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Return to Article: Three judges set to hear Defense personnel reform appeal

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  This "new" NSPS isn't all that new where I work. The Marine Corps Systems Command has been under a demonstration project for the last several years. It is essentially the NSPS model. Let me tell you right now, it breeds nothing but corruption. I really wish somebody would take a closer look at this. The new systems have done nothing but enable making our command a jobs program for those fair-haired individuals retiring from active duty, only to come back for those cherry positions ($100,000 or more jobs). Meanwhile, the civil servants who have been doing the job for 20 years plus are casually overlooked. This is incredibly ironic given the Marine Corps has only established an MOS for acquisition in the last year or so. So, tell me how anybody coming off active duty in the USMC can come in and lead people or organizations in acquisition. I know this is not the central theme of this NSPS system, but I only wanted to illuminate the corruption that it brings.

  GovExec.com reader Posted January 20, 2007 9:34 AM
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  I told you so.

  Dave Posted December 15, 2006 12:43 PM
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  Implemented in April mind you means upper management came to us and said, "Hey, you're in NSPS now!"

  This is ludicrous! One month after implementation and all these wonderful things from the employees? What's more likely is the employees who were surveyed (again, I'm Spiral 1.1 and know of no one who took such a survey) were going off what they were told NSPS would do for them, not what is truly happening. A GS-13 to GS-14 is no longer a promotion and is now capped at a maximum 5 percent increase! Who in their right mind would think this is best! And communication is better? I received my performance plan two days before the end of the rating period. Now how am I to perform since April to a plan that wasn't provided until Oct. 30? And, if that wasn't enough, just as with the old system, the quota system of who gets what is strong and still in place; does anyone really believe it doesn't exist? I'm a manager -- it exists! Always has! And lastly, how about those required "interim reviews?" Weren't we supposed to have at least one during the rating period?

  The Pentagon would not provide any further details of the survey methodology -- including response rates -- or the findings. Really? I can't imagine why.

  Union representatives expressed doubts about the study. Matt Biggs, spokesman for the coalition of Defense unions that banded together to fight NSPS, said because the compensation is the same for these employees in the first year, there is no reason they should be dissatisfied.

  Exactly. Give a real survey to the real employees in a couple weeks and we'll see how grand this NSPS is working out.

  The online survey, called the Status of Forces Survey-Civilian, will be conducted every six months by the Defense Manpower Data Center. The next survey is scheduled for November, after the first performance reviews are completed under NSPS.

  November is over. Anybody get the new survey? I didn't think so.

  GovExec.com reader Posted December 8, 2006 2:11 PM
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  Have to say, don't know whose survey the Defense Department was reading because I am in touch with my peers and haven't heard one person say one good thing about NSPS. First of all, the department's implementation is a slap in the face to long-time dedicated employees. All GS-13 employees in our organization were put into Pay Band II -- the journey level pay band, yet, all of us have been required to be certified at DAWIA level III -- the expert level. Completely absurd -- in addition, capping the Pay Band II salary at a GS-13, Step 10 is punitive and certainly biased. Who could possibly be happy with this? One final comment, here at NAVSEA, supervisors sign a non-disclosure form stating that they will not discuss the ratings they give as opposed to those final ratings given by the Pay Pool Panel. Important to note, in the mock pay pool -- the results were that the Pay Pool Panel lowered the ratings recommended by the supervisors. Who could possibly like this system? This NSPS is a Bush initiative. I would encourage all who are opposed to start writing your congressman --- this could all go away, despite the vast amount of financial resources spent on forcing it upon us.

  Donna Fell Posted November 13, 2006 8:55 AM
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  Funny, I work for the Air Force Audit Agency, and we were one of the first groups to spiral, on May 1. I am not sure if it is just our agency, but our performance period was through Oct 31, and therefore it just ended a couple of days ago. I do not believe that anyone could answer a NSPS survey for a few months after the performance period ends as one of the features is you are already two or three months into the next performance period before you find out how you were rated for the prior period and find out your pay. I cannot believe that anyone could answer a survey on NSPS until their rating comes in and they know how it has affected their pocketbook!! I have a hard time believing that a survey was responded to or sent out. We sure didn't get one!!!!

