Sponsor
Claudia Tenney
Representative · R-NY
Representative · R-NY
The bill pilots pay-for-performance and standardized evaluation tools for mid-to-senior federal staff to boost accountability and test efficiency gains, but it risks pay volatility, fairness and morale problems, extra administrative burdens, and misaligned incentives that could harm specialized missions and public services.
Federal employees in participating grades can earn pay increases and discretionary bonuses tied to measured performance (up to ~10% for top performers), creating stronger financial rewards for high performers.
Participating federal employees will receive clearer expectations, regular feedback, standardized evaluations, and training resources, which can improve skills, job performance, and productivity.
Taxpayers and Congress gain better oversight and evidence because OMB must publish annual assessments and GAO/OMB will report after the pilot, informing future workforce reform and potential efficiency gains.
Federal employees who perform poorly under the metrics can face immediate pay reductions (Tier 3 ~10% cut), be barred from certain Title 5 pay adjustments, and experience meaningful income loss and career setbacks.
Uneven participation (limited to a small percent per agency) and differing agency adoption can create cross-agency pay disparities and perceived unfairness among employees in similar roles.
Increased performance monitoring, managerial discretion, and reliance on metrics risk subjective or punitive use of evaluations, which can harm morale, stall career advancement, or produce unfair outcomes for complex or collaborative work.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Creates a 5-year OMB-run pilot tying pay to standardized annual performance metrics for select GS-11–GS-15 and Senior-Level federal employees, with tiered pay increases or cuts.
Introduced January 3, 2025 by Claudia Tenney · Last progress January 3, 2025
Creates a 5-year pilot that ties pay to standardized, measurable annual performance metrics for selected mid-to-senior level federal employees. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) runs the pilot, agencies must enroll 1–10% of eligible GS-11 through GS-15 and senior-level employees (unless an agency head documents national security or public safety risks), and employees are placed into performance tiers that can raise pay by up to 10%, leave pay unchanged, or cut pay by 10%. Participating agencies must use a common evaluation system, provide training and quarterly feedback, report quantitative and qualitative outcomes to OMB, and OMB and GAO must assess and report on results.