‘‘The Secretary of Defense shall take all actions which may be necessary to provide, beginning no later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, for the orderly termination of the National Security Personnel System and conversion of allemployees and positions from such system by no later thanJan. 1, 2012.”

This will mean that all employees will be transitioning out of NSPS on a schedule that we are currently developing, but not later than Jan. 1, 2012. The Department of the Navy has been working with your command leadership to ensure a smooth and orderly transition from NSPS. Likewise, the DON is currently developing a transition plan that attempts to minimize the negative impact on our employees and any undue interruption to our mission.

Most of the DON’s NSPS employees will transition to the General Schedule personnel system; this will take place during 2010, on a cycle over the next several months. As directed by Congress, some employees will1 transition to Science and Technology Reinvention Laboratories, Acquisition Demonstration Projects, and alternative personnel and pay systems in 2011.

Your command leadership and human resource professionals will work with you in moving from NSPS to the successor system. Given the short time frame allowed for the transition, employees transitioning in 2010 will not be eligible for a 2011 NSPS performance payout. However, as a GS employee, you will be eligible for all recognition and rewards within that system. You will receive additional information leading up to the date your organizations are scheduled to transition — including information on performance management and your grade placement within the GS system. Some employees are notfamiliar with the GS system and we will have an online program to teach you about the GS system.

I know that you will have questions about the transition and communication will be critical. We will continue to work with you and your commands to provide information as it becomes available. We will communicate with you through yourcommand leadership as well as through messages such as this one, the Web, and town hall meetings. The Department of the Navy is committed to an open, strategic and orderly transition from NSPS.

I want to thank all of the employees and managers who have worked so hard to write clear objectives, identify accomplishments, and ensure a professional performance management system. I encourage you to take these positive behaviors andincorporate them into future operating practices.