ACQDEMO TO NSPS
KEY LEARNING POINTS
AND
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
KEY LEARNING POINTS:
AcqDemo was designed for our business environment and
workforce skills; the decision to create a DoD-wide
standard personnel system has necessitated some departures
from what we know as pay banding and pay for performance
concepts in order to accommodate the needs of all DoD
business environments and skills. While many features
remain the same, two major areas stand out for changes we
will need to adjust our cultural thinking, policies, and
procedures to operate effectively.
o Pay banding under AcqDemo created pay bands expected
to accommodate the ability to grow through the bands
with continued increased contribution
o Pay banding under NSPS creates pay bands standard
across DoD that accommodate all of the jobs of DoD.
The big change for us is that NSPS pay bands do not
imply expected growth through the entire band; rather
expected ranges of pay are accommodated within a pay
band. Unless change in duties and responsibilities
occurs, an expected pay range for given jobs may
remain the same.
o Pay for contribution under AcqDemo evaluated the level
of contribution accomplished by an employee and
equated compensation to that level. Based on funds
available in the pay pool, CCAS software provided a
standard distribution of the payout between salary and
bonus based on the difference between an employee’s
current salary and the salary associated with their
final OCS.
o Pay for performance under NSPS will evaluate the
performance of job objectives and the level of quality
and contribution of that performance. Then
compensation will be associated with the resulting
rating level and decisions will be made regarding the
distribution of the payout based on expected ranges of
pay for the job occupied unless extraordinary
performance has occurred.
So bottom line here is that a pay band no longer is
directly indicative of pay potential; rather it is the
boundary of what a job could be if the
duties/responsibilities are commensurate with the limits of
the band. As such, it is expected that employees will not
naturally progress completely through a pay band over time
alone, even with good performance. Once you understand
this key point, the conversion to whatever band is defined
in the AcqDemo conversion rules for your situation will
make better sense. We have a command responsibility to
manage the application of these new pay bands appropriately
and consistently in the classification of jobs but we will
develop expected pay ranges within them that will prove to
be more important to managing the compensation of our
workforce.
With those key learning points summarized above, we have
collected the recurring questions which were raised during the
AcqDemo to NSPS Transition training conducted in recent weeks
that seemed more unique to our command; the PEO NSPS website
provides many of the more general NSPS FAQs and responses.
The questions we heard about local concerns are provided below
and arranged by category of training in which they were asked.
I hope you find them helpful in clarifying NSPS intent and/or
command position in the implementation activities to come in
the next few months.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
ACQDEMO TO NSPS TRANSITION TRAINING
CLASSIFICATION AND PAY BAND ARCHITECTURE
Question: If supervisors are placed in a separate band what
happens to Team leaders? Will they be recognized?
Answer: Under NSPS, team leader roles may continue in
terms of duties and responsibilities, however, only supervisors
will be classified separately. The opportunity to perform and
contribute as a team leader will continue as classification
itself has no direct bearing on compensation.
Question: What incentive is there to be a supervisor when non-
supervisory NH-IV's go into pay band YA3 with a salary potential
of $124K, but some supervisory NH-IV's (based on the established
threshold of GS-14/10+5%) will go into pay band YC2 with a
salary potential of only $106K.
Answer: If an employee holding a supervisory NH-IV
position does not meet the established pay threshold of GS-
14/10+5% for conversion to YC-3, he/she will not automatically
be classified in pay band YC-2. A classification review will be
performed on the duties and responsibilities of the position to
determine if the job fits into the pay band 2 or pay band 3.
CONVERSION FROM ACQDEMO TO NSPS
Question: When will we convert to NSPS?
Answer: Currently, the date is set for 21 Jan 07 to permit
your final payout from AcqDemo CCAS to be applied to your
current salary. Your salary on 21 Jan 07 will then be applied
to the NSPS conversion rules.
Question: Will there be any change in pay upon conversion to
NSPS?
Answer: No. No one will receive an increase or a decrease
in pay upon conversion.
Question: Before the conversion, are supervisory/non-
supervisory positions going to be reviewed with the workforce?
Answer: Yes. The recent tasker requesting Organization
Charts is being used to validate against current documentation
and issues identified will be reviewed with organization leaders.
Question: How/When will interns convert to NSPS?
Answer: Interns will be placed in PB 1 of the appropriate
career group with a Full Performance Level of Pay Band 2. The
Navy Acquisition Intern Program interns will convert when the
NAIP Program Office determines the spiral/date; until then, they
will remain GS unless they graduate from the program into either
AcqDemo until 21 Jan 07 or NSPS after 21 Jan 07.
