Business Board Calls for Changes to Personnel System

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

Aug. 25, 2009 - In its final report, a Defense Business Board task group has recommended a "reconstruction" of the National Security Personnel System. Former Deputy Defense Secretary Rudy DeLeon chaired the group. Defense Department officials will use the board's recommendations as they ponder the system's future.

"We'll take the findings of the business board under advisement and study and work toward a decision on NSPS in the fall," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today.

The system, in place since 2003, must be rebuilt, the report says. "A 'fix' could not address the depth of the systemic problems discovered," according to the report. "The Task Group does not recommend an abolishment of the NSPS because the performance management system that has been created is achieving alignment of employee goals with organizational goals."

Any reconstruction needs to include input from the work force in making the needed changes, the report says.

The task group called on the department to re-establish a "commitment to partnership and collaborating with employees through their unions." It also called on the department to invest in its civilian career work force.

The task group recommended that the Defense Department halt any more transitions from legacy personnel systems to NSPS.

Specifically, the Defense Department must address pay pools and their lack of transparency. The department also must examine pay bands, especially Pay Band 2, which has a large portion of the defense work force. The group said that pay band lacks "clear linkage to career progression."

NSPS is eroding trust between supervisors and employees, the report says. The task group calls on the department to create a "collaborative process for [Defense Department] managers and employees currently in the General Schedule system to design and implement a performance management system that ties individual employee performance goals to organizational goals." Part of this is to explore the replacement of the current General Schedule classification system.