ESC ready for smooth transition to NSPS Jan. 21

  • Published
  • By By Kevin Gilmartin
  • Electronic Systems Center Public Affairs
Electronic Systems Center is ready to implement the National Personnel Security System for nearly 500 Hanscom civilians Jan. 21, according to the person in charge of managing the change.

Bob Youtt, ESC's NSPS program manager, expects the transition to the new pay-for-performance system that will replace the current General Schedule system to go smoothly.

"With the help of some last-minute training this week for those who missed earlier opportunities, most everyone transitioning to NSPS and their supervisors will be fully trained by the time we implement on Jan. 21," Mr. Youtt said. "Also, by now, they should have already written their results-oriented job objectives, which are tied to each organization's missions and goals. This is extremely important, because employees under NSPS will be rated and compensated based on how well they perform against those objectives."

Those moving to NSPS will not lose money in the transition, and instead, most should see a bump in pay based on when their next within grade increase would have been due under the old GS system. Employees will receive a pro-rated portion of the within grade increase, which will be added to their current salary on Jan. 21.

Only non-bargaining unit eligible employees at Hanscom will transition to NSPS this month, Mr. Youtt said, although current plans call for all Department of Defense civilians to eventually be covered by NSPS.

Hanscom is part of the second phase to move to the new system. The first group of 11,000 DoD civilians were converted in May, and additional locations were converted in October. By the end of this month, more than 66,000 civilians will have transitioned to NSPS across the DoD.

It has been a challenge to prepare the work force for this new system over the past year, Mr. Youtt said, but he is confident that people now have the necessary tools to succeed in the results-focused, performance-based NSPS environment.

"Ensuring we took the time to do this right has always been a principle in our event-drive implementation approach," Mr. Youtt said. "ESC leadership was committed to ensuring that our employees, supervisors and leaders fully understand this system, and that they embrace the idea that performance matters under NSPS, and that good performance will be rewarded.

"At the beginning of an NSPS performance cycle, each employee and their supervisor will establish a performance plan, aligning the work to be performed with the organization's goals. Throughout the performance cycle, there will be on-going communication between the employee and supervisor to ensure performance is on track. At the end of the cycle, employees will be rated on what they've accomplished, and if successful, rewarded with a cash bonus, a pay raise, or both.
"This is going to be quite different from the present system, that rewards longevity more than performance," Mr. Youtt said.