GAO Backs ‘Show Me’ Pay Reform

GAO has said it supports reforming federal pay that can pass what it called a “show-me test,” suggesting that Congress authorize agencies to make pay better reflect market conditions for an occupation and the employee’s performance, but in which an agency may not implement new authorities “until it has demonstrated it has in place a modern, effective, and credible performance management system with adequate safeguards.” GAO is a leading voice in federal personnel policies, and in pay matters in particular, as an outside body with both an auditing perspective and its own experience in overhauling its own pay system. The two major agencies that are in the process of implementing pay reforms designed to be more market- and performance-oriented have struggled to overcome doubts about such systems, in particular whether the performance evaluations that act as the basis for raise decisions are accurate and fair.