Navy Personnel Research, Studies, and Technology

Navy Personnel Research, Studies, and Technology (NPRST) is a division of the United States Bureau of Naval Personnel. Since 1946, NPRST or its predecessors have served as a personnel policy laboratory for the Navy. The mission of NPRST is:

“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.”

As of October 2012, NPRST employs 58 government workers, service men and women, and contractors on site in Millington, Tennessee to complete the mission, with additional contractors located elsewhere for individual projects. NPRST is 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 a Military Interdepartmental Purchase Request (MIPR).

History
NPRST can be traced back to 1946, when its predecessor was located in the Washington Navy Yard as Personnel Research Detachment. In 1962, it was formally established as Personnel Research Laboratory. In 1973, SECNAV established the Navy Personnel Research & Development Center (NPRDC) in San Diego, CA “as a centralized organization for managing, coordinating, and conducing 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.  In 1995, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC-IV) recommended that NPRDC be disestablished and realigned; the training mission was realigned to NAWCTSD while 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.

Research Areas
NPRST research has historically covered 11 broad areas covering the entire spectrum of human resources.

Program Assessments and Surveys
The Navy Pregnancy and Parenthood Survey collects information about parenthood, family planning, and birth control from both men and women, and gathers additional information about pregnancy from women. These data are not readily available in current Navy databases. It has been administered about every two years since 1988, and was most recently administered in 2010.