OPM gives Pentagon personnel system high marks

The Pentagon has made progress establishing a new personnel system that aligns employee performance objectives with organizational goals and ensures fairness and transparency, according to a new report by the Office of Personnel Management.

The report, released on Wednesday, assessed the Defense Department's progress since May 2007 on implementing the National Security Personnel System. OPM officials found Defense had improved in each of the five areas evaluated -- mission alignment, results-oriented performance culture, workforce quality, equitable treatment and plan execution.

OPM noted that NSPS encourages better coordination of performance objectives and organizational goals and holds employees more accountable for meeting those goals. NSPS also has resulted in more positive correlations between performance ratings, pay increases and cash awards, OPM found.

Defense has ensured a high level of transparency in the system by releasing information on training, performance evaluation data and lessons learned, according to the report. But the department nonetheless is facing a growing number of employees who do not think their ratings under the system are a fair reflection of their performance. "Continuous clear, factual and open communication is essential to [making] the culture shift associated with changing a system as long-standing as the federal government pay and performance system," OPM stated.

The report commended the program executive office for creating multiple layers of oversight and controls to ensure fairness. Qualitative and employee perception data validate that transparency of NSPS policy, business rules, performance ratings, and pay increases and awards is inherent in the system, OPM said.

NSPS also has had no impact on the level of trust and confidence employees have in their supervisors, OPM found. And while there are a number of other concerns evident in employee perception data, according to the report, history shows that opinions gradually improve within three to five years after implementation of a new pay system. "The foundation the [program executive office] has established is strong and, with continuous education, experience and maturity in the system, we fully expect NSPS will mirror the historical trend," OPM officials stated.

The report noted, however, that Defense had not fully followed through on a 2007 recommendation to capture performance plan data in its departmentwide human resources information system. As a result, OPM lacked the data necessary to evaluate certain aspects of NSPS. The dearth of information on recruitment, retention and turnover rates, for example, could hinder Defense's ability to retain high-performers, keep employees satisfied and attract quality job candidates, the report said.

In a written response to the report, NSPS Program Executive Officer Brad Bunn agreed with most of OPM's findings, except for the assessment that employee attitudes toward NSPS were becoming more negative. OPM did not have adequate survey data to make such an assessment, he said.

"Your report reinforces our view that we are on the right track," Bunn wrote. "Nearly 30 years of Department of Defense personnel demonstration projects tells us that both patience and continuous improvement are crucial to success."

The report drew criticism from federal labor unions, many of which are lobbying Congress and the Obama administration to repeal NSPS. "This report giving NSPS high scores for transparency and fairness is laughable," said Richard Brown, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees. "These are undoubtedly some of the weakest attributes of NSPS."

"Hopefully, this will be the last bit of misleading NSPS propaganda produced by the ideologues of the prior administration," said Ben Toyama, Western area vice president for the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers. "Keep in mind, this is not an independent account of the true performance of NSPS. If one wanted to see an accurate and independent analysis, they could easily refer to the [Government Accountability Office] reports, all of which have been critical of the NSPS."

The department has added more than 187,000 nonbargaining unit employees to NSPS since 2006 and plans to bring an additional 15,000 into the system in the coming months.