People
Letter: OPM should say what it means
OPM says it takes five years for a pay-for-performance system to be successful because that’s how long it takes for knowledgeable employees to retire or give up fighting for a fair system, according to one reader.
People
FedSource has problems with DOD task orders, IG says
The Treasury Department’s acquisition service made mistakes when it helped the Defense Department make purchases in fiscal 2006, according to a report from DOD’s inspector general.
People
DHS abandons efforts to implement new labor relations rules
In a court filing, the Homeland Security Department said it would not revise labor relations provisions relating to its new personnel system before its statutory authority to implement the system ends.
People
Letter: Walker's human-capital changes unsuccessful
Hopefully in his new job he will not continue to promote himself as a 'human capital expert' after the mess he made at GAO, leading to the first union in the agency's history.
People
Letter: Revolving background specialist announcements questioned
Agencies have announced, recruited and interviewed background specialists only to have the administration cancel the announcement and reopen.
People
Letter: Pay for performance is a 'zero-sum game'
Without more funds, the new system is a zero-sum game. If one person gets more someone else gets less! Just another beauty contest.
Modernization
Letter: Added IP addresses with IPv6 useful for security
The services available with IPv6 do not exist in IPv4, which requires additional layers of application to be written, with often unanticipated consequences and few, if any, standards.
People
Letter: Collaboration suffers when performance pay objectives not well-established
The lack of a financial or profit motive in government makes pay for performance problematic because employees are not competing against another organization, so it tends to foster more internal competition.
People
Letter: Performance pay diminishes freedom, protection
Pay for performance eliminates protection from negative personnel actions by managers who can harass and fire employees who don't cooperate when asked to overlook policy violations. This is one of the most basic reasons government employees are needed.
People
Letter: Performance pay system needs more funding, restructuring
NSPS is constrained by funds available to award for performance, just like the demonstration projects of previous years. This forces supervisors to fit the actual performance and adjective grades of their employees into a "normal distribution model" to not give "too many" high marks.
People
Letter: Union, employees have little room to complain about pay increases
Given the reports earlier this month that AVERAGE pay increase for employees under the NSPS was in excess of 7 percent, I find it hard to understand the wailing, moaning and gnashing of teeth from government employees and their union representatives on this issue.
People
Letter: History repeats itself in pay- for-performance system
USDA tried the performance pay system in the 1980's; it was called the General Merit system. It failed because additional funding was not provided for true merit raises.
People
Letter: E-filing won’t take off until it’s free
A reader argues that taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay companies to file their tax returns.
Digital Government
Industry hoping for action on data security bill this year
The window for advancing a comprehensive federal data security bill is closing, but stakeholders are holding out hope that narrowly crafted proposals to improve government information security compliance and fight cybercrime might still get traction this spring.
People