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NSPS implementation in AMC delayed until at least October

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Mark Diamond
  • HQ AMC Public Affairs
Recent changes to the National Security Personnel System implementation schedule and timelines have pushed back deployment of the new program within AMC to as far away as October, according to Air Mobility Command officials.

One of the most significant changes to the Department of Defense personnel system in 27 years, NSPS will eventually replace the Defense Department's decades-old General Schedule personnel ranking and pay system.

The Defense Department is using a spiral approach to incrementally convert DOD civilian employees to NSPS over a two- to three-year period.

Spiral 1.1 implementation of NSPS within AMC was set to begin in February with about 350 civilian employees at McConnell Air Force Base, Kan. The next implementation phase within AMC, Spiral 1.2, was to occur about a month later with about 4,150 employees at McGuire AFB, N.J.; Dover AFB, Del.; Charleston AFB, S.C.; and Scott AFB. The remaining AMC bases were scheduled to convert during Spiral 1.3.

Because of the recent changes to the NSPS timelines and implementation schedule, however, command NSPS experts said no AMC employees will convert to the new system before October.

In a message to Air Force senior leaders Jan. 13, Lt. Gen. Roger Brady, the Air Force's Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, said changes to the NSPS timeline and implementation schedule changes are necessary to ensure the re-design of the proposed NSPS performance evaluation architecture is "robust, yet clear, simple and understandable."

The general said that adjusting the timelines will also allow time to resolve legal issues revolving around NSPS. He also said the new schedule will provide more time for "useful dialogue with labor unions representing our employees in the continuing collaboration process."

Brenda Romine, Air Mobility Command's NSPS command champion, said that although the implementation of NSPS has been delayed, educating AMC's civilian workforce is as important as ever.

"Our commitment has not changed," said Ms. Romine. "We still plan to push for as seamless a transition as possible while providing timely information and education to our civilian workforce."

She said it's also important that employees and supervisors stay "fully engaged" in the implementation of the new system.

Throughout the Defense Department, Spiral 1.1 will be downsized from the original 70,000 employees to about 11,000. And in the Air Force, the original Spiral 1.1 implementation of nine installations and about 17,000 employees has been changed to a group of 3,100 employees in primarily supervisory or professional positions.

Although the schedule and timelines changes will delay the implementation of NSPS throughout the Defense Department, General Brady said the delay will be beneficial.

"[Deputy Secretary of Defense] Gordon England has always said the NSPS schedule was event-driven," said the general. "He decided the performance management system was too complicated and not focused enough on mission accomplishment to do for you and your commanders what it needed to do, so he stood by his word and called for a rework. We will all benefit from this delay in the long run."

For more information on the implementation schedule and locations or activities involved in the revised 1.1 implementation, visit the DOD NSPS site.