NSPS Warning Order

[ChemEng]

I wanted to give everyone a heads up about NSPS that was not discussed during our conversion. If you aren't under NSPS yet, consider yourself informed about one of the many warts of the program.

I have recently accepted a job in a different Army unit. The position I am currently in is NSPS. The one I am moving into is not. (It is on the laboratory demonstration payscale.) As part of my out processing, I have been going through all the NSPS drills required for Early Annual Appraisal.

Yesterday my supervisor informed me of good news and bad news. The good news is my evaluation would be 4 out of 5. That puts me in the top 15-20% of our organization. The bad news is that since I am transitioning into a unit that is not under NSPS, I would receive no compensation for that outstanding rating. In fact, I would receive the same compensation as if I was rated a 1.

After reviewing SC1930 and SC1940 (the legalese for NSPS), I found the bad news to be correct. The lesson learned is this:

1. If you are leaving an NSPS position for a non-NSPS position, it is worth waiting until after your paypool pays out (1st payperiod in January) to start your new job. Even if you leave after the appraisal period but before the payout, you get nothing. (Technically, this shouldn’t be a problem when moving from an NSPS position to a different NSPS position, but a quick online search shows that this is also not occurring in many situations.)
2. If you are expecting a really bad appraisal, then leave before the first payperiod in January.

 

[Wrngway]

That's good to know. Thanks!

I was recently transitioned to NSPS and we just finished our mock appraisal. I transitioned from a GS-13 step 2. According to the results, if I was rated a 3 (they didn't tell us what we were rated), it looks like my performance & annual increase would be less than if I stayed out of NSPS and had gone up to the next step.

It's hard to tell because 40% of the annual increase is included in the payout. So from what I can see 40% of the annual increease is redistributed according to performance rating and we automatically get the other 60% as an increase to our pay.

I don't know what figure they used for the annual increase, so it's difficult to work out the numbers from what they've given us.

The bottom line is, from what I've seen, you will not see a benefit, compared to the GS system, if you're going to be going up steps annually.

 

[ChemEng]

The bottom line is, from what I've seen, you will not see a benefit, compared to the GS system, if you're going to be going up steps annually.

Actually in my case, NSPS will actually negatively impact my compensation. It is almost criminal that you can have a full year worth of service highly appraised, leave before the payout, and not receive a dime from that service.

 

[CountryBoy]

Actually in my case, NSPS will actually negatively impact my compensation. It is almost criminal that you can have a full year worth of service highly appraised, leave before the payout, and not receive a dime from that service.

From what we are seeing at DOD when it comes to NSPS, is that your annual raise is less than it would be under the GS system, but they are making it up thru bigger bonus' or on the spots. For example, say we get a 3.2% raise, 2.2% of that is actual raise and 1% is bonus, which does not count towards your annual salary, so your high 3 is lower, which in turn will lower your retirement money. So as usual we'uns are getting screwed out of retirement money. It won't be so bad for us nearing retirement, but for the new employees, it'll be a big chunk of change they'll lose over 25 or 30 years.

CB