DoD to Start with Maximum in New System

The Defense Department has said it will put the maximum number of employees allowed into its new “national security personnel system” in the first phase, announcing that “initial implementation will cover 300,000 employees.” That was the figure Congress set as a threshold as a compromise last year between those who wanted a several-year phase-in and DoD, which urged allowing it to convert all employees to the new system immediately. Above 300,000, DoD will have to certify that its performance management system meets certain standards laid out in the law. DoD has not yet announced a schedule for putting the new system in place nor has it indicated which parts of the department will go first, although the Navy recently said it will be in the first wave of conversion and projected that conversion will begin in June.