In announcing the final rules, the Pentagon also altered,
yet again, its planned schedule for implementing the
rest of the personnel changes, which involve pay banding
and pay for performance, restrictions on appeals of
adverse actions, streamlined hiring procedures and
placing a greater emphasis on performance in reductions
in force, among other changes.
Those changes are to be phased in by groups of employees,
starting with the so-called “Spiral 1.1” group of about
65,000 in February 2006, followed by another roughly
48,000 in Spiral 1.2 in the spring of 2006, and another
160,000 in Spiral 1.3 in the autumn of 2006. Employees
in the first two groups will see an effect on their
raises starting in January 2007, and in the latter in
January 2008.
However, certain elements of the pay system remain a
work in process. Discussions are continuing with unions
regarding the structure of the occupational groupings
and pay bands that will be at the heart of the
compensation system. Also, DoD has not defined exactly
how much of the annual raise for employees under the
system will be performance-based and how much will be
market-based.
