Also under consideration as part of the DoD bill is an amendment to require that the NSPS program end in one year unless DoD certifies six months beforehand that significant progress is being made in the program—presumably on issues such as fairness and transparency of the ratings used in its pay for performance element. One major consideration would be the report due in September from a special DoD-created task force reviewing those and other issues; that group will begin hearings next week. The language also would prohibit DoD from moving any more positions into NSPS—DoD already has imposed a voluntary moratorium, and there are only several thousand more that even would be eligible under prior plans—but more importantly it would prohibit any newly hired employees from being put in the system, presumably including those hired to replace employees already under it who depart. It also would guarantee that anyone under NSPS would get at least the same annual raise as GS employees in general in their locality. Typically, on small percentages with low ratings get less.