WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- More than 18,000 Air Force Materiel Command civilian employees transitioned from General Schedule into the Acquisition Demonstration Project compensation system in June as part of ongoing efforts to attract and retain high-caliber talent through modernized performance management.
“AFMC has the largest AcqDemo workforce in the Department of Defense,” said Kathy Watern, Director, AFMC Manpower, Personnel and Services. “We lead materiel acceleration by developing, delivering and sustaining war-winning capabilities to ensure our Nation’s competitive advantage. Our mission requires us to attract and retain exceptional top talent; contribution and performance-based appraisal systems give us greater flexibility to recruit, retain and reward our talented workforce.”
AcqDemo is a human resource management pay and personnel system that aligns employee performance and contributions directly to the organizational mission. It provides managers and organizations with enhanced flexibility in recruitment, staffing, classification, performance management, compensation, and employee development, promoting accountability and driving workforce efforts to mission outcomes
AFMC employees gain several advantages with AcqDemo, including the potential for faster advancement than the GS system, with supervisors able to adequately compensate and award employees based on performance linked directly to the organization’s mission. AcqDemo also expands training and development opportunities across a variety of platforms.
The 2025 conversion brings the total number of AFMC AcqDemo employees to 45,000. Excluded from the current conversion are GS employees who accepted the Deferred Resignation Program, air traffic controllers (converting in 2026), individuals in developmental positions (converting when they reach their targeted performance level) and members of unions that do not have an approved memorandum of agreement.
In addition to AcqDemo and GS, AFMC still has Executive Service, Medical, Intel, Lab Demo, and Federal Wage System employees.
Newly transitioned AcqDemo employees now have access to the CAS2NET system and should be working with their supervisors to develop contribution plans. The Fiscal Year 25 cycle closes out on Sept. 30, after which new AcqDemo employees will follow the same timelines as those currently in the project.
Individuals can learn more about AcqDemo and the AFMC conversion at https://www.afmc.af.mil/Careers/AcqDemo/.