Revised NSPS Rules Proposed

DoD has published, in the May 22 Federal Register, proposed rules designed to make its national security personnel system reflect the new restrictions imposed on the program by the 2008 DoD authorization bill. Most significantly, the changes include dropping the alternative labor-management relations provisions of NSPS—which would have restricted the scope of bargaining, given management new powers over agreements and created an in-house appeals board to replace FLRA—and the adverse action/appeals provisions—which would have shortened the appeals process and reduced MSPB’s authority to overturn management decisions. Also dropped were "workforce shaping" provisions, which would have allowed management to set different policies on determining who stays or goes in a RIF. None of those policies took effect, largely due to a lawsuit, for the more than 180,000 employees brought into NSPS so far.