Leaders to Draw From Defense Board's NSPS Review

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

Aug. 27, 2009 - Senior defense leaders will use a recently issued report on the National Security Personnel System when they decide what to do with the civilian personnel system this fall, a Pentagon official said here today. This spring, Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III directed that a comprehensive review of NSPS be conducted to ascertain whether the system is fair and understandable to participating employees.

The Defense Business Board's task group report issued this week recommended a "reconstruction" of the NSPS. The group was chaired by former Deputy Defense Secretary Rudy DeLeon.

"The leadership of the Department of Defense is committed to fair, transparent processes and personnel systems," Brad Bunn, the Defense Department's program executive officer for NSPS, told Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service reporters.

Internal surveys indicated that some employees were unhappy with NSPS, specifically with regard to performance evaluations.

The board's report, Bunn said, will be used by senior Pentagon and other government leaders when they decide what to do about NSPS this fall. Other issues cited in the report include pay pools and their lack of transparency, as well as questions about the current pay band structure.

"This process of reviewing NSPS has gone a long way to helping inform leadership what those issues are," Bunn said.

NSPS has helped to tie employee performance goals to organizational goals, Bunn pointed out.

NSPS's pay-for-performance system replaced 50-year-old civil service rules that rewarded employees for length of service rather than performance.

The more than 200,000 defense civilians who have been transferred into NSPS since the system began three years ago, Bunn said, will be performance rated this fall under current NSPS policies and procedures.

The Defense Business Board's report on NSPS is available for public view on the Internet, Bunn said.

"I would encourage NSPS organizations, employees, supervisors and managers to read the report, particularly the leadership in those organizations," Bunn said.