Start date for new personnel system pushed back three months Published Jan. 19, 2006 WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- Defense officials have scaled back the initial group of civilian employees to fall under the new National Security Personnel System to 11,000 from a previously scheduled 60,000, officials announced Jan. 17. The implementation date was also changed from Feb. 1 to April 30. Personnel officials have been seeking feedback on proposed rules from employees, managers, human relations specialists and employee unions for several months. That feedback "led us to conclude we need more time to focus on simplifying the performance management design, getting performance objectives right and ensuring the system is simple, clear and understandable," NSPS officials said in a statement on the program's Web site. The National Security Personnel System is intended to streamline cumbersome personnel rules and make it easier for managers to both reward stellar performance and correct sub-par performance among the Defense Department's 650,000 civil service employees. The system also includes a means to rate leaders on management functions. "DOD is committed to making the NSPS transition as smooth as possible for the workforce. Ensuring that we 'take the time to do this right' has always been a principle in our event-driven implementation approach," officials said on the program's Web site. "We want to make sure that our employees, supervisors and leaders fully understand this system, and they have the tools to succeed in a results-focused, performance-based environment." (Courtesy of American Forces Press Service)