DoD Set to Begin Rollout of New Rating System

DoD has issued guidance on the phase-in of a revised performance appraisal system that is to start in April with a number of relatively small, mostly headquarters, components. The large majority of civilian employees of the department, the government’s largest employer, eventually will fall under the new Defense Performance Management and Appraisal Program, mainly joining over the next two years. The Pentagon announced that the first components into the program will be the Office of the Secretary of Defense; Department of the Army- Civilian Human Resources Agency; Department of the Navy-Office of Civilian Human Resources Headquarters; Defense Information Systems Agency; National Defense University; Washington Headquarters Services; Defense Legal Services Agency Headquarters; Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency; Defense Security Cooperation Agency; Defense Technology Security Administration; Office of Economic Adjustment; and the Pentagon Force Protection Agency. The system was developed under the 2009 law that repealed the prior pay for performance-based National Security Personnel System while instructing DoD to craft a new performance management system meeting certain standards, along with certain other changes in personnel practices–what came to be called the New Beginnings Initiative. Until now, the main tangible result of that effort was the rollout of a “toolkit” for hiring managers last spring.