Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 112 / Friday, June 9, 2000 / Notices 36743

Deposit, is used to give recent retirees

the opportunity to waive Direct Deposit

of their payments from OPM. The form

is sent only if the separating agency did

not give the retiring employee this

election opportunity.

Approximately 45,500 forms are

completed annually. The form takes

approximately 30 minutes to complete.

The annual estimated burden is 22,750

hours.

For copies of this proposal, contact

Mary Beth Smith-Toomey on (202) 606–

8358, or E-mail to mbtoomey@opm.gov

DATES: Comments on this proposal

should be received on or before July 10,

2000.

ADDRESSES: Send or deliver comments

to:

Ronald W. Melton, Chief, Operations

Support Division, Retirement and

Insurance Service, U.S. Office of

Personnel Management, 1900 E Street,

NW, Room 3349, Washington, DC

20415;

and

Joseph Lackey, OPM Desk Officer,

Office of Information and Regulatory

Affairs, Office of Management and

Budget, New Executive Office

Building, NW Room 3002,

Washington, DC 20503.

For information regarding

administrative coordination contact:

Donna G. Lease, Team Leader, Forms

Analysis and Design, Budget &

Administrative Services Division, (202)

606–0623.

U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

Janice R. Lachance,

Director.

[FR Doc. 00–14628 Filed 6–8–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6325–01–U

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL

MANAGEMENT

January 2000 Pay Adjustments

AGENCY: Office of Personnel

Management.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The President adjusted the

rates of basic pay and locality payments

for certain categories of Federal

employees in January 2000. This notice

documents those pay adjustments for

the public record.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Denise Jenkins, Office of Compensation

Administration, Workforce

Compensation and Performance Service,

Office of Personnel Management, (202)

606–2858, FAX (202) 606–0824, or

email to payleave@opm.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On

December 21, 1999, the President signed

Executive Order 13144 (64 FR 72237,

December 23, 1999), which established

the January 2000 across-the-board

adjustments for the statutory pay

systems and the 2000 locality pay

adjustments for General Schedule (GS)

employees in the 48 contiguous States

and the District of Columbia. The

President made these adjustments

consistent with section 646 of the

Treasury and General Government

Appropriations Act, 2000 (Public Law

106–58, September 29, 1999). Schedule

1 of Executive Order 13144 provides the

rates for the 2000 General Schedule and

reflects a 3.8 percent general increase.

Executive Order 13144 also includes the

percentage amounts of the 2000 locality

payments. (See Section 5 and Schedule

9 of Executive Order 13144.) The

publication of this notice satisfies the

requirement in section 5(b) of Executive

Order 13144 that the Office of Personnel

Management (OPM) publish appropriate

notice of the 2000 locality payments in

the Federal Register.

GS employees receive locality

payments under 5 U.S.C. 5304. Locality

payments apply in the 48 contiguous

States and the District of Columbia. In

2000, locality payments ranging from

6.78 percent to 15.01 percent apply to

GS employees in 32 locality pay areas.

These 2000 locality pay percentages,

which replaced the locality pay

percentages that were applicable in

1999, became effective on the first day

of the first applicable pay period

beginning on or after January 1, 2000.

An employee’s locality-adjusted annual

rate of pay is computed by increasing

his or her scheduled annual rate of basic

pay (as defined in 5 U.S.C. 5302(8) and

5 CFR 531.602) by the applicable

locality pay percentage. (See 5 CFR

531.604 and 531.605.)

On December 7, 1999, the President’s

Pay Agent extended the 2000 localitybased comparability payments to the

same Governmentwide and singleagency categories of non-GS employees

that received the 1999 locality

payments. The Governmentwide

categories include members of the

Senior Executive Service (SES), the

Foreign Service, the Senior Foreign

Service, employees in senior-level (SL)

and scientific or professional (ST)

positions, administrative law judges,

and members of Boards of Contract

Appeals.

