Pentagon, eight bases test new civilian personnel system Published Dec. 16, 2004 By Tech. Sgt. David A. Jablonski Air Force Print News WASHINGTON -- -- Defense Department officials announced Dec. 15 that elements of the Air Force headquarters and eight bases will be in the initial implementation of the National Security Personnel System. The eight bases are: Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.; Ellsworth AFB, S.D.; Lackland AFB, Texas; March Air Reserve Base, Calif.; McConnell AFB, Kan.; Moody AFB, Ga.; Patrick AFB, Fla.; and Tinker AFB, Okla. The DOD employees slated for conversion from the traditional civil service system will be included in groupings called spirals. Spiral 1 rolls out incrementally, with the first group of employees scheduled for implementation as early as July.The labor relations portion of NSPS is targeted for implementation across the entire department by summer.Navy Secretary Gordon England announced the units selected to take part in the initial implementation. Secretary England, who serves as the DOD senior executive overseeing the system, indicated that Spiral 1 includes about 300,000 general schedule, general manager and acquisition demonstration civilian employees from the Army, Navy, Air Force and other Department of Defense agencies based in the United States. Congress authorized the new personnel system as part of the fiscal 2004 National Defense Authorization Act. “NSPS provides an opportunity to improve the effectiveness of our department through a simplified personnel management system that will improve the way we hire and assign, as well as compensate and reward our employees,” Secretary England said.“It will provide the department with a modern, flexible and agile human resource system that can be more responsive to the national security environment, while preserving employee protections and benefits.” In a welcoming statement to all employees in Spiral 1, Secretary England said, “We will gain experience with the procedures we put in place, and I am counting on you to provide feedback in identifying any improvements as we implement the system to the entire work force.”Spiral 1 will be phased-in over 18 months. “With your help and support, we will make significant changes to the civilian personnel system, streamlining and improving it to become a more efficient, more effective Air Force,” said Debra Collatt, Air Force program manager.“NSPS will change some of the rules we work with on a daily basis, so we are naturally anxious about how implementing the program will affect us,” Ms. Collatt said.“To help during this transition period, we are developing a variety of training initiatives that focus on NSPS, the new rules being developed and the effect change will have on all of us. In particular, we will be putting an emphasis on providing training in the skills supervisors and employees need for performance management.”By law, the NSPS human resources system may not apply to organizations with more than 300,000 employees until the secretary of defense determines and certifies that the department has a performance management system in place that meets NSPS criteria. Spiral 1 will provide the basis for this certification before the start of Spiral 2. Spiral 2 will comprise the remainder of the covered work force and will be initiated after an assessment of Spiral 1 and the secretary of defense certification. Spiral 3 will comprise the DOD laboratories if current legislative restrictions are eliminated. Officials said the system is expected to be fully implemented between July 2007 and January 2008.