COMPENSATION AND PAY
Question: With regards to Local Market Supplement, if the
government decides that it doesn’t need as many of a certain
skill in a given area or even DoD-wide and decreases the Local
Market Supplement, will those people lose money?
Answer: It is important to understand that OPM always had
the authority to reduce Locality Rates but as you know, never
has done so. But just as under Locality Pay adjustments, with
each locality getting different rates of increase each year, so
it will happen with Local Market Supplement. By this, I mean
that if it was determined that a LMS increase was not required
for a certain skill in a certain area, those affected employees
would just not see any increase but not experience a decrease.
Question: Is the Local Market Supplement going to be added to
the salary when it comes to retirement?
Answer: Yes, just as Locality Pay was part of the
retirement pay calculation.
Question: Currently in AcqDemo, everyone gets the same locality.
Under NSPS is the local market supplement determined for each
individual or group? If so, is this decided by DoD, WMD, or the
Pay Pool?
Answer: Local Market Supplements can vary by career group,
location, pay schedule, occupation and/or pay band. DoD has to
build the capacity to define and apply Local Market Supplements.
Question: Who sets the Local Market Supplement?
Answer: The Secretary of Defense or designee will set,
increase, or decrease, as needed, local market supplements. A
variety of factors are reviewed in making LMS determinations:
Mission requirements, labor-market conditions, availability of
funds, allowances and differentials, such as those paid to
employees overseas and in Alaska and Hawaii, similar pay
adjustments received by employees of other federal agencies and
other relevant factors. Currently, OPM has a federal wage board
that determines locality rates and now DoD has to recreate that
capability within its infrastructure so it will take some time.
In the meantime, LMS will equate to the Locality Rates posted on
the OPM website
RATE RANGE ADJUSTMENT
Question: If there is a Rate Range Adjustment, is it applied
across the board?
Answer: Pay band rate ranges may be adjusted in one or
more ways: Increase or decrease the minimum rate o one or more
pay bands but leave the maximum at the previously established
rate; Increase or decrease the minimum rate of one or more pay
bands and increase or decrease the maximum rate by a smaller,
comparable, or larger percentage; Leave the existing minimum of
one or more pay bands at the previously established rate and
increase or decrease the maximum rate of one or more pay bands;
or Leave both the minimum and the maximum of the pay bands at
the previously established rates. To further understand the
available options, please refer to DoD 1400.25-M, SC1930.8.
PAY BANDS/SALARY/SETTING PAY
Question: Has Pay Band 3 for Supervisors been extended out past
the GS-15 step 10 salary?
Answer: Yes. It has been extended by 5% over the GS-15
step 10 pay. However, only the band has been extended. Pay
progression through the band within a given job still is
accomplished through performance evaluations.
Question: Do we have a current NSPS salary chart?
Answer: Yes. Please visit:
http://www.cpms.osd.mil/nsps/paytables.html to view all four
career group pay schedules.
STAFFING
Question: With regard to setting pay upon a reassignment, what
is considered a reassignment?
Answer: WMD will be developing policy and process around
this important and valuable feature of NSPS. Setting pay for
reassignments will likely occur as a result of an internal
competition of some sort and not simply on the basis of a local
lateral move but there may be special conditions that we need to
evaluate first before we set policy.
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
Question: Will we be using “Control Points" to manage pay
progression within pay bands?
Answer: Even under AcqDemo, we have talked for some time
that people often have the expectation that if I'm in a band
that goes to 15/10, I'll get there eventually, a carryover from
the GS days. Control points could help manage those
expectations and actually work to giving credibility to our
payouts if folks knew the rules going in to a job. And it is
important to know, these are often not hard points but flags
that just cause a careful review before moving someone's salary
beyond them. And doing so creates motivation to go after
leadership positions with greater pay potential. I think we
could apply some approach for common standard jobs like
PGDs/PMs/SBTs/ACs/Dirs/Ops Mgrs/Ofc Mgrs/Core Skills jobs but
this will need leadership attention and review.
Question: Who signs off on NSPS performance objectives?
Answer: NSPS directives require objectives to be subject
to a higher level review and approval. In our command, that
likely will be sub-pay pool manager level. For example, PGDs
serve as sub-pay pool managers for all employees within their PG.
Question: Will the pay pool structure change when we convert to
NSPS?
Answer: Under the AcqDemo we have three pay pools
including MCTSSA, who has their own pay pool. We adopted that
design to align review of similar work as well as balance the
mix of skills and funding within the rules of AcqDemo. We will
review the current structure with leadership to determine if we
need to make any changes under NSPS.
