Altus NSPS program manager answers questions Published Oct. 20, 2006 By Richard Bram MSPS Program Manager ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE -- Q: What events led to implementation of National Security Personnel System? A: Development and implementation of the NSPS is a direct result of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's vision to be able to "Get the Right Person at the Right Time to the Right Place." He viewed the current personnel system as being too inflexible, bureaucratic and slow to respond in this rapidly changing mission environment. As a result, legislative action was enacted and the legal framework for NSPS was authorized by law in November 2003. After approximately two years of development and coordination, the final regulations were published in November 2005. Subsequently, a coalition of national labor unions filed a law suit in an attempt to block NSPS implementation. In February 2006, a federal judge found that the human resource and performance management portion of NSPS was legally sound but prohibited the Department of Defense from implementing the labor and adverse action portion of NSPS pending further legal review. DOD made a decision to implement the human resource and performance portion of NSPS to all non-bargaining unit employees. That is, to all employees not represented by a union. Altus' non-bargaining unit employees will transition to NSPS Jan. 21, 2007. Q: How do employees know whether or not they will convert to NSPS? A: Only General Schedule non-bargaining unit employees will convert to NSPS. GS employees should look at the Bargaining Unit Status code found on the upper right hand corner of their Core Document or in Block 37 of their most current SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action. If the BUS code is 1910, the employee will not convert to NSPS. If the code is 8888 or 7777, the employee will convert. In addition, the 97th Air Mobility Wing vice commander sent notification letters to all employees that will convert in Jan. 2007. The Civilian Personnel Flight also sent e-mail notification letters to all affected employees. Q: What type of training will be offered? A: Altus has an aggressive training program. NSPS training requirements are divided into two phases - soft skills training and technical training. Soft skills training consists of Communication and Change Management training. Effective communication is increasingly more important between supervisor and employee under NSPS and we all benefit in this dynamic environment by learning how to embrace change. Technical training covers the "nuts and bolts" of NSPS elements such as, pay banding, hiring and employment, workforce shaping, compensation, pay pool, job objectives, performance indicators and contributing factors. The first phase of training is complete. To date, approximately 150 civilian and military supervisors completed an eight-hour block of supervisory communication training and approximately 850 civilian and military employees completed a four-hour block of communication and change management training. By all accounts, the contract instructors did a super job and virtually all participants thought the courses were highly beneficial. The second phase of training began Tuesday. This consists of six two-day workshops of human resource and performance management training - the "nuts and bolts" of NSPS. This training is mandatory for all civilian employees who will transition to NSPS in January as well as military supervisors of these civilian employees. Supervisors training is designed to provide "hands-on" experience in writing effective job objectives. Q: Where can more information be found about NSPS? A: Employees may visit the DOD NSPS website at http://www.cpms.osd.mil/nsps/index.html. They may also visit our local Altus AFB Civilian Personnel Community of Practice found at the following web site: https://afkm.wpafb. af.mil/ASPs/CoP/EntryCoP.asp?Filter=OO-DP-AE-15. From there, employees may navigate to the DOD and AF NSPS websites which contain a wealth of NSPS information.