The administration also said in the document that its plan
to use some of the money available for raises for special
rate pay–targeted toward occupations, grades and/or locations
where recruiting and retention problems exist–“is designed
to send a signal that the federal pay adjustment process
should be “smarter”–i.e., more strategic and market-sensitive.”
That would slice the raise a third way, in addition to the
traditional across-the-board and locality pay. While the
President has such administrative authority under existing
law, Congress would have to grant budget authority during
this year’s budget cycle for such a division. The main
difference between the plan and existing policy is that the
administration would fund those special rate increases from
the larger pool of money used for pay in general, rather than
from individual agency budgets, thus diminishing the amount
available for across-the-board and locality pay elsewhere. The
administration says the authority would be used “only if the
government has sufficient data to support the need for such
pay increases in response to demonstrated recruitment/retention
problems.”
