Federal Salary Council Meeting, 48788 [E9-23007]
Download as PDF
<![CDATA[
48788
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 184 / Thursday, September 24, 2009 / Notices
OFFICE OF PERSONNEL
MANAGEMENT
POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION
Federal Salary Council Meeting
Postal Service Incentive Pricing
Program
[Docket No. R2009–5; Order No. 299]
AGENCY: Office of Personnel
Management.
ACTION:
ACTION:
Notice of meeting.
The Federal Salary Council
will meet on October 19, 2009, at the
time and location shown below. The
Council is an advisory body composed
of representatives of Federal employee
organizations and experts in the fields
of labor relations and pay policy. The
Council makes recommendations to the
President’s Pay Agent (the Secretary of
Labor and the Directors of the Office of
Management and Budget and the Office
of Personnel Management) about the
locality pay program for General
Schedule employees under section 5304
of title 5, United States Code. The
Council’s recommendations cover the
establishment or modification of locality
pay areas, the coverage of salary
surveys, the process of comparing
Federal and non-Federal rates of pay,
and the level of comparability payments
that should be paid.
At the October 19 meeting, the
Council will hear requests for changes
in locality pay areas, review the results
of pay comparisons and formulate its
recommendations to the President’s Pay
Agent on pay comparison methods,
locality pay rates, and locality pay area
boundaries for 2011. The meeting is
open to the public. Please contact the
Office of Personnel Management at the
address shown below if you wish to
submit testimony or present material to
the Council at the meeting.
SUMMARY:
October 19, 2009, at 10 a.m.
Location: Office of Personnel
Management, 1900 E Street, NW., Room
1350, Washington, DC.
srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with NOTICES
DATES:
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Charles D. Grimes III, Deputy Associate
Director for Performance and Pay
Systems, Office of Personnel
Management, 1900 E Street, NW., Room
7H31, Washington, DC 20415–8200.
Phone (202) 606–2838; FAX (202) 606–
4264; or e-mail at pay-performancepolicy@opm.gov.
For the President’s Pay Agent.
John Berry,
Director.
[FR Doc. E9–23007 Filed 9–23–09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6325–39–P
VerDate Nov<24>2008
16:27 Sep 23, 2009
Postal Regulatory Commission.
Notice.
AGENCY:
Jkt 217001
SUMMARY: The Postal Service has
prepared, and the Commission has
approved, a special program offering
reduced rates on certain presorted FirstClass Mail. This document addresses
related issues and provides pertinent
details.
DATES: Effective September 24, 2009.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Stephen L. Sharfman, General Counsel,
202–789–6820 and
stephen.sharfman@prc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Regulatory
History, 74 FR 41947 (August 19, 2009).
I. Introduction
II. Description of the Incentive Program
III. Comments
IV. Commission Analysis
V. Ordering Paragraphs
I. Introduction
A. Overview
The Postal Service proposes to offer
eligible companies a 20 percent postage
rebate on qualifying presorted FirstClass letter, flat, and card volumes
mailed between October 1, 2009 and
December 31, 2009.1 Under the
proposal, which the Postal Service calls
the First-Class Mail Incentive Program
(Incentive Program), qualifying volume
is defined as a single company’s FirstClass Mail volume over and above a
predetermined threshold. Notice at 3.
For reasons discussed below, the
Commission approves the Incentive
Program.
The Incentive Program is designed as
‘‘a short-term incentive to use the mail
and stabilize or grow’’ presorted FirstClass Mail volume in response to the
current economic downturn and
declining mail volumes. Id. The Postal
Service estimates that the Incentive
Program will generate additional
revenue of $43 million with a net
contribution of about $24 million. Id. at
7.
The Commission recognizes the
serious circumstances giving rise to this
1 United States Postal Service Notice of MarketDominant Price Adjustment, August 11, 2009
(Notice) and Notice of United States Postal Service
of Filing Supplemental Information, August 14,
2009 (Supplemental Notice). The latter provides a
spreadsheet with additional data on the Incentive
Program’s financial impact. The Postal Service
published implementing regulations in the Federal
Register on September 2, 2009. See 74 FR 45325
(September 2, 2009).
