DHS System Still on Drawing Board

Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security-which a year ago received many of the same authorities over personnel policies that DoD recently was granted-has not yet announced how it will put those authorities into effect. Unlike DoD, which plans to base its new system on personnel experiments it has been conducting for years, DHS has been going through a formal process of crafting and sorting through numerous options. Also unlike the DoD situation, the Office of Personnel Management has a formal role in the decision-making at DHS. The heads of DHS and OPM are to issue formal regulations outlining the DHS system, and while there were original hopes that the rules could come out by the end of calendar year 2003, there has been no indication that the rules will come out any sooner than early in 2004. Taking into account the required comment and review period, it could be the spring or later before those policies are in place.