Executive Order 13144 establishes the

new Executive Schedule, which

incorporates the 3.4 percent increase

required under 5 U.S.C. 5318. The

Executive order also reflects a decision

by the President to increase the rates of

basic pay for members of the Senior

Executive Service (SES) by 3.8 percent

(rounded to the nearest $100) at SES

levels ES–1 through ES–3 and by 3.6

percent (rounded to the nearest $100) at

ES–4. Since the maximum rate of basic

pay for SES members is limited by law

to the rate for level IV of the Executive

Schedule, which was increased to

$122,400, the rates of basic pay for

levels ES–5 and ES–6 were increased by

approximately 3.4 percent (rounded to

the nearest $100).

Public Law 106–97 of November 12,

1999, amended 5 U.S.C. 5372 to provide

the President with authority to adjust

the rates of basic pay for administrative

law judges (ALJs) at the time of the pay

increase for the statutory pay systems.

The Executive order reflects a decision

by the President to increase the rates of

basic pay for ALJs at level AL–2 and

AL–3 by 3.8 percent (rounded to the

nearest $100). The President increased

the rate of basic pay for AL–1 by

approximately 3.4 percent (rounded to

the nearest $100), since that rate is

capped at the rate of basic pay for level

IV of the Executive Schedule.

The rates of basic pay for Board of

Contract Appeals (BCA) members are

calculated as a percentage of the rate for

level IV of the Executive Schedule. (See

5 U.S.C. 5372a.) Therefore, BCA rates of

basic pay were increased by

approximately 3.4 percent. Also, the

maximum rate of basic pay for seniorlevel (SL) and scientific or professional

(ST) positions was increased by

approximately 3.4 percent (to $122,400)

because it is tied to the rate for level IV

of the Executive Schedule. The

minimum rate of basic pay for SL/ST

positions is equal to 120 percent of the

minimum rate of basic pay for GS–15,

and thus was increased by 3.8 percent

(to $93,137). (See 5 U.S.C. 5376.)

OPM published ‘‘Salary Tables for

2000’’ (OPM Doc. 124–48–6) in March

2000. This document provides complete

salary tables incorporating the 2000 pay

adjustments, information on general pay

administration matters, locality pay area

definitions, Internal Revenue Service

withholding tables, and other related

information. The rates of pay shown in

‘‘Salary Tables for 2000’’ are the official

rates of pay for affected employees and

are hereby incorporated as part of this

notice. You may purchase copies of

‘‘Salary Tables for 2000’’ from the

Government Printing Office (GPO) by

calling (202) 512–1800 or FAX (202)

512–2250. You may order copies

directly from GPO on the Internet at

http://orders.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/

sale/prf/prf.html. In addition, you can

find pay tables on OPM’s Internet

website at http://www.opm.gov/oca/

payrates/index.htm.

36744 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 112 / Friday, June 9, 2000 / Notices

Office of Personnel Management.

Janice R. Lachance,

Director.

[FR Doc. 00–14625 Filed 6–8–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6325–01–U

POSTAL SERVICE

Quality Control Reviews for

Discounted Letters (Presorted/

Automation Rate Mail)

AGENCY: Postal Service.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: This second notice provides

responses to comments submitted

concerning the notice published in the

Federal Register (65 FR 141–142) about

the Mail Quality Analysis (MQA)

program. MQA is an automated quality

control review tool for automation letter

mail preparation. It focuses on presort

and piece count accuracy. MQA uses

existing automation equipment,

software, and reports to compare actual

sortation to mailer documentation for

sampled mail.

DATES: Effective May 1, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mark Richards, (703) 329–3684.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On

January 3, 2000, the Postal Service

published a Notice and Request for

Comments concerning the MQA

program in the Federal Register.

Descriptions of the MQA program and

announcements to business mailers

about MQA were published in Postal

Bulletin 22012 (December 2, 1999) and

in the December issue of Mailers

Companion. Further details will appear

in Mailers Companion and will be

presented at Postal Customer Council

meetings.

MQA will begin on May 1, 2000, and

will phase in to full implementation on

October 15, 2000. From May 1 to

October 15, 2000, MQA reports will be

provided to mailers as diagnostic

information, enabling mailers to assure

that their design, preparation, and

production procedures result in

mailings that qualify for the postage

rates claimed. After October 15, 2000,

mailings showing more than a 5 percent

presort error rate will result in a postage

adjustment if the adjustment totals more

than $50. After October 15, a mailer’s

first-ever MQA analysis will serve as a

notice only. In all cases, MQA feedback

will help mailers to identify and fix the

root causes of any presort and/or piece

count errors.