PO 00000
Frm 00080
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
proposal and finds it to be a worthwhile
effort to generate new volumes of FirstClass Mail, the Postal Service’s flagship
product. The Postal Service cites the
Incentive Program as ‘‘an example of the
increased flexibility provided to the
Postal Service under the [PAEA].’’ Id. at
10. The Commission agrees.
The Commission must comment
however, that the Postal Service’s filing,
including its responses to Chairman
Information Requests, unnecessarily
delayed this decision.2 For example, the
Postal Service initially failed to provide
basic information needed to verify its
volume and revenue projections, and it
provided an imprecise and thereby
confusing description of program
eligibility, questionable volume
assumptions, and a less-than-complete
risk analysis. These problems hampered
prompt Commission review.
The revamped ratemaking process
mandated by the PAEA assigns
complementary roles to the Postal
Service and the Commission. The Postal
Service’s pricing flexibility with its
attendant shortened review period
requires that pricing adjustment filings
be fully documented at submission and
supported throughout the course of
review to permit the Commission to
analyze such filings adequately during
the accelerated review periods. The
failure to provide full documentation at
the outset compromises the
Commission’s ability to thoroughly and
expeditiously evaluate proposals.
The Commission’s rules
implementing 39 U.S.C. 3622 require
filings to be fully supported. Moreover,
the Commission has too frequently had
to reiterate the need for Postal Service
pricing proposals to be adequately
supported and to adhere to accepted
analytical principles. While not
disqualifying in this instance, the
Commission finds it necessary to
underscore that future pricing
adjustment filings must be fully
supported and documented to enable
the Commission to adequately assess
their merits in timely fashion.
Otherwise, the Commission will be
obliged to defer action on such
proposals pending the development of a
more complete record.3
2 The Notice was filed pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 3622,
as amended by the Postal Accountability and
Enhancement Act (PAEA) of 2006, and 39 CFR part
3010, the Commission’s regulations governing
market dominant price adjustments.
3 As discussed below, the Postal Service’s
responses to Chairman’s Information Requests,
including its last, late response filed September 10,
2009, were deficient in several respects and
hindered the Commission’s ability to evaluate the
Incentive Program fully. Although still within the
statutory deadline, this order was delayed, and
issued two days later than planned.
E:\FR\FM\24SEN1.SGM
24SEN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 184 (Thursday, September 24, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Page 48788]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-23007]
[[Page 48788]]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
Federal Salary Council Meeting
AGENCY: Office of Personnel Management.
ACTION: Notice of meeting.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Federal Salary Council will meet on October 19, 2009, at
the time and location shown below. The Council is an advisory body
composed of representatives of Federal employee organizations and
experts in the fields of labor relations and pay policy. The Council
makes recommendations to the President's Pay Agent (the Secretary of
Labor and the Directors of the Office of Management and Budget and the
Office of Personnel Management) about the locality pay program for
General Schedule employees under section 5304 of title 5, United States
Code. The Council's recommendations cover the establishment or
modification of locality pay areas, the coverage of salary surveys, the
process of comparing Federal and non-Federal rates of pay, and the
level of comparability payments that should be paid.
At the October 19 meeting, the Council will hear requests for
changes in locality pay areas, review the results of pay comparisons
and formulate its recommendations to the President's Pay Agent on pay
comparison methods, locality pay rates, and locality pay area
boundaries for 2011. The meeting is open to the public. Please contact
the Office of Personnel Management at the address shown below if you
wish to submit testimony or present material to the Council at the
meeting.
DATES: October 19, 2009, at 10 a.m.
Location: Office of Personnel Management, 1900 E Street, NW., Room
1350, Washington, DC.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Charles D. Grimes III, Deputy
Associate Director for Performance and Pay Systems, Office of Personnel
Management, 1900 E Street, NW., Room 7H31, Washington, DC 20415-8200.
Phone (202) 606-2838; FAX (202) 606-4264; or e-mail at pay-performance-policy@opm.gov.
For the President's Pay Agent.
John Berry,
Director.
[FR Doc. E9-23007 Filed 9-23-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6325-39-P
