[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 159 (Wednesday, August 17, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54787-54789]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-19616]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
[Docket No. 160714611-6611-01]
Office of Administration; Commerce Alternative Personnel System
AGENCY: Office of Administration, Office of Human Resources Management,
Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: This notice announces modifications to the provisions of the
Commerce Alternative Personnel System, formerly the Department of
Commerce Personnel Management Demonstration Project, published in the
Federal Register on December 24, 1997.
As published on January 2, 2015 (80 FR 25), the Commerce
Alternative Personnel System implemented direct-hire authority, under
section 3304(a)(3) of Title 5 of the United States Code, for
recruitment of certain scientific and engineering positions in the ZP
career path at the Pay Band IV and above. Direct-hire authority was
authorized for positions located in the National Telecommunications and
Information Administration (NTIA), employed under the First Responder
Network Authority (FirstNet). The System was modified again, as
published on June 22, 2016 (81 FR 40653), to increase the number of
positions FirstNet could fill under direct-hire authority and to
include certain occupational series in the ZP career path at the Pay
Band III level and above.
This notice serves to make changes to the System to expand the use
of direct-hire authority to the NTIA, Institute for Telecommunication
Sciences (ITS), and authorizes ITS to fill certain ZP positions, on a
limited basis, at the Pay Band III level and above. This notice also
serves to announce the addition of the 1520--Mathematics occupational
series to the Commerce Alternative Personnel System.
DATES: The amended Commerce Alternative Personnel System is effective
August 17, 2016.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Department of Commerce--Sandra
Thompson, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th and Constitution Avenue
NW., Room 51020, Washington, DC 20230, (202) 482-0056 or Valerie Smith
at (202) 482-0272.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
1. Background
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) approved the Department of
Commerce (DoC) demonstration project for an alternative personnel
management system and published the approval of the final plan in the
Federal Register on Wednesday, December 24, 1997 (62 FR 67434). The
demonstration project was designed to simplify current classification
systems allowing greater flexibility in classifying work and paying
employees; establish a performance management and rewards system for
improving individual and organizational performance; and improve
recruiting and examining to attract highly-qualified candidates. The
purpose of the project was to strengthen the contribution of human
resources management and test whether the same innovations conducted
under the National Institute of Standards and Technology alternative
personnel management system would produce similarly successful results
in other DoC environments. The project was implemented on March 29,
1998. The project plan has been modified ten times to clarify certain
DoC Demonstration Project authorities, and to extend and expand the
project: 64 FR 52810 (September 30, 1999); 68 FR 47948 (August 12,
2003); 68 FR 54505 (September 17, 2003); 70 FR 38732 (July 5, 2005); 71
FR 25615 (May 1, 2006); 71 FR 50950 (August 28, 2006); 74 FR 22728 (May
14, 2009); 80 FR 25 (January 2, 2015); 81 FR 20322 (April 7, 2016); 81
FR 40653 (June 22, 2016). With the passage of the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2008, Public Law 110-161, on December 26, 2007, the
project was made permanent (extended indefinitely) and renamed the
Commerce Alternative Personnel System (CAPS).
CAPS provides for modifications to be made as experience is gained,
results are analyzed, and conclusions are reached on how the system is
working. This notice announces that the DoC implements ITS' use of
direct-hire authority under 5 U.S.C. 3304(a)(3) to fill specific
scientific and engineering positions announced through this notice in
the ZP career path and adds the occupational series: 1520--Mathematics
to the ZP career path. The DoC will follow the CAPS plan, as published
in the Federal Register on December 24, 1997, and subsequent
modifications as listed in the Background Section of this notice.
Kevin E. Mahoney,
Director for Human Resources Management and Chief Human Capital
Officer.
Table of Contents
I. Executive Summary
II. Basis for CAPS Expansion
III. Changes to the Project Plan
[[Page 54788]]
I. Executive Summary
CAPS is designed to (1) improve hiring and allow DoC to compete
more effectively for high-quality candidates through direct hiring,
selective use of higher entry salaries, and selective use of
recruitment incentives; (2) motivate and retain staff through higher
pay potential, pay-for-performance, more responsive personnel systems,
and selective use of retention incentives; (3) strengthen the manager's
role in personnel management through delegation of personnel
authorities; and (4) increase the efficiency of personnel systems
through the 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 personnel systems, and
through automation.
The current participating organizations include 7 offices of the
Chief Financial Officer/Assistant Secretary for Administration in the
Office of the Secretary; the Bureau of Economic Analysis; the Institute
for Telecommunication Sciences--National Telecommunications and
Information Administration; the First Responder Network Authority--
National Telecommunications and Information Administration; and 12
units of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: Office of
Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, National Marine Fisheries Service,
the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service,
National Weather Service--Space Environment Center, National Ocean
Service, Program Planning and Integration Office, Office of the Under
Secretary, Marine and Aviation Operations, Office of the Chief
Administrative Officer, Office of the Chief Financial Officer, the
Workforce Management Office, and the Office of the Chief Information
Officer.
This amendment modifies the June 22, 2016, Federal Register notice
(81 FR 40653). Specifically, it expands and implements direct-hire
authority for ITS and enables ITS to hire, after public notice is
given, any qualified applicants in the ZP career path series as defined
in the Basis for CAPS Expansion section without regard to 5 U.S.C.
3309-3318, 5 CFR part 211, or 5 CFR part 337, subpart A on a limited
basis.
