Subsequent to the NDAA for FY 2010's requirement to terminate NSPS, you asked that we evaluate (1) the status of DOD's transition of employees from NSPS to their successor pay and personnel system, (2) the extent to which DOD documented and supported the costs of the NSPS termination, DOD's approach for designing and implementing a new enterprisewide performance management system. During fiscal year 2010, DOD achieved its initial goal of transitioning approximately 75 percent of NSPS employees to their successor pay and personnel system--that is, the General Schedule system--despite having to overcome some challenges. The Transition Office issued guidance to the components for tracking the costs of the NSPS termination; however, the office did not sufficiently document and support termination costs, and we found inconsistencies in some reported costs. To promote an efficient use of resources and to better plan for the design of a new performance management system, we recommend that the Secretary of Defense direct the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Civilian Personnel Policy to take the following two actions: (1) in conjunction with the DOD Comptroller, help ensure that information identifying and supporting the costs of the NSPS termination and new performance management system is documented, reliable, traceable to a source document, and readily available for examination, and (2) develop a plan with documented near-term design and implementation goals and a timeline for meeting these goals to build momentum and show progress for the development of an enterprise-wide performance management system and to facilitate an assessment of what is being achieved as a result of the resources being spent.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent agency that works for Congress. The GAO watches over Congress, and investigates how the federal government spends taxpayers dollars. The Comptroller General of the United States is the leader of the GAO, and is appointed to a 15-year term by the U.S. President. The GAO wants to support Congress, while at the same time doing right by the citizens of the United States. They audit, investigate, perform analyses, issue legal decisions and report anything that the government is doing. This is one of their reports.

This handbook is designed for Federal supervisors and employees and presents an eight-step process for developing employee performance plans that are aligned with and support organizational goals. It also provides guidelines for writing performance elements and standards that not only meet regulatory requirements, but also maximize the capability that performance plans have for focusing employee efforts on achieving organizational and group goals. The methods presented here are designed to develop elements and standards that measure employee and work unit accomplishments rather than to develop other measure that are often used in appraising performance, such as measuring behaviors or competencies. Although this handbook includes a discussion of the importance of balancing measures, the main focus presented here is to measure accomplishments. Consequently, much of the information presented in the first five steps of this eight-step process applies when supervisors and employees want to measure results. However, the material presented in Steps 6 through 8 about developing standards, monitoring performance, and checking the performance plan apply to all measurement approaches.~

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is the premier public resource on scientific and technological developments that impact global security. Founded by Manhattan Project Scientists, the Bulletin's iconic "Doomsday Clock" stimulates solutions for a safer world.