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NSPS Pay Scale Could be History, Congress Debates

Legislation to speed up the overhaul — or the elimination — of the National Security Personnel System is working its way through the House, earning praise from labor unions but concerns from a managers’ group.

The measure, an amendment to the fiscal 2010 Defense authorization bill offered by Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H., would prohibit new jobs from being classified under NSPS. It also would require the Defense secretary to prepare to end the controversial system, or submit a report to Congress demonstrating why it should remain. NSPS would be abolished within a year unless Congress decided to act to prevent that from happening, following the secretary’s report.

The amendment was added to the authorization bill by a voice vote during a markup session at the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.

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The bill also would halt new hiring into the Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel System, and would require the Defense secretary to submit a report defending that system, too.

The amendment mandates that NSPS employees receive 100 percent of the annual pay raises employees under the government’s General Schedule system receive. Currently, NSPS employees are guaranteed only 60 percent of that raise.

NSPS already has been frozen in place by the Defense Department, pending a review by the Defense Business Board. The board is expected to begin public hearings on the system next week, and will deliver a report to Congress later this summer.

Union officials claim Defense is circumventing the freeze by continuing to classify new positions under NSPS.