learning technology and data. (2) EFFECTIVENESS: Improve the quality and efficiency of training/education delivery via online systems by developing modern technologies, integrated data systems, and associated learning science, ultimately impacting personnel readiness. This program was originally established in response to Section 378 of Public Law 105-261, the FY 1999 NDAA. The ADL program directly supports all DoD Components, and as a leader in the field of distributed learning technologies, also coordinates with other Federal agencies, Allies, and Partners. This leads to the program’s third benefit: (3) INTEROPERABILITY: It strengthens interagency, inter-organizational, and multinational interoperability by developing shared distributed learning capabilities and policy and through leadership in DoD, Federal, and Coalition communities of practice. The program’s work falls into three interrelated categories: (A) Modernization, (B) Documentation, and (C) Coordination. The “modernization” work involves Advanced Technology Development (RDT&E subfield Advanced Technology Development 6.3) in technical areas such as e-learning, mobile learning, IT/data interoperability, learner data modeling and analytics, and associated learning science. These efforts inform the program’s “documentation” work, including the authoring and upkeep of technical guidance and policy documents, such as DoD Instruction 1322.26 (“Distributed Learning”) and software/data interoperability specifications. Finally, the documentation work drives “coordination” efforts, which consist of implementation support and interagency, inter-organizational, and international (e.g., North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)) coordination. This program’s modernization investments are vetted through the Defense ADL Advisory Committee, a working group of military personnel and DoD/Federal civilians who formally represent their organizations’ distributed learning interests. These requirements are also aligned to DoD/Federal strategic direction, such as the DoD Digital Modernization Strategy, DoD and Federal Data Strategies, and Personnel and Readiness Strategy for 2030. They are also considered against emerging industry trends and technologies.

Document Details

• Document Type: R2 Budgetary Justification
• Publication Date: Oct 01, 2024
• Source ID: 0605803SE_6_0400_PB_2024
• Change Summary Explanation: FY 2023 Congressional enacted adjustments include +$10 million to fund a grant program Effective Absentee System for Elections (EASE) 3.0; and a -$0.002 million reduction in Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC), which is reflected in the funding profile for Project Number 6: Enterprise Data Services (EDS).
• Service Agency Name: DoD Human Resources Activity

Entities

Organizations

• Defense Human Resources Activity

Tags

Communities of Interest

• Engineered Resilient Systems (Alumni COI)
• Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

• Community Of Practice
• Data Analysis
• Data Centers
• Data Processing
• Department Of Defense
• Distance Learning
• Education
• Emerging Technology
• Employment
• Human Resources
• Identification Systems
• Information Systems
• Management Personnel
• Military Personnel
• Officer Personnel
• Personnel Management
• Students

Readers

• Defense Acquisition Program Management
• Educational Psychology
• Enterprise Information Systems Architecture and Joint Command Capability Interoperability Support.