An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

AFMC AcqDemo Ask-Me-Anything addresses upcoming expansion, talent imperative

  • Published
  • By Marisa Alia-Novobilski
  • Air Force Materiel Command

The Air Force Materiel Command held an AcqDemo Ask-Me-Anything, Nov. 20, providing greater insight to the upcoming Acquisition Demonstration Project expansion slated for June 2025.

Senior leader panelists from across the command answered questions related to the upcoming change, which will impact 25,000 civilian employees command-wide.

“We see two types of competition going on; first, there's a high competition for talent in the private sector as well as the type of talent that we need within the government service. We need to have more flexibilities to respond more rapidly in the hiring process to achieve to attract the talent that we need. AcqDemo gives us the flexibility to attract that talent,” said Lorna Estep, AFMC Executive Director, during opening remarks.

“The next competition that we have is the competition with our near peers, or some of us even say, equal peers,” she continued. “In the defense of our Nation for the future, how do we make sure that we have the flexibilities to move our people for the mission? How do we make sure we retain folks? How do we reward for excellent performance in achieving those mission objectives? Those two competitions are really driving the reason why we need to expand AcqDemo.”

Throughout the event, panelists dove into concepts including the timing of the expansion considering the Great Power Competition, myths related to performance appraisals, costs of expanding, pay pool administration, retirement and productivity impacts, and more.

The consensus among the panelists is that the expansion will be more beneficial for employees and the command than the legacy General Schedule (GS) pay system, leading to greater impacts in the long term.

“There's the old saying, ‘no one can take better care of your career than yourself,’ and I think that's somewhat paramount to why AcqDemo is so beneficial,” said Kathy Watern, AFMC Director of Manpower, Personnel and Services. “This is an opportunity for you and your leadership, and your supervisor, really, to have a way to better communicate and be transparent This system allows for an individual and their supervisor to be interactive throughout the year. It’s really about workforce optimization, optimizing our performance, and better equipping us to be more ready to fight and win against our adversaries.”

AFMC personnel can view the full recording and transcript of the Ask-Me-Anything Panel on MS Stream (Common Access Card required).

Additional information on AcqDemo is available at https://www.afmc.af.mil/Careers/AcqDemo/.

AFMC will host more informational events and trainings throughout the next year to ensure personnel are informed and prepared for the change.

Questions on the AcqDemo expansion can be emailed to afmc.a1ki.workflow@us.af.mil.