FederalDaily - January 19, 2006
NSPS Sees Delays
The Department of Defense (DoD) decided to delay National Security Personnel
System (NSPS) training until mid-March. In an announcement, DoD said it received
feedback indicating that the department needs “more time to focus on
simplifying the performance management design, getting performance objectives
right, and ensuring the system is simple, clear, and understandable.” The
NSPS deployment plan has also been altered. The first deployment will now start
on April 30 and cover 11,000 employees. Spiral 1.2 begins Oct. 1 and Spiral
1.3 starts January 2007. In the past couple of months, DoD has testified to
Congress about the effectiveness of the NSPS plan, and the department has been
sued in federal court by multiple federal employee unions concerned with NSPS
provisions that limit bargaining power and allegedly infringe on employee rights.
For more information on NSPS and the delay, visit www.cpms.osd.mil/nsps/.
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Congressmen Call for Pay Parity in 2007
Eight congressmen, led by Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., sent a letter to the president
on Jan. 17 asking him to include the principle of pay parity for federal civilian
and military employees in his fiscal year 2007 budget proposal. “In nearly
every year during the past two decades, there have been equal adjustments in
the compensation of members of the uniformed services and the compensation
of civilian employees,” the letter said. “We believe anything less
than an equal pay adjustment in 2007 sends the regrettable message that the
services civilians provide…are not highly valued,” it added. In
addition to Hoyer, the letter was signed by Reps. Tom Davis, R-Va., Benjamin
Cardin, D-Md., Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., Jim Moran, D-Va., Chris Van Hollen,
D-Md., Frank Wolf, R-Va., and Albert Wynn, D-Md.
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Army Introduces Caffeine Gum
The Army announced that it recently finished testing “Stay Alert” caffeine
gum as a countermeasure for fatigue. The new product is now available through
military supply channels. The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research tested
the new gum in its Silver Spring, Md., facilities. Each piece of Stay Alert
chewing gum contains 100 mg of caffeine, which is about the amount found in
a six-ounce cup of coffee. “Because it’s chewed, it delivers caffeine
to the body four to five times faster than a liquid or pill because it’s
absorbed through tissues in the mouth—not the gut, like in traditional
formulations,” said Dr. Gary Kamimori of the Department of Behavioral
Biology at Walter Reed. The gum is available to all military personnel.
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GAO Clarifies DoD Security Clearance Issues
The Department of Defense (DoD) has some work to do before its Personnel Security
Clearance Program is removed from the Government Accountability Office’s
(GAO) high-risk list, GAO said. GAO testified before the Senate Subcommittee
on Oversight of Government Management earlier this week to respond to questions
from Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii. Akaka asked GAO what requirements DoD needed
to fulfill to remove the program from the high-risk list. GAO explained that
DoD must show commitment to address several recommendations, including:
- commitment from leadership to address program risks,
- a corrective action plan,
- an independent monitoring program, and
- progress in addressing the issues.
GAO also noted that continued action and oversight by Congress would be required
to resolve the issues with DoD’s personnel security clearance process.
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