The National Security Personnel System was a pay for performance payout system for civilian employees of the Department of Defense, replacing the General Schedule.
The NSPS went into effect in mid-2006, was repealed in October of 2009, and all employees are supposed to be restored to the General Schedule by January 1, 2012.
The National Security Personnel System accrued much criticism over its three years of full implementation.
Favoritism has been cited as an institutional failing of the NSPS by many disgruntled employees.
Many Department of Defense workers have reported rampant cronyism, where the well-connected few received the lion's share of the payouts.
Institutionalized discrimination was another major complaint against the NSPS.
An August 2008 analysis found that white employees received higher average performance ratings, bonuses, and salary increases than non-white employees in the first large-scale payout of January 2008.
Employees of Department of Defense agencies were found to likewise be receiving greater payouts than civilians employed directly by the military.
The simple existence of pay pools, beyond concerns of corruption and racism, has been criticized.
The pay pool process was frequently found to be difficult to understand, consuming excessive amounts of time.
Neither employees nor their immediate managers were certain how an increase for improved performance was determined.
Given no clear knowledge of how to attain rewards, employees lost much of the incentive to increase performance.
On October 29, 2009 President Barack Obama signed legislation repealing this system and giving the Department of Defense until January 1, 2012 to roll back all employees to the previously used General Schedule.
The DoD is still tasked with developing a functional pay for performance system.
The process of replacing the National Security Personnel System with a new performance management system has itself been sharply criticized.
The Pentagon is supposed to be developing a new and hopefully improved performance management system.
As of April of 2011, a report to the House Armed Services Committee by the Government Accountability Office found no clear timeline or goals for developing a new pay for performance system.
The DoD has failed to properly track costs incurred in the termination of the payout system, mirroring an earlier failure to account for the costs of creating it.
The Department of Defense has agreed with some of the recommendations of the Government Accountability Office that it document transition costs better and develop a detailed plan for the next pay for performance system.
The NSPS went into effect in mid-2006, was repealed in October of 2009, and all employees are supposed to be restored to the General Schedule by January 1, 2012.
The National Security Personnel System accrued much criticism over its three years of full implementation.
Favoritism has been cited as an institutional failing of the NSPS by many disgruntled employees.
Many Department of Defense workers have reported rampant cronyism, where the well-connected few received the lion's share of the payouts.
Institutionalized discrimination was another major complaint against the NSPS.
An August 2008 analysis found that white employees received higher average performance ratings, bonuses, and salary increases than non-white employees in the first large-scale payout of January 2008.
Employees of Department of Defense agencies were found to likewise be receiving greater payouts than civilians employed directly by the military.
The simple existence of pay pools, beyond concerns of corruption and racism, has been criticized.
The pay pool process was frequently found to be difficult to understand, consuming excessive amounts of time.
Neither employees nor their immediate managers were certain how an increase for improved performance was determined.
Given no clear knowledge of how to attain rewards, employees lost much of the incentive to increase performance.
On October 29, 2009 President Barack Obama signed legislation repealing this system and giving the Department of Defense until January 1, 2012 to roll back all employees to the previously used General Schedule.
The DoD is still tasked with developing a functional pay for performance system.
The process of replacing the National Security Personnel System with a new performance management system has itself been sharply criticized.
The Pentagon is supposed to be developing a new and hopefully improved performance management system.
As of April of 2011, a report to the House Armed Services Committee by the Government Accountability Office found no clear timeline or goals for developing a new pay for performance system.
The DoD has failed to properly track costs incurred in the termination of the payout system, mirroring an earlier failure to account for the costs of creating it.
The Department of Defense has agreed with some of the recommendations of the Government Accountability Office that it document transition costs better and develop a detailed plan for the next pay for performance system.
Source...