Performance Funding Also to Be Decided

The Transportation-Treasury bill also will have to address-or ignore-the White House’s request for funding for pay-for-performance for federal employees. The administration’s budget proposal sought $300 million for the “human capital performance fund” that Congress authorized last year–to be parceled out to agencies by the Office of Personnel Management once it certifies that they have performance measures that meet certain standards-plus $200 million for agencies to use at their discretion for granting merit pay raises and bonuses and for targeted recruitment and retention spending. Although Congress authorized the fund last year, it did so only reluctantly, after imposing a series of restrictions on how such a fund could be operated. Also, last year Congress appropriated only $1 million for the fund, essentially only enough to get it set up on paper; no payouts to employees have been made and none are expected during the current fiscal year. Congress could again be reluctant to put substantial money into the fund-or into agency budgets for use at their own discretion-out of concern about the fairness and accuracy of the performance evaluation systems that would have to be used to decide who gets the money.