Halt to NSPS Conversions Requested

Two House members with substantial say over the future of NSPS have asked the Pentagon to stop moving employees into it pending a review of the program by the new administration, in what could be a precursor to upcoming actions to roll back or even repeal it. The letter from the chair of the House Armed Services Committee, Ike Skelton, D-Mo., and the chair of the readiness subcommittee, Solomon Ortiz, D-Texas, noted that recent GAO and CBO reports "highlight concerns over the cost of NSPS versus its benefits as well as the lack of transparency in the new system and the negative impact on employees." It noted that during the campaign, President Obama "indicated that he would consider either a repeal of NSPS or its complete overhaul" and that such a review will take some time. A moratorium would initially affect only several thousand employees in the latest phase of transfers into NSPS who have yet to be moved into the program, but more extensive changes could lie ahead either through an administration order or restrictions imposed by Congress, potentially through an upcoming budget bill.