II. Basis for CAPS Expansion
A. Purpose
CAPS is designed to provide managers at the lowest organizational
level the authority, control, and flexibility to recruit, retain,
develop, recognize, and motivate its workforce, while ensuring adequate
accountability and oversight.
ITS is responsible for providing core telecommunications research
and engineering services to promote enhanced domestic competition and
new technology deployment; advancing telecommunications and information
services; improving foreign trade opportunities for U.S.
telecommunication firms and more efficient use of the radio frequency
spectrum. ITS also serves as a principal Federal resource for
investigating the telecommunications challenges of other Federal
agencies, state and local governments, private corporations and
associations, and international organizations. In particular, this
includes assisting Federal public safety agencies, the Federal
Communications Commission, and agencies that use Federal spectrum. As
specified in the June 28, 2010, Presidential Memorandum, ``Unleashing
the Wireless Broadband Revolution'' NTIA is responsible for exploring
innovative spectrum-sharing technologies. As the research and
engineering laboratory for NTIA, ITS supports NTIA by performing
research that enables the U.S. Government, national and international
standards organizations, and many aspects of private industry to manage
the radio spectrum and ensure that innovative, new technologies are
recognized and effective. To continue to advance strategic initiatives
to make additional spectrum available for commercial wireless use and
to meet the increasing radio spectrum needs of both Federal and
commercial users in the U.S. as efficiently and effectively as
possible, ITS must quickly hire qualified individuals, for specialized
roles, to advance communication technologies.
Section 3304(a)(3) of Title 5 United States Code provides agencies
with the authority to appoint candidates directly to jobs for which the
OPM determines that there is a severe shortage of candidates or a
critical hiring need. OPM's direct-hire authority enables agencies to
hire, after public notice is given, any qualified applicant without
regard to 5 U.S.C. 3309-3318, 5 CFR part 211, or 5 CFR part 337,
subpart A.
This notice implements ITS' use of direct-hire authority to fill up
to 20 positions in the ZP career path, at Pay Band III or higher, in
the following occupational series: 0854--Computer Engineering; 0855--
Electronics Engineering; 1310--Physics; 1550--Computer Science; or
1520--Mathematics. The use of direct-hire authority to fill these
positions will not exceed 20 positions in the ZP career path at any one
time. ITS will track the number of hires made under direct-hire
authority, ensuring numbers specified for the occupational series are
not exceeded.
In 1997, with the approval of the DoC's Demonstration Project (62
FR 67434, December 24, 1997), OPM concurred that some occupations in
the ZP career path at the Pay Band III and above constitute a shortage
category, and some occupations for which there is a special rate under
the General Schedule pay system constitute a shortage category. Past
recruitment efforts have demonstrated a critical shortage of candidates
possessing specialized technical expertise in spectrum measurements,
spectrum monitoring, propagation modeling, 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE)
technologies, mobile systems development, computer security, systems
engineering, scientific software development, as well as expertise in
public safety organizational operations and infrastructure
capabilities. ITS will use direct-hire authority to recruit Computer
Engineers, Electronics Engineers, Computer Scientists, Physicists and
Mathematicians in the ZP career path, Pay Band III or higher, with
efforts focused on recruiting individuals possessing the above listed
specialized technical areas of expertise. Recruitment of individuals
possessing this expertise is critical in order to measure, analyze,
monitor, and evaluate cutting edge technologies and methods that will
make spectrum sharing possible.
DoC's CAPS allows for modifications of procedures if no new waiver
from law or regulation is added. Given that this expansion and
modification is in accordance with existing law and regulation and CAPS
is a permanent alternative personnel system, the DoC is authorized to
make the changes described in this notice.
III. Changes to the Project Plan
The CAPS at DoC, originally published in the Federal Register on
December 24, 1997 (62 FR 67434), and subsequently expanded as discussed
above, Section III (81 FR 40653, June 22, 2016), is modified as
follows:
1. The following series is added to Table 2:
Scientific and Engineering (ZP) Career Path 1520, Mathematics Series
2. Section III Personnel System Changes, (B) Staffing: Replace the
paragraph in subsection titled: ``Direct-Hire Authority: Critical
Shortage Occupations'' to state:
[[Page 54789]]
DoC FirstNet and ITS use direct-hire procedures for categories
of occupations that require skills that are in short supply. The
following occupations and series constitute a shortage category at
the Pay Band III and above in the ZP Career Path: Emergency
Management Specialists (Public Safety) (0089), Electrical Engineers
(0850), Computer Engineers (0854), Electronics Engineers, (0855),
Physicists (1310), Computer Scientists (1550), and Mathematicians
(1520). FirstNet is authorized to fill positions in the following
occupational series using direct-hire procedures: 0089, 0850, 0854,
0855, and 1550 in all duty locations. ITS is authorized to fill
positions in the following occupational series: 0854, 0855, 1310,
1550, and 1520 in all duty locations. Positions in these categories
may be filled by FirstNet and ITS through direct-hire procedures in
accordance with 5 U.S.C. 3304(a)(3). DoC FirstNet and ITS advertise
the availability of job opportunities in direct-hire occupations by
posting on the OPM USAJOBS Web site. DoC FirstNet and ITS will
follow internal direct-hire procedures for accepting applications.
[FR Doc. 2016-19616 Filed 8-16-16; 8:45 am]
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