General News:

OPEN SEASON FOR HEALTH BENEFITS, FSAFEDS, AND FEDVIP 

Just a reminder that they open season for these programs funs from 13 November through 11 December 2006.  If you are interested in electing or changing your enrollments in any of these programs please due so before close of business of  11 December.   These are important benefits to you and your family so please take the time to review your options and choices and do so prior to the end of the open season.  To elect or change your health benefits you must contact the Army Benefits Center at either https://www.abc.army.mil or by telephone at 1-877-276-9287.  To continue or enroll in the Flexible Spending accounts (FSAFEDS) you must go to www.fsafeds.com or call 1-877-FSAFES.  For the new dental and vision insurance (FEDVIP) program you must enroll at www.BENEFEDS.com.  Please take the time to insure you have made the appropriate decisions timely for these very beneficial programs.                                   

Reminder You Must Have Your Use or Lose Leave Scheduled 

Employees deployed in a combat zone may have their excess annual leave restored even if they did not schedule it in advance.  A similar blanket waiver has not been granted for emergency response.  See (2) below. Basic statutory provisions on annual leave set a cap on the maximum accumulation an employee can carry from one leave year to the next.  Normally, this cap is 240 hours.  Any balance of annual leave beyond the cap is lost when the new leave year starts.  However, under certain conditions employees can request that this lost leave be restored to their account for an additional 2-year period. 

The requirements for requesting and granting restoration of excess/lost annual leave are as follows: 

(1)     Employees must generally have ALL their “use or lost” annual leave scheduled and approved, IN WRITING, prior to the start of the 3rd pay period before the end of the leave year (i.e., no later than 25 November 2006). 

(2)     When an “exigency” occurs that requires the supervisor to cancel the employees scheduled and approved annual leave, the supervisor must submit a request for approval of the “exigency” through channels to the Commander.  The request must contain information showing the nature of the exigency that justifies cancellation of the leave, the reasons why another employee cannot be assigned the work or project, the beginning and ending dates of the exigency, and the written documentation of the scheduling and approval of the leave to be cancelled.  The commander then reviews the request and if approved, indicates the ending date of the exigency.  The supervisor advised the employee of the leave cancellation and informs the employee that if they want the leave to be restored, they must submit a written request for restoration of the cancelled leave through supervisory channels at the end of the leave year in which the forfeiture occurs.  The request and supporting documentation should be submitted to the CPAC no later than 6 January 2007. 

Additional guidance can be found in the October CPAC Bulletin located on the CPAC web-page. 

ACCESS TO A BENEFITS COUNSELOR - SIMPLIFIED! 

Effective 30 October 2006, the Army Benefits Center-Civilian phone system allows employees the opportunity to reach a benefits counselor by pressing a "O" at any time during the call - without having to listen to all of the menu options first!  Just in time for the open seasons, this improvement will make it much easier for an employee to reach a benefits counselor - as easy as ABC-C! 

TSP and TSP-C - Time to Consider 2007 Contribution(s) 

Employees who wish to contribute up to the 2007 IRS limit on elective deferrals for regular TSP contributions ($15,500) and TSP Catch-Up (TSP-C) ($5,000), and are paid by DFAS Denver or Charleston (OA or FA) should make their election(s) during THIS pay period (26 Nov - 9 Dec 06) if they wish to extend the contributions over the maximum number of pay periods in 2007.  For those employees paid by DFAS Pensacola (PE), the first pay period to make TSP election(s) for 2007 will be 10-23 Dec 06.       

Employees who are at least age 50 (including those who will reach age 50 in 2007) may make TSP-C contributions if otherwise eligible.  Employees must make the regular TSP contribution of $15,500 in order to make TSP-C contributions (maximum contribution is $5,000 for 2007).  For more information about TSP-C contributions, please see the TSP Fact Sheet at http://www.tsp.gov/forms/oc03-03.pdf.  

Later elections will increase the biweekly contribution amount(s) for employees who wish to meet either or both personal contribution goals as there will be fewer pay periods in which to make contributions.   

The Army Benefits Center-Civilian (ABC-C) has prepared contribution charts (for both regular and TSP-C contributions) for employees paid by DFAS Denver/Charleston and for those paid by DFAS Pensacola.  

The chart for regular employee contributions can be found on the ABC-C website - link below.  The chart for TSP-C contributions can be found at the attachment and will soon be on the ABC-C web site.  

All TSP contribution election changes are made via the ABC-C web or phone system (https://www.abc.army.mil or 1-877-276-9287).

 NSPS UPDATE 

DOD BEGINS THE NSPS DESIGN FOR FEDERAL WAGE SYSTEM

The Department of Defense is in the early stages of designing the National Security Personnel System for the Federal Wage System (FWS) employees. The Program Executive Office (PEO) for NSPS is looking at design options for classification, compensation and performance management for DoD’s FWS workforce.

“Although we haven’t determined a conversion schedule for FWS employees, now is the time to begin the design process,” said Mary Lacey, NSPS program executive officer. “Having completed the first phase of the Spiral 1 implementation, our next step is to start the design phase of the FWS.”

PEO officials will meet with the unions this week as part of continuing collaboration obligations regarding the design of NSPS for FWS workers. According to Lacey, “We will brief the unions on the highlights of the proposed design options and look forward to working with them and to getting their input into the design of the system.”

Including FWS employees in NSPS will link performance to the overall mission; tie pay to performance; hold both supervisors and employees accountable for performance management; and provide a unified performance management and recognition system for the DoD civilian workforce.

The design approach is similar to the process previously used in designing the system for General Schedule employees. To begin the design process, the PEO established a planning team and working groups consisting of line managers from organizations with large numbers of FWS employees. Initial meetings, which occurred in June and July, resulted in the development of an overarching strategy, identifying high-level issues, and exploring various design options. In August, the PEO contacted the unions to solicit their ideas on how they could be involved in the design process.

The PEO also met with the Federal Managers Association to solicit their input on design options.

“No decision has been made on the design or implementation schedule for FWS,” said Lacey. “NSPS continues to be an event-driven process, and is inclusive of all our stakeholders, including employee representatives.”