| Comment Number: | EM-017681 |
| Received: | 3/14/2005 10:45:31 PM |
| Subject: | Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Request for Comment |
| Title: | National Security Personnel System |
| CFR Citation: | 5 CFR Chapter XCIX and Part 9901 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
March 14, 2005 DoD NSPS Comments , DoD NSPS Comments: I write to express my concerns about changes to work rules in the Department of Defense (DoD). The proposed regulations, known as the National Security Personnel System (NSPS), were printed in the Federal Register on February 14, 2005. This message will be sent to both DoD and my representatives in Congress. I have been a Federal Employee for approx. 24 years. I believe that a pay system based on supervisor rating is fraught with unfairness at the least and perhaps coruption as the worst case scenario. A more equitable system would be that the supervisor's rating of an employee can account for perhaps less than 50% of the employee's performance. The higher percent of employee apraisal should come from a panel of outside or indifferent supervisors who will judge the employee's job performance based on actual hard data (complexity of task,quantity, project completetion dates met etc.). This data would be supplied by the employee and/or his peers and his/her immediate supervisor. This would eliminate the "buddy" system which would exist under NSPS and establish a more fair and equitable system. The second concern I have is that under NSPS I am considered to be a "deployable asset". When I applied for my present position I considered the "travel time" posted for this particular position. I did not want to apply for a job which caused me to travel OCONUS. I believe the need for deployable assets is greater in time of this particular war because the budget of this country has not been balanced and indeed is in serious trouble. We need more soldiers in our armed forces not less. However because of the budget we can't afford them so the end result as far as NSPS is we are paying civilians anyway so lets use them. As a veteran from the Vietnam conflict I can say that at age 54 I indeed have less "get up and go" then I did at age 19. Don't get me wrong, I along with other veterans may go if our country asks us. That is why veterans are good govt. workers. We Vets know what is to not have the best equipment or equipment in working order. That is the major reason we do our best, to help our best, the young men and young women in the Armed Forces. We were once in their boots.Yet, every year we hear talk about veterans benefits being cut. What a sad commentary that is on vets who give so much.Just because I work for DOD does not mean I don't have some concerns over the policies of the present administration concerning National Security and accountability and Veterans Affairs.The NSPS method of freeing up the soldier to fight by replacing him/her with civilians may put some DOD Vets/Non-Vets in high risk situations not being handled readily due to their age or training limitations. We have seen this in the news with the Reserve Units and National Guard. More training and more active duty personnel are what we need to bolster our National Defence and our National Security. Sincerely,