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Human Capital: Monitoring of Safeguards and Addressing Employee Perceptions Are Key to Implementing a Civilian Performance Management System in DOD

GAO-10-102 Published: Oct 28, 2009. Publicly Released: Oct 28, 2009.
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Highlights

In 2004, the Department of Defense (DOD) began implementing the National Security Personnel System (NSPS)--a human capital system for DOD civilians. NSPS significantly redesigned the way DOD civilians are hired, compensated, and promoted. Pub. L. No. 110-181 mandated that GAO conduct reviews of the NSPS performance management system in calendar years 2008, 2009, and 2010. In this report, GAO assessed (1) the extent to which DOD has implemented certain internal safeguards to ensure the fairness, effectiveness, and credibility of NSPS, and monitored their implementation, and (2) how DOD civilian personnel perceive NSPS, and the actions DOD has taken to address those perceptions. GAO analyzed relevant documents and employee survey results, interviewed DOD officials, and conducted discussion groups with DOD employees at eight locations outside of the continental United States. Toward the end of GAO's review, both Houses of Congress passed proposed legislation that, if enacted, would terminate NSPS and require any future performance management system for DOD civilians to include certain internal safeguards

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense To help implement a fair, effective, and credible performance management system for its civilian employees--whether NSPS or another--the Secretary of Defense should review and evaluate the effectiveness of the department's training.
Closed – Implemented
DOD partially concurred with our recommendation citing the pending legislation and the anticipated termination of NSPS as the department's rationale for not conducting such an assessment. In October 2009, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 repealed the National Security Personnel System required that DOD (1) take all actions necessary for the orderly termination of NSPS and (2) transition of all employees and positions from NSPS to legacy personnel systems or, if applicable, to the personnel systems that would have applied if NSPS had never been established. The law also mandated that the transition be completed by no later than January 1, 2012 and required DOD to establish a new performance management system, among other things. In 2016, however, DOD initiated transition to a new performance management system called the Defense Performance Management and Appraisal Program (DPMAP) and completed its transition in October 2018. In February 2020, DOD officials stated that, in keeping with the spirit and intent of our recommendation and to help ensure steps were taken for continual evaluation, the Defense Civilian Personnel Advisory Service (DCPAS) conducted an enterprise-wide formal data call to the components using a set of implementation and compliance-based questions, with a focus on the effectiveness of DPMAP trainings, particularly the methodology and successes. According to DOD officials, this ongoing data call will be conducted on a biennial basis from 2018 until 2024, and the results will be evaluated in conjunction with the results of other existing culture and personnel surveys. As a result of implementing our recommendation, DOD established procedures for evaluating the effectiveness of its DPMAP training. Going forward, DOD will be better positioned to know whether the extensive training framework it established for DPMAP is effective in the six years following the department's transition to the new system.
Department of Defense To help implement a fair, effective, and credible performance management system for its civilian employees--whether NSPS or another--the Secretary of Defense should ensure that guidance is in place for conducting a postdecisional analysis that specifies what process the components should follow to investigate and eliminate potential barriers to fair and equitable ratings.
Closed – Not Implemented
DOD partially concurred with our recommendation citing pending legislation and the anticipated termination of NSPS as the department's rationale for not adding guidance to help the components adapt their analysis methods for rating and payout results. In October 2009, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 repealed the National Security Personnel System required that DOD (1) take all actions necessary for the orderly termination of NSPS and (2) transition of all employees and positions from NSPS to legacy personnel systems or, if applicable, to the personnel systems that would have applied if NSPS had never been established. The law also mandated that the transition be completed by no later than January 1, 2012 and required DOD to establish a new performance management system, among other things. In 2016, however, DOD initiated its transition to a new performance management system called the Defense Performance Management and Appraisal Program (DPMAP) and completed the transition in October 2018. In February 2020, DOD officials stated that the department is committed to ensuring a system which is "fair, credible, and equitable" and this commitment is supported by sections in DOD Instructions 1400.25, Volumes 430 and 431, issued in 2014 and 2016 respectively. Although DOD stated that the department has taken steps to ensure a post-process review is conducted to assess the components' rating patterns, the department did not provide information to support its claim that it issued guidance to the components on the process they should follow for conducting a postdecisional analysis.
Department of Defense To help implement a fair, effective, and credible performance management system for its civilian employees--whether NSPS or another--the Secretary of Defense should include, as part of the department's monitoring of the implementation of its system, efforts to monitor and evaluate how the safeguards specifically are implemented by lower-level organizations across the department.
Closed – Implemented
DOD partially concurred with our recommendation, citing pending legislation and the anticipated termination of NSPS as the department's rationale for not taking such action. In October 2009, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 repealed the National Security Personnel System required that DOD (1) take all actions necessary for the orderly termination of NSPS and (2) transition of all employees and positions from NSPS to legacy personnel systems or, if applicable, to the personnel systems that would have applied if NSPS had never been established. The law also mandated that the transition be completed by no later than January 1, 2012 and required DOD to establish a new performance management system, among other things. In 2016, however, DOD initiated its transition to a new performance management system called the Defense Performance Management and Appraisal Program (DPMAP) and completed the transition in October 2018. In February 2020, DOD officials stated that the department took a range of actions tied to the safeguards to help ensure transparency during development and provide users with a thorough understanding of DPMAP's functionality and associated obligations. Specifically, from 2013 through 2017, the Defense Civilian Personnel Advisory Service (DCPAS) issued eight reports to update Congress on the development and implementation of DPMAP. DOD stated that, as part of a robust evaluation program, DCPAS implemented a biennial data call--which focuses on implementation and compliance--to help identify trends and assess the effectiveness of systematic safeguards. DOD also stated that, as part of this evaluation program, DCAPS is preparing to conduct a Performance Culture Survey, which will be a multi-year program evaluation administered biennially from 2020-2024 and include questions related to employee perceptions, including those related to the equity, utility, and accuracy of DPMAP. As a result of implementing our recommendation, DOD will have established processes to demonstrate a continual metrics-based evaluation process and show a continuing commitment to ensuring program efficiency and a fair, credible, and transparent performance management system. Going forward, DOD will have a reasonable assurance that it is taking necessary steps to monitor and evaluate how performance management safeguards are being implemented by lower-level organizations across the department.

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Topics

AccountabilityCivilian employeesEmployeesEmployment assistance programsHuman capitalHuman capital managementHuman capital planningInternal controlsMonitoringNational security personnel systemPerformance appraisalPerformance managementProgram evaluationSafeguardsStrategic planningSystems analysisSystems designSystems evaluation