DOD announces change to annual pay increase for some NSPS employees Published Sept. 17, 2007 By USAFE News Service U.S. Air Forces in Europe Public Affairs RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany -- In a step towards a more robust pay for performance system, the Department of Defense announced Wednesday to grant one-half of the January 2008 government-wide increase to adjust base salaries for 110,000 National Security Personnel System spiral one employees. NSPS is the Department's pay for performance system to compensate and reward employees based on their contribution to mission accomplishment. Those with an acceptable performance rating this year will receive half of the annual increase while the remainder is added to performance pay pools to be distributed based on performance. Last year, the first performance cycle under NSPS, the DoD granted the Government-wide increase to all but unacceptable performers, in addition to providing performance-based pay increases and bonuses. Something that does not change is the increase to local market supplements. Those will be the same as the Government-wide increases for locality pay. NSPS employees with an acceptable performance rating will receive this pay increase. This decision to adjust the annual pay increase reinforces the Department's commitment to the NSPS pay for performance system, which rewards and compensates employees based on performance, said Chris Maier, chief civilian personnel and resources for U.S. Air Forces in Europe. "The goal of NSPS is to attract, retain and reward employees based on their contribution toward mission accomplishment," said Mr. Maier. This decision impacts more than 1880 civilian employees in USAFE, according to personnel experts. Those employees in spiral two of NSPS will receive the full January 2008 pay increase since they have not yet have received an NSPS performance evaluation. For additional questions about NSPS please contact DSN 480-5850. Or visit the NSPS website at http://www.cpms.osd.mil/nsps/.