Ending a nearly two-year process, the Defense Department sent Congress the final national security personnel system regulation.

Acting Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England said Oct. 26 that Congress has 30 days to review the final regulations.

The regulations will take effect Nov. 25. Changes to the regulation will ultimately affect 650,000 of the 750,000 Defense Department civilian employees.

Once adopted, the labor-relations portion of the system will take effect immediately.

"The human resources portion -- the new pay bands, the pay-for-performance system, etc. -- is scheduled to progressively begin in February," England said.

Some 60,000 employees are in the first group to come under the new program, officials said. But human resources officials will be very deliberate in how the program goes, Mr. England said.

In fact, the system will go through a six-month "mock period" before becoming effective.

"That is, at the end of six months, we will evaluate," Mr. England said. "We will act as if this was for real, but it will be a mock exercise in terms of the results we can learn."

During the mock period, Defense Department employees will receive pay raises as in the past. It is not until January 2007 that the pay-for-performance portion of the system kicks in for real, officials said.

"So we have all of next year to implement the system before it really counts," Mr. England said. "And we will then progressively put people in, and each time learn from those experiences and improve the system."

The deputy secretary said that if problems arise, the Defense Department will halt the program and adjust it.

"We want the system to work right for everyone," he said.

Setting up the system is complicated, said Mary Lacey, program executive officer for the system. Training is a large part of the system, and the Defense Department has been training human resources people and supervisors about how the system should work.

"It also involves training line managers who are actually going to operate the system. They’ll have an increased role in the system than they've had in the past in making determinations and decisions," Ms. Lacey said.

All department employees will receive training in the system, she said.

Office of Personnel Management Director Linda Springer said the system protects the principles that protect federal workers: merit systems principles, due process and veteran's preference.

"I can tell you today that all of those have been preserved and have been adequately maintained in these regulations," she said.