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Rules and Regulations
Federal Register Vol. 86, No. 38
Monday, March 1, 2021

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER
contains regulatory documents having general applicability and legal effect, most of which are keyed to and codified in the Code of Federal Regulations, which is published under 50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.
The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by the Superintendent of Documents.

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL
MANAGEMENT
5 CFR Part 532
RIN 3206AO15

Prevailing Rate Systems; Conduct of Local Wage Surveys Office of Personnel Management.
ACTION: Interim final rule; request for comments.
AGENCY:

The Office of Personnel Management is issuing an interim final rule to amend regulations to allow for additional options to collect wage data during Federal Wage System full-scale and wage change surveys, namely, by personal visit, telephone, mail, or electronic means. This change is based on a majority recommendation of the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee and was initiated by a Department of Defense request for greater flexibility to obtain accurate and timely prevailing wage data in local labor markets during and after the national emergency caused by the COVID19 health crisis.
DATES: The interim final rule is effective on March 31, 2021. Comments must be received on or before March 31, 2021.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number and/or Regulatory Information Number RIN
and title, by the following method:
Federal Rulemaking Portal: http
www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
All submissions received must include the agency name and docket number or RIN for this document. The general policy for comments and other submissions from members of the public is to make these submissions available for public viewing at http
www.regulations.gov as they are received without change, including any personal identifiers or contact information.
SUMMARY:

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mark Allen, by telephone at 202 606
2858 or by email at pay-leave-policy@
opm.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office of Personnel Management OPM
received a request from the Department of Defense DOD to amend the regulatory provisions in part 532 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations CFR, which require in-person visits by data collectors to private industrial establishments for Federal Wage System FWS full-scale wage surveys. This interim final rule amends sections 5
CFR 532.201, 532.207, 532.235, and 532.247.
Under sections 5343a2 and 3 of title 5, United States Code, OPM
designates a lead agency for each wage area to conduct wage surveys, analyze wage survey data, and develop and establish appropriate wage schedules and rates for prevailing rate employees.
DOD is the designated lead agency for all FWS wage areas.
Wage surveys are conducted every year. A full-scale wage survey is conducted one year, with data collectors required to make in-person visits to local private sector employers to collect wage data. The next year a wage change survey is conducted, with data collectors contacting participants from the prior full-scale wage survey to collect wage data on previously collected jobs.
The overall objective of FWS wage surveys is to obtain the most accurate information possible to measure prevailing wage levels in each wage area and establish wage schedules in accordance with prevailing rate systems law. The preferred method for collecting wage data from private sector establishments during full-scale wage surveys is by personal visit to such establishments. Even though the preferred method continues to be personal visits, technological advances now provide new tools for data collection that were not available when the FWS pay system was established.
There are now electronic tools, systems, devices, and resources that assist in gathering information in cost effective and reliable ways. Use of these new tools would provide DOD staff with opportunities to innovate and improve data collection methods.
Labor participation at all levels is a requirement within the FWS, including
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for the collection and the analysis of the survey data. In all wage areas, local labor-management teams participate in the collection of data from private sector establishments. This will not change. As the lead agency for all wage areas, DOD
will continue to work together with labor organizations during the data collection process even when in-person visits cannot be conducted. Labor participation will be facilitated through alternative data collection processes to include telephone, mail, and electronic means.
The Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee FPRAC, the national labormanagement committee responsible for advising OPM on matters concerning the pay of FWS employees, recommended this change by majority vote.
Waiver of Notice of Proposed Rule Making OPM is issuing this rulemaking as an interim final rule and has determined that, under the Administrative Procedure Act APA, 5 U.S.C.
553bB, it would be impracticable and contrary to the public interest to delay a final regulation until a public notice and comment process has been completed. OPM also is waiving general notice of proposed rulemaking under the Civil Service Reform Acts parallel rulemaking provision, 5 U.S.C.
1103b3, because the interim final rule is temporary in nature and necessary to be implemented expeditiously as a result of an emergency.
The United States is experiencing a national emergency caused by the spread of the novel coronavirus SARS
CoV2 and the respiratory disease it causes COVID19. OPM has established in regulation a timetable for when a local wage survey must begin in each FWS wage area. Due to this national emergency, DOD staff responsible for local wage survey activities have not been able to travel and collect local wage survey data. In addition, many private sector establishments where DOD wage survey staff normally collect wage data are not operating with human resources staff on site to meet in person. The current pandemic was not envisioned when the wage survey timetable was originally established and OPM does not have the ability under the law or regulation to
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