A new just-promoted Chief Warrant Officer 3 in November 2024. Many senior warrant officers seeking to remain in the service will have to place bids for their retention bonuses in a new auction-style system meant to ensure the service retains the highly trained specialists while reducing costs. (Vanessa Schell/U.S. Army)
Many senior Army warrant officers seeking to remain in the service will have to place bids for their retention bonuses in a new auction-style system meant to ensure the service retains the highly trained specialists while reducing costs.
The Warrant Officer Retention Bonus Auction asks those ranked from promotable Chief Warrant Officer 2 through Chief Warrant Officer 4 to submit a “confidential bid indicating the minimum monthly bonus” they would accept to remain on active duty for six more years, according to a Feb. 19 Army news release. Service officials instructed those seeking to remain in the service to “bid your true value.”
“The goal is simple,” said Lt. Col. Tim Justicz, an Army economist who helped design the program. “Reward as many qualified Warrant Officers as possible with the most competitive bonus the budget allows.”
In the program, eligible warrant officers must submit their bonus bid — a minimum of $100 per month that increases in $100 intervals — into a market, according to the Army. After all eligible warrant officers submit their bids, service officials will use that data to determine a “single, market-clearing bonus rate” that would pay a bonus to as many warrant officers as possible under current budget restrictions, according to the service.
Those who submitted bids at that selected bonus rate or lower will receive that “market-clearing bonus rate.” Those who bid higher than the determined rate will not receive any retention bonus.
“Army leadership believes the system rewards transparency and encourages officers to carefully consider the compensation that would make them comfortable with continued service,” the news release reads.
The new program impacts more than 40 warrant officer military occupational specialties including Special Forces warrant officers, CID special agents, those in several intelligence specialties, electronic warfare technicians, cyberspace defense technicians and drone operations technicians, according to a Feb. 20 Army military personnel memorandum.
It does not affect warrant officer pilots.
The new program moves away from the long-standing fixed-rate bonuses warrant officers have received for agreeing to remain in active duty. Army officials said it was not yet clear if other warrant officer specialties or ranks would later become part of the new program.
The Army will host two virtual town halls via Microsoft Teams to provide more information on the Warrant Officer Retention Bonus Auction, according to the MILPER. Sessions are planned for noon EST on Thursday and for noon EST on March 12.