Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Department of Defense (DOD) recently held a briefing on the National Security Personnel System (NSPS) for representatives of federal employee advocacy groups. The briefing provided an update on the progress of the NSPS, and enabled the organizations to participate in the decision-making process.

"There is no question that the NSPS is of tremendous importance to human resource management in the federal government," George Nesterczuk, OPM's Senior Advisor on DOD, told the participants in the briefing. "You will no doubt follow these proposals as they evolve in the months ahead, and Director James is committed to ensuring that we continue this dialog once the proposed regulations have been published."

Nesterczuk highlighted basic tenets of the NSPS by stating, "Consistent with the director's commitments, the NSPS will guard against prohibited personnel practices, protect the Merit System Principles and advance veterans' preference."

Also addressing the employee advocacy groups was Mary Lacey, Program Executive Officer for the National Security Personnel System at DOD.

The National Defense Authorization Act of 2004 authorized DOD, jointly with OPM, to modernize a broad range of civilian personnel rules, and provides for greater flexibilities in performance management, pay systems, position classification, labor-management relations, recruiting and hiring, disciplinary actions and appeals.

In addressing Veterans' Preference during the briefing, Ms. Lacey said, "As the agency that creates veterans, we recognize our moral obligation to respect and protect their rights."

The recent outreach to employee advocacy groups continues an effort to include a broad community of stakeholders and interest groups in the NSPS deliberation. Briefings also were held for public interest groups and Veteran Service Organizations.

OPM and DOD have voluntarily engaged 41 DOD unions in an effort to collaborate prior to developing NSPS regulations. Substantive discussions have taken place throughout the summer with this important constituency, with a final pre-decisional meeting to take place on September 10. DOD and OPM also have conducted a series of focus group and town hall meetings to communicate with and engage the DOD work force in NSPS development.

Below are the groups who attended the briefing:

Coalition for Effective Change

Federal Managers Association

Senior Executives Association

American Foreign Service Association

Council of Federal EEO and Civil Rights

Federal Administrative Law Judges Conference