INFORMATION PAPER

DAPE-CP-PPW

31 Dec 2003

SUBJECT: National Security Personnel System for Civilians

1. Purpose: To inform Senior Army Leaders about the imminent challenges and benefits of fielding and converting to a new civilian human resource system.

2. Facts: a. The FY 2004 National Defense Authorization Act, Public Law 108-136 authorizes the Department of Defense (DoD) to create a National Security Personnel System (NSPS) for its civilian employees. The legislation creates a framework of principles and processes, but not the rules. DoD, with participation by all components, will develop the specific features, regulations, and policies. It will build on system features of Demonstration Project Personnel Management Best Practices developed among DoD components during 2002-2003.

b. By law, the design of NSPS must follow these principles.

Be flexible and contemporary;

Not waive or modify merit system principles;

Not waive or modify prohibited personnel practices (laws to protect veterans’ preference and whistleblowers, laws to prevent nepotism, political favoritism);

Ensure that employees may organize, bargain collectively;

Include a performance management system that is fair, credible, and transparent; links performance management to the agency’s strategic plan;

Provide adequate training and retraining on performance management;

Provide effective safeguards to ensure that the system is fair and equitable;

Ensure that the overall amount allocated for compensation is not less than what it would have been under the old personnel system through FY 2008.

c. NSPS will bring the most far-reaching changes in the civilian personnel system in decades. It will change many aspects of key personnel functions for much of the workforce. These include staffing (hiring, assignment, promotion, removal, reduction in force); pay; job classification; discipline; adverse actions; employee appeals; and labor relations. NSPS legislation also mandates a pay for performance evaluation system.

d. NSPS cannot change the following civil service matters: merit system principles; prohibited personnel practices; appeals to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; antidiscrimination laws; leave and attendance; travel and subsistence expenses; pay for political executives and firefighters; training; personnel demonstration projects; incentive awards; insurance and annuities; access to criminal history record;

DAPE-CP-PPW

SUBJECT: National Security Personnel System for Civilians

Laboratory Demonstration projects; incentive awards; insurance and annuities; access to criminal history record; employees’ rights to petition Congress; and services to employees like safety and drug abuse programs.

e. NSPS, designed with component participation, will be prescribed jointly by DoD and the Office of Personnel Management, after a collaboration process at the national level with representatives of organizations (unions) that have exclusive recognition, and possibly with designated organizations representing substantial numbers of employees.

f. DoD has an ambitious timetable for NSPS. DoD expects to begin implementation very quickly and fully implement the system within two years. By law, NSPS at first may include up to 300,000 employees. NSPS can extend to more than that once the performance management system is determined to be fair, equitable, credible, transparent, and to link performance management to the agency’s strategic plan and an employee’s pay to the his/her performance.

g. Senior Army Leaders and the Human Resources community face a large challenge to implement NSPS effectively. The Army is setting up a project office to manage implementation and coordinate transition work. Key activity areas follow:

Senior Army Leaders guidance/tone-setting for fundamental changes in outlook and expectations of supervisors and employees.
Resources for NSPS implementation team and special products, as well as time and TDY for training and conversion preparations.
Two representatives detailed to Office, Secretary of Defense for 1-2 years to work on overall NSPS design and implementation planning.
Training for workforce, supervisors, managers, pay pool managers.
Tailoring and conduct of information campaigns, using DoD materials and plans as start points.
Revision of Army personnel policies, data and documentation systems for human resource management and Tables of Distribution and Allowances, workforce costing/budgeting formulas, and reference material.
Once new job classification categories, performance management, and pay provisions are known, conversion of existing jobs, performance standards, employee pay categories and records, and career field career ladders.

Ms. Janice Lander/DSN 221-1349

COM (703) 325-1349