The Government Accountability Office has identified flaws in the
design process for the National Security Personnel System that it
says could impede progress toward a more performance and
results-based system for the federal government as a whole.
The NSPS, and the Department of Homeland Security’s new
personnel system are likely to be the basis for further
government-wide personnel reform – but GAO found Defense’s
design process lacking a “comprehensive” communication
strategy and said it has not adequately involved employees
and their representatives in the design process.
The communication strategy “does not identify all key
internal stakeholders and their concerns, and does not
tailor key messages to specific stakeholder groups. Failure
to adequately consider a wide variety of people and cultural
issues can lead to unsuccessful transformations,” according
to GAO-05-730.
It said that while the process involved employees in town
hall meetings, “it has not included employee representatives on the
working groups that drafted the design options.”
Ten federal labor unions have filed suit for not being
included in the system’s development and they complain that
the rules undermine collective bargaining rights.
GAO called for “meaningful involvement” of employees and
representatives, and added that DoD faces the “challenges of
ensuring an effective, ongoing two-way communication strategy
and evaluating the new system.”
It said in recent testimony that DoD needs to include the
active and visible involvement of key players such as the
secretary of defense – and it renewed its call for the
establishment of a chief management official at DoD, needed,
it says, “to provide sustained leadership attention to a
range of business transformation initiatives.”
