Department of Defense civilians will soon see changes in the way their job performance is evaluated.

DOD recently notified Congress on its progress related to an overhaul of its appraisal system used for its civilian workers. The department has about 748,000 civilian employees, including more than 27,000 in Alabama.

The new system will rank employees on three tiers – unsuccessful, successful or superior – and will be used for almost all DOD employees. The appraisals will be based on specific goals and the results will help determine financial awards such as bonuses.

The system also sets a time – April 1 to March 31 – to perform the yearly appraisals.

The change comes following a 2010 Congressional order for DOD to update its appraisal methods as part of doing away with the National Security Personnel System. The legislation called for DOD to develop a new performance appraisal system that is "fair, credible and transparent."

Current procedures vary from department to department, Pentagon officials said. Some evaluations are pass/fail and others use three- of five-tiered rating systems. Some tie bonuses to appraisals while others do not.

There is no timeline for implementing the new program but DOD officials said it is likely to be phased in over time.