Meanwhile, the White House has sent several other signals that it is not as opposed to pay for performance systems as many employee organizations and some members of Congress had expected or hoped. In a policy statement on an intelligence authorization measure (HR-2701), it opposed language that would prevent the intelligence community from continuing to carry out a cross-cutting personnel system including a pay for performance element; the statement said those restrictions would “undermine the administration’s efforts to build an intelligence workforce for the 21st century.” That follows a letter from the administration rejecting a request from several House members to stop expansion of existing pay for performance systems, and an official’s announcement that the administration favors a government-wide overhaul of federal pay policies that would include a pay for performance element—although with certain conditions, notably an improved performance evaluation process—and another effort to close the reported pay gap with private sector salaries.
