SCORING SHEET

Document Sample
SCORING SHEET
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.


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