4.1 Percent Raise in Homestretch

The proposed 4.1 percent average general schedule raise in January is now only a few steps from becoming final, following a House-Senate conference on a spending bill (HR-2989) to provide that amount. The full House and Senate could vote at any time on the bill and send it to the White House. While the administration all year has advocated a 2 percent raise for January, it has not threatened a veto over the size of the raise. Language in the House version of the bill that did spur a veto threat-which would have blocked implementation of the revised rules the administration issued earlier this year governing contracting-out of federal jobs under Circular A-76-was dropped in favor of less restrictive language that keeps or modifies some protections for employees under the old rules. The measure would allow the in-house side to reorganize into the “most efficient organization” before being put up for bid, require that the contractor’s bid save at least 10 percent or $10 million, and allow employees or their unions to appeal contracting decisions to the General Accounting Office. Meanwhile, a provision of the Defense Department authorization bill would bar use of the revised A-76 policy at that agency pending a report on the revision’s effects there.