U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce

June 21, 2001

This memorandum announces the 2001 annual review of special salary rates authorized under 5 U.S.C. 5305. Each agency with special rate employees must submit certifications to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) documenting its recommendations for the adjustment of special rates. We are providing the following materials to assist you:

Attachment 1 - 2001 annual review instructions.

Attachment 2 - Worksheet for Special Salary Rate Requests (OPM Form 1397, long and short form versions).

Attachment 3 - Index of current special rate authorizations by agency.

Attachment 4 - Special rate agency contacts.

We have revised the short form version of OPM Form 1397 to reduce the administrative burden on agencies. We have eliminated the requirement that agencies report the number of filled and vacant positions covered by each special rate table applicable to the agency. We will instead use on-board counts derived from the Central Personnel Data File. Also, agencies may now complete a single short form for all special rate tables for which they are requesting an increase equal to the across-the-board General Schedule increase.

You must submit all annual review materials to OPM by October 15, 2001. It is important that you submit your certifications on time so we can compile and review the data and obtain a consensus among affected agencies if there are substantial differences in agency requests.

You may obtain electronic copies of all the attachments on OPM's Internet website at www.opm.gov/oca/compmemo/index.asp.

We ask agency headquarters to bring any problems encountered in implementing the annual review process to our attention as they arise. You may contact the Pay and Leave Administration Division by telephone at (202) 606-2858, by fax at (202) 606-0824, or by email at payleave@opm.gov.

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