DoD Plans to Move Ahead on NSPS

The Defense Department says it still plans to begin phasing in its national security personnel system April 30, starting with a group of about 11,000 employees spread across various military services and DoD agencies. DoD plans to restart NSPS-specific training in March, after putting that training on hold pending a review of parts of the new system brought on by criticisms that the pay for performance elements were overly complex. DoD says that those elements will be revised to emphasize job objectives and results, and the link between the employee’s work and the agency’s mission. However, “performance factors and benchmark descriptors”—two terms that led to some of the confusion and criticism—will still play a role in ratings. DoD also said that performance payouts will be based on a shares system, as earlier indicated. As plans currently stand, the first group of employees—called spiral 1.1—would see an effect in the January 2007 raise, but it would be 2008 or later until others saw an effect. The NSPS implementation schedule has slipped several times.