| Comment Number: | OL-10507305 |
| Received: | 3/14/2005 10:06:16 AM |
| 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:
Pay Banding - Will artificial pay band caps be allowed on an organizational level basis? I am currently in a demonstration pay banding project in the Army. The upper pay band set for my series, 2210 - IT Specialist, full performance, is grade equivalent 12-13. The upper pay band established for the computer scientists and engineers is grade equivalent 12-14. While we are not competing in the same band, IT Specialists do not have the same advancement capability. This limit or cap was established arbitrarily by our parent command. Can this type of thing be done under NSPS or will the bands be tamper proof? Performance Management - Under our current performance demonstration project, our parent command has every year to date, imposed general across the board reductions of performance evaluation scores within my organization. This essentially defeats the purpose of the review board established at our organizational level. Will NSPS allow upper level elements in the command structure to, in affect, impose a limit on the evaluation scores of subordinate command personnel? General Comment - In spite of the good intentions of the NSPS, having been under a pay-for-performance/pay banding project for three years (and having been a high level performer) I find that the human bias factor is no less apparent than under the GS wage scale and, in fact, is exacerbated by the larger dollar pay-out amounts involved. While the increased payout is nice, having an arbritary limit set on a pay band by a parent command neutralizes any increase to salary (payouts are on a cash basis) and, therefore, hugely impacts retirement (TSP) account contribution. With annual Congressional approved salary increases included in the pay-out pool, the TSP retirement contribution of an individual would increase only a single time each year when the cash pay-out was made. Thanks for the opportunity to comment.