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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has presented a severe threat to state election plans in 2020 for primaries and for the general election. To conduct an election during the COVID-19 pandemic, states need registration and voting options that minimize direct personal contact and that reduce crowds and common access to high-touch surfaces. Another way to think about preparedness for conducting elections during a pandemic is to consider the flexibility that state election processes afford in terms of where, when, and how voters can get registered and cast votes. Particularly valuable to flexibility in the pandemic context are options that allow for the registration and voting processes to happen remotely or in ways that reduce person-to-person contact. In this report, the authors summarize state election laws on early voting, remote voting, and voter registration and discuss the potential implications of these laws for the execution of the November 2020 general election under conditions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. This report is part of RAND's Countering Truth Decay initiative, which is focused on restoring the role of facts, data, and analysis in U.S. political and civil discourse and the policymaking process.

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Electronic systems are becoming increasingly complicated and interconnected, and those of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) are no exception. Due to the evolution of electronic systems, combined with the need to save time, energy, and money, DoD plans to replace paper delivery of servicemember separation information with electronic delivery. A timely analysis is critical to ensure DoD is best positioned to optimize and effectively orchestrate this opportunity. Clear, authoritative information on characterization of service and reasons for separation is critical for individuals as they re-enlist, change duty status, or transfer into civilian employment; for dependents and survivors; for government agencies that adjudicate veteran status and benefits; and for military departments, as they move toward fully integrated digital databases. DoD's DD Form 214 has existed since the 1950s, when it standardized information across the services by replacing service-level forms. The form is largely unchanged since that time and has remained the defining document to verify a servicemember's discharge from active duty. As electronic information supplants paper, information provided by the services must continue to meet the important purposes of DD Form 214. To ensure consistency across the services and avoid omission of critical information, DoD needs an in-depth analysis of the current use of DD Form 214 to identify ways in which it could be improved to meet the diverse needs of the numerous organizations and individuals who use and depend on it.

Military discharge --- United States --- Armed Forces --- Recruiting, enlistment, etc.

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Over the past two decades, the United States has deployed an unprecedented number of U.S. federal government civilians to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan to perform a wide variety of tasks. As more civilians have deployed, increasing numbers have been exposed to high-threat environments and high levels of stress. Studies of civilians (both government-employed and contractors) deployed to areas of conflict indicate that combat exposure and related stressors correlate with significant levels of deployment-related health conditions for this population. Anecdotal evidence further confirms that deployed civilians face similar deployment-related challenges to those experienced by military personnel, in terms of both health conditions and family challenges. This evidence demonstrates that there is a likely need for civilian post-deployment reintegration support. However, until now, a descriptive account of the specific policies, processes, tools, and outputs associated with reintegration for deployed civilians has been lacking. This report reviews and analyzes assessments of the practices that U.S. federal agencies use to reintegrate civilians following domestic or overseas deployments to high-threat environments. The researchers aim to determine the extent to which such activities vary across the interagency community, and also identify promising practices for such agencies to pursue in the future. The authors leverage interview insights from federal agencies and a review of U.S. military post-deployment reintegration to accomplish these tasks. The authors also draw on U.S. military and Department of Defense civilian policy, programs, and experiences with redeployment to inform future reintegration efforts.

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"The United States relies on contractors to fill support roles in theaters of conflict to an extent that is unprecedented in modern history. Contractors provide supplies and perform a variety of other functions, including security (personal security details, convoy security, and static site security), logistical support, weapon and equipment upkeep and maintenance, intelligence, communication, transportation, construction, engineering, and base support operations and maintenance. It is important to ensure that these operational contract support (OCS) capabilities are available when needed for operations, but U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) oversight and planning for OCS activities is decentralized, making it difficult to determine manpower and training requirements for these DoD activities. This comprehensive review of the DoD OCS planning and integration workforce shows that some doctrinally mandated OCS planning and integration tasks are not being performed by DoD personnel, that personnel across the force receive limited training in OCS, and that there are several human capital approaches to address these shortfalls. Staffing estimates, findings, and recommendations were informed by an exhaustive review of OCS-related policy, doctrine, and training materials, as well as survey responses and interviews with experts. The result is a clearer picture of staffing requirements for the OCS planning and integration workforce and gaps in awareness, training, and career path options"--Publisher's description.

Government contractors --- Military planning --- Defense contracts --- Public contracts --- National security --- Planning. --- Planning. --- Planning. --- Planning. --- United States. --- Planning. --- United States --- Armed Forces --- Operational readiness

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Many U.S. government agencies rely on nonprofit federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) for independent expertise in systems engineering and integration, study and analysis, and research and development. In this report, the authors discuss insights drawn from academic literature and practitioner guidance that are applicable to the effective oversight, management, and performance assessment of FFRDCs. They identify (1) institutional prerequisites for enabling effective oversight, management, and performance assessment of FFRDCs and (2) operational criteria for running constructive assessment processes. Whereas academics and practitioners have written volumes on internal assessment — when an organization examines its own programs and employees — and commercial acquisitions, they have had comparatively little to say about relationships involving FFRDCs. However, research on performance management systems and related or subsidiary processes, including performance reviews and program evaluation, is broadly applicable to government oversight of and engagement with FFRDCs. Thus, the authors examine a wide range of literature and guidance on performance management and program evaluation, looking for best practices in other potentially analogous and relevant organizational contexts, modifying and supplementing the processes as needed to account for contextual differences and other needs.

Research and development contracts, Government --- Contrats de recherche et de développement --- Evaluation. --- Évaluation. --- United States. --- Personnel management --- Research. --- United States