Meanwhile, GAO issued a report describing various shortfalls that dogged NSPS, at a time when the new law calls on DoD and OPM to come up with a new performance management system.
GAO in its report said DoD needed to revise its guidance for analyzing ratings, as well as monitor the implementation of safeguards for NSPS or any future performance management system.
According to GAO-10-102, DoD civilian personnel have mixed perceptions about NSPS, and while the department has taken some steps toward addressing employee concerns, it has not yet developed and implemented an action plan to address areas where employees express negative perceptions of the system, as GAO recommended in 2008.
It said NSPS employees have responded positively about some aspects of performance management, such as connecting pay to performance, but negatively about others, such as the performance appraisal process.
According to the most recent survey data, the negative perceptions of employees who worked under NSPS the longest remain largely unchanged from what was reported by GAO in 2008, the report said.
Further, it said employees and supervisors continue to express negative perceptions in discussion groups about NSPS — about the impact of NSPS on employees’ motivation and morale for example, and about the amount of time spent navigating the performance management process.
DoD has taken some steps to address employee perceptions, but it has yet to develop and implement an action plan stating intended actions, who would be responsible, and the time frames for these actions, said GAO.
