1. Legislation: The Demonstration Project was mandated by Section 10 of the NBS (now NIST; National Institute of Standards and Technology) Authorization Act for FY 1987 (Public Law 99-574):
The Office of Personnel Management and the National Bureau of Standards shall jointly design a Demonstration Project which shall be conducted by the Director of the National Bureau of Standards.
2. Design: The Project was designed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, with participation of and review by the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
3. Execution:
- Management: The Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology is conducting the Project through a Personnel Management Board (PMB); appointed by the Director, and the NIST Human Resources Officer.
- Timing: The Project began January 1, 1988, to be conducted over a period of 5 years. It was extended to September 30, 1995 and was extended indefinitely by Section 10 of the National Technical Transfer and Advancement Act of March 7, 1996.
4. Delegation of Human Resources Management Authority: The NIST Director has delegated a number of human resources management authorities to the Operating Unit (OU) Directors. NIST is committed to positive affirmative action/equal employment opportunity goals. Line managers will be accountable for understanding and implementing policies designed to meet these goals.
1. Conceptual Framework: The Project is built upon the concepts of:
- Total compensation comparability, rather than pay comparability only;
- Market sensitivity, by surveying compensation for private sector positions similar to NIST positions, linking entry salary to market forces by occupation, and selectively granting recruiting and retention allowances;
- Performance, by linking performance to pay for all covered positions;
- Administrative simplicity, by simplifying paperwork and processing in classification and other personnel systems;
- Management flexibility and accountability, through the delegation of classification and other authorities to line managers; and
- Government-wide applicability, by designing an alternative system not just for NIST but for use by any agency.
2. Human Resources Management Objectives: The Project system is designed to:
- Improve hiring and allow NIST to compete more effectively for high-quality staff, through direct hiring, selective use of higher entry salaries, and selective use of recruiting allowances;
- Motivate and retain staff, through higher pay potential, pay-for-performance, more responsive human resources systems, and selective use of retention allowances;
- Strengthen the manager's role in human resources management, through delegation of human resources authorities; and
- Increase the efficiency of human resources systems, through installation of a simpler and more flexible classification system based on pay banding, through reduction of guidelines, steps, and paperwork in classification, hiring, and other human resources systems, and through automation.
1. Participating Organizations: Both sites of the National Institute of Standards and Technology are participating in the Project. The two sites are located at Gaithersburg, Maryland, which is the headquarters of NIST, and at Boulder, Colorado.
2. Categories of Employees:
- All former General Schedule (GS) positions, Performance Management and Recognition System (PMRS) positions, Senior Executive Service (SES) positions, and 5 U.S.C. 3104 (ST) positions are covered by the Project. Wage Grade positions are not covered.
- The human resources systems for SES positions have not changed. SES classification, staffing, compensation, performance appraisal, awards, and reduction in force will be based on current OPM regulations.
- The human resources system for 5 U.S.C. 3104 positions changed only to the extent that 3104 positions are in the same performance appraisal, awards, and reduction in force systems as General Schedule positions. Classification, staffing, and compensation, however, did not change.
3. Continuing Effects of Laws and Regulations: The PMRS and GS categories no longer exist as identified categories under the Project. Both were incorporated in the new career-path/pay-band system. The step increases of the General Schedule and the merit increases of the PMRS system were replaced by the annual performance pay increases described under "Pay Administration." Laws and regulations pertaining to the General Schedule that were not waived for this Project, however, such as those pertaining to overtime pay, continue in force for all covered positions to which they now apply.
4. Union Representation: A few employees covered by the Project are represented by labor unions. Firefighters at the Gaithersburg site are represented by the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF), Police Officers at the Gaithersburg site are represented by the International Association of Machinists, AFL-CIO, covered employees in the Visual Arts and Photography Group of the Facilities Service Division at the Gaithersburg site, and covered employees at the Boulder site are represented by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).