Federal Daily - September 30, 2008

DoD Finalizes NSPS Regulations

DoD and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) on Sept. 26 announced they were issuing final regulations for the National Security Personnel System (NSPS). The rules, published in the Sept. 26 issues of the Federal Register, govern compensation, classification and performance management under NSPS. The rules spell out details for how employees’ performance will be measured, how pay pools operate and how employees will be rewarded for their performance. It also restates the Pentagon’s opinion that the decades-old General Schedule system that rewards people based on how long they have been in government is outdated and must be replaced by a pay-for-performance system. “The federal personnel system in use by much of the department and the federal government is based on 20th Century assumptions about the nature of public service,” the notice said, “and cannot adequately address public service requirements in the 21st Century national security environment.” There are approximately 183,000 DoD employees under NSPS. The next DoD organizations will convert to NSPS later this year or early next year, bringing the total number of employees under the system to approximately 200,000. To see more, go to: www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12240, or see the regulations at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-22483.pdf.

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DoD to Transfer Electronic Medical Records of Wounded Troops

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on Sept. 25 announced that DoD plans to expand a pilot patient records project and soon will transfer patient electronic medical information to four VA special treatment centers. DoD and VA just completed a successful demonstration project which shared patient information between Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and the Polytrauma Unit at the VA Medical Center in Tampa, Fla., VA said. The patient information shared between DoD and VA involves electronic notes on the patient’s situation and background, an assessment of his or her condition and recommendations for future care. VA said this standardized method of communicating patient information ensures that veterans receive high-quality care immediately after being transferred. The VA-funded project is the result of collaboration among VA and DoD nurses and information technology personnel. “I’m proud to announce the launch of this partnership,” said VA Secretary James Peake. “Because it is targeted at severely wounded veterans transferring directly from DoD to VA, it enhances their care.” To see more, go to: http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1587.

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FAA to Install Defibrillators at Facilities

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Sept. 26 announced it will install automated external defibrillators (AEDs) at all agency facilities with 50 or more employees over the next 12 months. The AED deployment is part of a three-year FAA effort to get AEDs in almost all of its facilities. FAA facilities experience an average of one sudden cardiac arrest per year among the agency’s 46,000 employees. Putting the devices in facilities with 50 or more employees means that FAA will have about 68 percent of the workforce covered, the agency said. Following the initial year, FAA said it will evaluate implementation costs and assess whether a sufficient number of employees are volunteering to be responders. Pending positive results of the evaluation, the FAA intends to deploy AEDs to the remaining FAA facilities with 10 or more employees during the following two years, a move which would bring employee coverage to 97 percent. Also, the number of AEDs installed in any one facility will depend on the geographic layout of a particular facility and the number of employees working there. The goal is to be able to retrieve an AED and have a trained volunteer apply the device within three to five minutes of finding a sudden cardiac arrest victim. While FAA hopes enough employees will volunteer as lay responders to cover all employees and shifts, the agency cannot guarantee a trained responder will be onsite at all times at all facilities with an AED, the agency said. The estimated 10-year cost of the project is $15 million, the agency said. To see more, go to: www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=10295.

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