  GovExec.com reader Posted November 2, 2006 2:39 PM
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  This is just another way of upper managers controlling and weeding out the employees they don't like and would like to get rid of. It is already happening at my job site. If they don't like you they will get rid of you. If they like you, you get all the bonuses they can give you without anyone telling them not to. Or they create a new office within our building, name it something, make all the jobs higher grades and list them for one day. Then the people they have already picked for the jobs get the jobs. Also, their pets sit around and do nothing all day, while you bust your butt and the pets get awards. We are slated to go to NSPS by October 2007. I can image how it will be then. We are on the BRAC list and supposed to move to New Orleans in the next couple of years. Who do you think will get the most?

  KC

  GovExec.com reader Posted October 30, 2006 7:14 AM
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  How fascinating that the Defense Department could do a survey with such glowing reports in May when the first group of employees (including me) just came under NSPS in April. We're just completing our first performance cycle. This is not a system designed to foster employee upward mobility and promotion opportunities. Personnel actions within very broad pay bands are considered "reassignments" with a maximum of a 5 percent increase per "reassignment." Since there are no longer grades, who will determine higher-level duties and responsibilities deserving of a "reassignment" with a pay increase? The distinctions will become blurred over time and "equal pay for equal work" will be an archaic relic of what was essentially an equitable civil service system for employees. NSPS is one of the primary reasons I am retiring at 55.

  Sylvia Goheen Posted October 27, 2006 12:01 PM
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  With two Republicans and one Democrat on the panel, I don't need a crystal ball to figure out how the courts are going to rule on this. I started working for the government in 1975, so I remember what management was like before passage of civil service reform. This is nothing more than a return to those previous times when management's violation of personnel regulations weren't considered prohibitive personnel practices and management was not liable for those violations.

  Former President Jimmy Carter signed the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act into law in April 1979, but it was the Reagan and Bush administrations that spent the next 12 years trying to undermine civil service reform. The result of those efforts is reflected in personnel systems developed by DHS and the Defense Department. They not only impose on the bargaining rights of the unions, but strip the employees of their rights to due process under the law. And I speak from personal experience.

  Everyone is focused on what the makeup of Congress will be after next month's elections. They need to pay attention to the makeup of federal management within the executive branch from the top down. When I look at the management within my agency, I see predominantly conservative white males, and if I had to guess, card carrying members of the Republican Party.

  If this holds true across the rest of the government, then it's only a matter of time when it won't matter who wins control of Congress.

  Willie Glover Posted October 27, 2006 9:48 AM
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  The most true part of this story was the statement that the Defense Department is using this as propaganda. Of course the Defense Department won't release the particulars of the survey -- who was selected, who participated, what the raw data is and the relative time frame in which all this was taken. Statistics lie, and liars use statistics!

  Civil Slave Posted October 27, 2006 9:40 AM
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  Interesting how Kavanaugh was picked at random to hear this case. I would think that there is a conflict of interest that would preclude him from this work. We'll probably get more "Bush" mumbo jumbo about how he has the power to circumvent the law again.

  GovExec.com reader Posted October 27, 2006 8:06 AM
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  "The Pentagon would not provide any further details of the survey methodology, including response rates, or the findings."

  I am surprised it is not classified so they can keep it from ever getting out. The press needs to use the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the results and publish them. Doing a survey of how "happy" people are under NSPS a month after it starts is totally bad! It takes at least a year for the impact of NSPS to work! In the first month all that they could have done is go over the objective of their jobs and the critical factors for evaluation purposes. The fact that the "new" NSPS gets a high mark is due to the fact that the managers were forced to talk to employees about their jobs. Many, like me, were happy to find out what our managers thought our jobs were. Mine covered stuff I did at least five years ago and have since been moved to stuff not even covered in the objectives! Think they are a little behind the times?

  I have always received high ratings -- nothing ever below a seven and most ratings of eight or nine in a nine-point system. Also, I have never been promoted in 14 years or even received a step increase. The mangers have no interest in employees other than to work them for all they can get. Hopefully they will be stuck with me for another 18 months and then I am out of here regardless of what they do. Human resources management does not exist in any degree of capability in the services for civilians.

  Taxpayer Posted October 27, 2006 6:35 AM