| Comment Number: | OL-10511886 |
| Received: | 3/16/2005 6:07:24 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:
The Corps of Engineers, Information Management Offices, are in the middle of the USACE A-76 Information Management and Information Technology competitive sourcing initiative. With the addition of NSPS, it is unclear what affect this will have on employee rights when either a contractor wins or the government wins the competition. Please address this issue. Rumors abound that employees will lose RIF rights in this process. Which rules apply in our case - the A-76 rules or NSPS? It is really a double whammy to be brought under two new initiatives at one time during such a stressful year. The A-76 PWS goes out for bid in late May 05 and then NSPS is coming this summer. We should know who wins the bid by mid-Nov 05. Which regulations govern? We don't want to lose our bump and retreat rights. I also don't think that we should start implementing NSPS BEFORE all the regulating guidance is even written. Pay and Pay Administration - Subpart C, page 7559, Setting and Adjusting Rate Ranges. One area that concerns me is the reference to how the system will change based on certain factors. Overall budget constraints in the federal government are a known problem. Right now, we are receiving reductions every year. This seems like an arbitrary way to keep employees from getting a change in rate as the government will always have problems because of budget constraints. Pay and Pay Administration - Subpart C, page 7560, Performance-Based Pay. I am concerned about how the "pay pool" is going to be run. Supervisors are going to recommend the bonus; however, this "pay pool" that is not necessarily in the employee's organization that would have direct knowledge of the employee is going to be the pay pool that determines performance payout. Typically, technical organizations like Engineering Division, Construction Division, Operation Division, etc., have always thought that their employees deserved a higher award because of where they worked. Administrative Offices such as Information Management Office, Resource Management Office, etc., were always awarded on a lower scale. Any time there is a pool outside the supervisory chain, I think the employee is misrepresented. Once I was put in a pool of certain type employees and the division decided that across the board, these employees would all get a certain $$ award. The people deciding the award didn't know me or have contact with me. I see the larger organizations grabbing up all the money and leaving the smaller administrative type organizations only a few dollars to work with. The success of the pool will depend on the manager. As we all know, there it is hard to get consistent decisions. Thanks for the opportunity to comment.