The Postal Service and mailers have

worked together for many years to

improve the quality of mail, which

ultimately benefits all customers

through more stable postage rates. MQA

incorporates a quality control analysis

process, with feedback to the mailer on

the results of the review. Only mailers

with consistent quality control problems

will experience routine postage

adjustments. The MQA feedback

process, however, is designed to help

prevent consistent problems from

happening. MQA, as a process

management tool, is analogous to the inprocess quality/inventory/productivity

indicators used by other businesses and

industries in their quality control

efforts.

MQA uses existing equipment,

software, and reports to compare mail

sortation and piece counts with mail

qualification reports submitted by the

mailer. MQA provides an additional

return to the Postal Service and our

customers from ongoing investments in

technology and software. MQA is not a

developmental program, but a new

application of existing capabilities. The

Postal Service believes it is vital to

create an environment that leads to

high-quality mail and also bolsters the

integrity of the worksharing discount

program. MQA enhances an

environment where each mailer pays

postage commensurate with preparation

of their mail.

Summary of Comments Received

The Postal Service received five

comments in response to the January 3,

2000, Federal Register notice. The

commenters were two mailer

associations, one mailing logistics firm,

one mailing service, and one large mailorder firm.

Specific issues raised in the

comments are presented below. All

commenters supported the goal of

improving mail quality for the benefit of

all postal customers. Concerns were

primarily related to the postage

adjustment aspect of MQA. One

commenter limited his concern to say

that calculations for postage

adjustments need to be clearly stated,

and the MQA reports as described do so.

The following is a summary of the other

comments:

1. Implementation should not have

occurred before the comment period

expired. The mailing industry should

have been involved up front in the

development of MQA.

2. Mailers should be given advance

notice when their mail is to be reviewed

under MQA.

3. After initial verification and

acceptance, can the Postal Service

perform additional quality reviews?

4. Can the Postal Service legally

initiate a postage adjustment for mail

after acceptance? There is a limited

opportunity for ‘‘rework’’ of mail

preparation errors.

5. Mailers are not responsible for their

mail after it has been accepted by the

Postal Service.

6. Are MQA reports linked to the

sample and mailing (associated with the

mailing and custody of sample), and are

MQA samples dispatched in a timely

manner?

7. Do equipment issues (reading

accuracy and availability of machine

maintenance records) affect MQA?

8. It is not fair to calculate postage

adjustments against the entire mailing;

the sample size is small compared to the

potential postage adjustment.

9. Postage adjustments are difficult for

mailers to pay. Institute a delay for

collection of postage.

10. How will mailers know what to

fix?

11. Will mailers have appeal rights

and protection from arbitrary

determinations?

12. The MQA program should be

discontinued, and costs of presort errors

spread among all mailers.

13. MQA is a threat to customers and

will not encourage more mail.

14. MQA should be rolled out to all

mailers, not just to larger mailers.

Responses to Comments

Item 1: Full implementation of MQA

was scheduled for June 3, 2000 (well

after expiration of the comment period

on February 2), and has now been

deferred to October 15, 2000. Mailers

and their associations have been

engaged in dialogue with the Postal

Service for the past several months. It

also is significant that the diagnostic

and feedback provisions incorporated

within MQA have been requested by a

variety of mailers for some time. MQA

uses existing equipment, software, and

reports to compare mail sortation with

mailer presort documentation and

provides an additional return to the

Postal Service and our customers from

ongoing investments in technology and

software.

Item 2: To assure that MQA reviews

are a true picture of mail as routinely

submitted to the Postal Service, advance

notification of mailings selected for

review will not occur, either internally

or to mailers. Mailers with on-site

detached mail units (DMUs), however,

likely will notice that a particular

mailing has been selected for analysis,

because trays will be isolated for the

MQA review. Mailers whose mailings

are submitted to a business mail entry

unit (BMEU) may not know their mail

was analyzed until they receive an MQA

report. In recent industry discussion