Formal Rules Will Be Issued

While there was thought that DoD might carry out the remaining elements of its new system through guidance, it has now committed to formal rule-making, with the rules to be issued jointly by DoD and OPM after review by the Office of Management and Budget–much as the DHS final rules will be joint rules between that department and OPM. A DoD policy statement that using the formal rule-making process “provides broad confidence in the integrity of the system.” The current goal is to issue proposed labor relations rules in November and to announce proposed rules on human resources issues-including job classification, pay banding, pay for performance and other elements-in January 2005.