Question: What is the planned date for performance objectives
to be in place?
Answer: The AcqDemo date, as well as NSPS date is within
30 days of the start of the rating cycle. That puts the date at
30 Oct 06. With the publishing of these FAQs, you should also
find a new form provided by the DoD AcqDemo Program Office to be
used until we convert to NSPS which begins to help employees and
managers think about documenting objectives and anticipate the
use of “Contributing Factors” versus CCAS factors. Our standard
six CCAS factors will still apply for any formal evaluations
required before conversion. Following conversion, a closeout
assessment will be prepared on each employee. At that time, the
objectives will be reviewed and any further adjustments needed
will be accomplished via the NSPS form and software application
to be provided at that time. Specific instructions for
preparing the closeout assessment and transfer of objectives to
NSPS forms/software will be provided at that time.
Question: What is the difference between the “Expected” and
“Enhanced” level of Contributing Factor descriptors?
Answer: It is important that employees and managers read
these descriptors and apply them locally in the design of
objectives. As you saw in the training, ratings of individual
objectives can be adjusted up a point, down a point, or left
unchanged based on the level of descriptor satisfied. This is
not an administrative match but rather a collective judgment as
to how all contributing factors selected for an objective were
met. The “Expected” level is just that; the level of
performance expected for satisfactory performance. The
“Enhanced” level is that level which, considered collectively
with other selected contributing factors, would warrant
adjusting the rating level up one point.
Question: Will there be an automated tool to support
performance management administration?
Answer: Yes, DoD is developing an automated performance
management plan application that will document the entire
performance management process from the setting of objectives to
the interim review to the self and supervisor assessments and
provide the data for pay pool review and payout distribution.
We are told this application is near completion but will not be
able to access it until after we convert in Jan 07.
Question: Are the objectives going to be linked to PRDs and FIT
requirements?
Answer: There should always be a relationship between your
position description and objectives. There should also be a
relationship between organization goals and your objectives. To
the extent common development oriented objectives could be
developed to augment local job requirements, that would probably
be a good thing to do. WMD will review this matter with FIT
Managers and determine if we should attempt to apply common
objectives in this initial NSPS rating cycle.
Question: In distributing the payout, is the supervisor going
to determine whether the employee will get a cash award or an
increase in salary?
Answer: Supervisors will be recommending ratings, number
of shares, and distribution of the payout. Pay pools will
review those recommendations and determine final setting of them.
WMD, in coordination with pay pool leadership, will be
developing guidance to assist in making those recommendations.
When developed, it will be published to the workforce.
Question: Under AcqDemo CCAS policies, employees can request a
time off award in lieu of a cash award. Will that option still
be available?
Answer: Local approval of that policy under NSPS has not
yet been reviewed with leadership but it is anticipated that it
will continue under NSPS given advantages to both employees
preferring time off and returning of that funding to the pay
pool for distribution to others.
Question: In rating performance, if I meet everything in level
3 and one thing in level 5, will I be a level 4?
Answer: As mentioned above, rating performance is not
administratively matching assessments to rating descriptors. It
is a collective judgment after applying the guiding descriptors
of the Performance Indicator and Contributing Factors.
Question: The training indicated that job objectives are
written jointly by the employee and the supervisor. What does
that mean?
Answer: As with AcqDemo contribution objectives, employees
are encourage to participate in the development of NSPS job
objectives. The supervisor has the responsibility for
establishing them but this is the opportunity for employees to
highlight their talents and skills which would contribute to
accomplish the local organization goals that should also be
discussed in the setting of objectives. As with AcqDemo,
employees who step up and take on additional duties and
responsibilities will be rewarded under NSPS.
Question: How many Contributing Factors are selected for each
job objective? The training instructor stated one, two, or
three but the slide showed four being selected.
Answer: As the instructor emphasized, more is not better
as it dilutes focus. Current Navy guidance indicates that
generally, no more than three should be selected. Particularly
in our first year of operation, we will likely issue similar
policy for the command.
Question: Will our final AcqDemo CCAS payout in Jan 07 include
the full GPI?
Answer: Yes, anyone eligible to receive the GPI as a
result of their CCAS rating will receive all of it.
Question: On the rating of record of the employee. Could the
supervisor rate the employee with 3.5 vice 3.0?
Answer: No, rating of record must be a whole number. Each
objective rating, after adjusted by contributing factors, is
summed and then divided by the number of objectives. That
average result is then rounded to the whole number required by
the rounding table provided in the training slides.