General Awards FAQs
Federal agencies are authorized to grant awards to their employees
to recognize and reward good performance. Some frequently asked questions
about Federal awards regulations include:
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What forms can
awards take for Federal employees? |
Regulations provide for four forms of awards
that can be given to Federal employees: lump-sum cash awards, honorary
awards, informal recognition awards, and time off awards. |
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Are there amount
restrictions for granting cash awards? |
Yes. The Office of Personnel Management
must approve any cash award over $10,000. For awards over $25,000,
the President must approve the amount over $25,000. The Department of Defense and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) only have to obtain OPM approval for awards over $25,000. (This does not apply to SES performance and rank awards for SES and SL/ST employees.) |
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What is the difference
between an "honorary award" and an "informal recognition award?" |
Honorary awards are generally symbolic
and usually do not use monetary recognition at all. They are a gesture
of respect given to employees to recognize their performance and value
to the organization. Many agencies include this traditional form of
high-level, formal recognition as part of their overall incentive
awards programs. Informal recognition awards, on the other hand, are
a type of award that may be given to reward performance that otherwise
might not merit an award such as cash, time-off, or an honorary award.
Agencies use these awards to provide more frequent and timely informal
recognition to employees. |
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Can an award program
cover both regular Federal employees and contract employees? |
No. Employees of outside contractors
may not receive direct payments from the Federal Government.
Their employment, including pay, rewards, and discipline, must be
handled by their employer, who is the contractor, not the Government.
We are aware that in some situations, Federal employees and contract
employees work side-by-side as members of the same overall work teams.
In such cases, it might be desirable to use procurement flexibilities
to set up a parallel awards program for the contract employees, which
the contractor would be required to fund and administer. Under the
terms of the contract, the Government could make additional payments
to the contractor according to performance-related criteria specified
in the contract, to provide the funds which the contractor would then
distribute to the contract employees. Setting up and operating such
a program would have to conform to procurement regulations, limitations,
and requirements. Personal services contracts could also be written
to allow for performance-contingent payments. The key issue is that
such payments to individuals, whether under personal services or non-personal
services contracts, would not be made under the awards authorities
in title 5, United States Code. |
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Can an award program
cover both civilian and military employees? |
Yes, but only to the extent that
the program covers awards for suggestions, inventions, or scientific
achievements. For those categories of awards, an agency can choose
to have a single program in which both civilian and military employees
can participate or even a specific award for which both might be eligible.
Otherwise, for all other types of awards authorized by chapter 45
of title 5, United States Code, military employees are excluded. |
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Can an agency
grant an award to a private citizen? |
It may be possible to recognize the contributions
of private citizens to the Government, but it would not be done under
the awards programs authorized by chapter 45 of title 5, United States
Code. The awards statute in title 5 only authorizes granting
awards to and recognition of Federal employees. An agency head may
have other general authorizations and access to other funds for the
accomplishment of the agency's mission that might be accessible for
the recognition of private citizens who have made significant contributions
to the completion of the agency's mission or the improvement of the
Government. |
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Can an agency
give awards to its Senior Executive Service employees under the authority
of subpart A of part 451 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations?
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Yes. Agencies can give Senior Executive
Service (SES) employees any awards under subpart A of part 451 for
which they qualify and are eligible. The specific exception in the
regulations at section 451.104(a)(3) of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations,
refers to performance awards because there is a separate statutory
and regulatory authority for granting performance awards to SES employees. |
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Are agencies required
to set up suggestion award programs? |
Suggestion award programs are not specifically
required by law or regulation. The Office of Personnel Management
(OPM) is aware that some agencies have redesigned and streamlined
their programs to reward employee ideas and innovations. However,
it is well to remember that Congress established the suggestion award
authority as the foundation of all employee incentive award authorities.
Further, the program is rooted in a presumption that Governmentwidenot
just agencywidebenefits are to be determined and rewarded. Consequently,
OPM expects agencies to extend their interdepartmental good will and
cooperate when suggestions are referred to them from other agencies
for evaluation and possible adoption, even if the receiving agency
has curtailed formal procedures for its own employees. Agencies that
have retained their existing submission and evaluation systems rightfully
expect reasonable consideration of ideas their employees put forward. |
Frequently Asked Questions