Federal Manager's Daily Report: Wednesday, November 3, 2004 FEDweek is the largest information resource in the federal government with now over one million weekly readers. To Subscribe, Go to http://www.fedweek.com/subscribepopup.htm *********************************************************** Valued Added Service to Our Readers:
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GAO: Grants Could Enhance Regional Emergency Preparedness The federal government could support regional communication among emergency response organizations through "grant design and requirements" by encouraging structures and practices associated with effective regional efforts, the Government Accountability Office has said following a study of emergency response organizations in and around major cities. It said a collaborative regional organization with representation from multiple jurisdictions and disciplines would help coordinate federally supported efforts, and that "funding regional organizations provides incentives for their collaborative planning activities." For example, federal transportation law requires the existence of "metropolitan planning organizations" that have to create transportation improvement plans as a precondition for funding, according to GAO-04-1009. It cited DHS's urban area security initiative grant program, through which San Francisco Bay area programs pooled resources to establish a region-wide UASI effort - and noted that certain federal grants require regional organizations to prepare plans to guide funding decisions. 2. DoD Sees Challenge in Change Management Change management will be one of the major needs in installing the "national security personnel system" that is still on the drawing board at the Defense Department, according to a DoD requirements document. "Because of the magnitude of the changes that NSPS will bring, there will be internal resistance to systems' implementations. These changes may be further complicated by lack of trust in the new system and varying degrees of manager/employee buy-in as NSPS goes through spiral development and fielding," the document says. The NSPS will involve significant changes in how employees are hired, graded, promoted and disciplined, along with revisions in labor-management relations and employee appeal rights. Such significant change can be expected to meet resistance, the document says. "This resistance can be offset by strong leadership and by comprehensive communications about why a new system is needed and the anticipated benefits the system will produce," it says. "Employee/manager dissatisfaction with the existing system may also mitigate this resistance to change. Change also will be sought from major stakeholders who are external to DoD. Significant attention to leading as well as managing change will enhance the chances of implementation success." 3. Other Implementation Issues Outlined The document also describes several other issues involved with the implementation of NSPS, including: Interaction with Department of Homeland Security. "Because NSPS and the DHS personnel, labor and appeals systems may have common features, a process of effective collaboration should be developed. Both DoD and DHS are working with OPM and collaboration will benefit both Departments." Competing priorities at the DoD level. "The ongoing Global War on Terrorism as well as the FY2005 (base closings) process will likely have an impact on both military and civilian manpower, including MIL-CIV conversion initiatives. NSPS may facilitate thesemanpower changes; however, leaders and HR practitioners may have limited time for NSPS issues and deployment activities while they are focused on supporting these competing priority issues." Maintaining effective relationships with employee representatives. "The law requires collaboration with employee representatives of bargaining unit employees in the development and implementation of NSPS. It also encourages collaboration with other appropriate groups that represent substantial numbers of employees who are not in bargaining units. In addition, it is desirable for DoD to have an engagement process with labor unions that allows for design inputs and issues to be discussed before the formal collaboration process required by law begins." The report adds, "There may be reduced availability of resources to provide continuous training and support to supervisors and managers, a requirement that other personnel demonstration projects indicated was necessary. Consideration must be given to sustainable resources for training and support in order, at a minimum, to meet the statutory requirement for training and retraining on the performance management system." Published by FEDweek 11541 Nuckols Rd. 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