Bureau of Naval Personnel
| Bureau of Naval Personnel | |
|---|---|
 Current logo of the NPC | |
| Founded | 1862 |
| Country | United States |
| Allegiance |  United States of America |
| Branch |  United States Navy |
| Type | Bureau |
| Role | Human Resources |
| Website | mynavyhr.navy.mil |
| Commanders | |
| Chief of Naval Personnel | VADMRichard J. Cheeseman Jr. |
TheBureau of Naval Personnel(BUPERS) in theUnited States Department of the Navyis similar to thehuman resourcesdepartment of a corporation. The bureau provides administrative leadership and policy planning for theOffice of the Chief of Naval Operations(OPNAV) and theU.S. Navyat large. BUPERS is led by theChief of Naval Personnel,who serves in an additional duty capacity as the deputy chief of naval operations for personnel, manpower, and training (DCNO, N1).
As of 2024, the Bureau of Naval Personnel serves as a parent command to Navy Personnel Command (NPC). Most BUPERS offices are located inMillington, Tennessee,with a small BUPERS staff directly supporting the CNP inArlington County, Virginia.
History[edit]
Naval personnel matters were originally handled by theSecretary of Waruntil the establishment of the Navy Department on April 30, 1798. It was not until 1815 that theSecretary of the Navytook control of personnel matters. In 1861, the Office of Detail was created and functions related to the detailing of officers and the appointment and instruction of volunteer officers, as well as the purchase of ships and related matters were transferred. The Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting was concurrently established to handle enlisted recruiting and service record maintenance.
The Bureau of Navigation was established in 1862 and three years later the Office of Detail was placed under it. In 1889, the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting transferred its enlisted personnel activities to the Bureau of Navigation as well. On May 13, 1942, the command's name changed to the Bureau of Naval Personnel, and in 1982 it changed to Naval Military Personnel Command. In 1991, the name changed back to the Bureau of Naval Personnel or "BUPERS" for short.[1]NAVPERS stands for Navy Personnel, an acronym often used on official manuals and forms from the Navy Personnel Command.
[edit]
Navy Personnel Research, Studies, and Technology (NPRST) was a division of the Bureau of Naval Personnel. Since 1946, NPRST or its predecessors have served as a personnel policy laboratory for the Navy. The mission of NPRST was to "To improve Sailor, team, and unit readiness by responsibly delivering innovative science and technology that improves the efficiency and effectiveness of Navy human resource functions and processes."
NPRST can be traced back to 1946, when its predecessor was located in theWashington Navy Yardas Personnel Research Detachment.[2]In 1962, it was formally established as Personnel Research Laboratory. In 1973,SECNAVestablished the Navy Personnel Research & Development Center (NPRDC) inSan Diego, CA“as a centralized organization for managing, coordinating, and conducting R&D in the areas of Manpower, Personnel, Training, and Human Factors Engineering." In the late 1980s, the human factors function was transferred to another R&D lab.
NPRST research has historically covered 11 broad areas covering the entire spectrum of human resources. TheNavy Pregnancy and Parenthood Surveycollects information about parenthood, family planning, and birth control from both men and women, and gathers additional information about pregnancy from women. This data is not readily available in current Navy databases. It has been administered about every two years since 1988, and was most recently administered in 2010.
As of October 2012, NPRST employed 58 government workers, service men and women, and contractors on site inMillington, Tennesseeto complete the mission, with additional contractors located elsewhere for individual projects. NPRST was a fee-for-service entity, meaning that they are not directly funded by Department of Defense budgets; funding for projects is redirected from the sponsor of the project, usually through the use of aMilitary Interdepartmental Purchase Request(MIPR).
In 1995, theBase Realignment and ClosureCommission (BRAC-IV) recommended that NPRDC be disestablished and realigned; the training mission was realigned toNAWCTSDwhile the manpower and personnel research mission was realigned to Navy Personnel Command. In 1999, NPRST was formally established as a department of NPC. In 2005, the function was realigned from NPC to BUPERS Echelon 2. NPRST has since been closed down by the Navy.
Chiefs of the Bureau[edit]
References[edit]
- ^"BUPERS Command History"Archived2006-09-14 at theWayback Machine.U.S. Navy Official BUPERS SiteAccessed 2006-07-30.
- ^Voices from the Past – Command History Post WWII to November 1999(NPRDC AP-99-4), October 1999
