New Ratings System Envisioned

The Pentagon plans for the NSPS to have a five-level rating system-the number of levels most commonly used in government already-although with different terminology than is currently used, along with new benchmarks for performance. The characterizations, and what employees will need to do to meet them are, in descending order: role model, almost always meets the standards described by the role model benchmarks; exceeds expectations, almost always meets standards described by valued performance benchmarks and typically, but less than almost always meets the standards described by the role model benchmarks; valued performance, almost always meets the standards described by the valued performance benchmarks; fair, almost always meets the valued performance benchmarks, but only as a result of guidance and assistance considerably above that expected at the valued performance level; and unsuccessful, performs below the level 2 rating descriptor or fails the standard performance factor in the performance of a single assignment where such failure has a significant negative impact on accomplishment of mission or where a single failure to could result in death, injury, breach of security, or great monetary loss.