National Security Personnel System
21st Century Human Resource System for the Department of Defense
NSPS IN 2008—IMPLEMENTING NDAA CHANGES
The Program Executive Office, National Security Personnel System (PEO NSPS) started the year identifying how NSPS regulations align with changes passed in the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Under the 2008 law, the Human Resources elements of NSPS, including performance management, remain relatively unchanged. “For employees, the modifications that affect NSPS will be fairly transparent,” said Mary Lacey, Program Executive Officer, NSPS. “The main change they will see is the allocation of the yearly general pay increase. Other than that, they should see very little difference – NSPS will be operating under currently implemented procedures.”
Lacey is referring to the allocations of the annual Government-wide pay increases (GPI). The NDAA language guarantees employees with a rating above unacceptable (level 2) no less than 60 percent of the pay increase be allocated to base pay. The 40 percent balance is allocated to pay pool funding and paid out as performance-based salary increases. Employees received this increase, which was effective 6 January 2008, in their mid-January pay.
NDAA 08 provides for national level bargaining and requires DoD to operate under current labor-management, adverse actions, appeals and reduction-in-force rules as they exist for the rest of government.
“We have been following the current federal government labor relations, adverse actions and appeals rules since the first employees entered the system in 2006,” Lacey said. “This too should be status quo for employees — they should see no change from their current situation.”
The 2008 authorization excludes Federal Wage System (blue collar) employees and prohibits employees of certain DoD laboratories from entering the system before 2011.
Employees under NSPS will also continue to receive and operate under the same provisions as the rest of federal government for
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benefits (retirement, health, life, etc.) |
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employee protections and fundamental due process requirements (such as veterans’ preference, whistleblower protection, rules against prohibited personnel practices, anti-discrimination laws, and collective bargaining rights) |
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allowances and travel/subsistence expenses |
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training programs |
Over the next several months the PEO will bring another 57,000 Defense employees under NSPS and continue to align policy with the new law.
Performance Ratings for NSPS Employees Reflect a High Performing Workforce
The Department of Defense (DoD) completed the 2008 performance-based payouts for employees under the National Security Personnel System (NSPS). Preliminary results indicate that 98 percent of the civilian workforce under NSPS are making meaningful contributions to DoD’s mission and were compensated for these contributions.
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