Report - Government Executive

employees received performance ratings, salary increases, and bonuses under the methodology.
Intelligence employees in DIA, NSA, the Navy, Marine Corps, and OUSD(I) received
performance ratings and bonuses under DCIPS, but were precluded from receiving salary
increases during NDAA-imposed interim period. For these agencies, this was a mock pay pool
exercise and analysis. Air Force, Army, and DSS did not participate and were not included in
the analysis.
Approximately 97.3 percent of DCIPS employees received a performance evaluation for the
2009 cycle, and 98.2 percent of those were eligible to receive a bonus. 164 Approximately 99.5
percent of rated employees received an evaluation of record of Successful or higher, meaning
that almost all employees were eligible to receive performance bonuses and performance-based
pay increases. In the mock pay pools, about 44 percent of employees would have received both
a performance salary increase and performance bonus. 165 The remaining population was split
between those who would have received a bonus but no salary increase (less than 1 percent) and
vice versa (55 percent). Ratings rose with pay band, and supervisors rated higher in Pay Bands
3, 4, and 5 than did non-supervisors.
The analysis also showed that differences across pay pools complicated the investigation of
performance ratings due to differences in work demands, the mix of jobs and experience, and the
application of the common performance indicators and benchmarks in a local context. As with
the separate analysis conducted by NGA, discussed below, this analysis could not determine
whether variances in ratings assigned to employees in certain protected classes reflected
legitimate performance differences, and thus this issue requires further review.
OUSD(I) DCIPS Survey Results
The preliminary results of the OUSD(I) DCIPS Survey present a mixed picture of DCIPS.
Although employees overwhelmingly (81 percent) agreed or strongly agreed with the concept of
performance-based compensation in principle, 166 far fewer agreed that their performance would
be more effectively recognized under DCIPS than under GS (22 percent) or that career
advancement opportunities would be greater (15 percent). 167
There is much greater agreement that DCIPS allows employees to understand their performance
objectives and how their work relates to organizational goals and priorities (78 percent). 168
Employees also agreed that their supervisors know and understand what they do (69 percent) and
take an interest in their success (65 percent). 169 Fewer agreed that supervisors provide helpful
explanations of the bases for ratings under DCIPS (53 percent), that ratings were fair (54
“2009 DCIPS Payout Analysis.”
164 DCIPS Payout Analysis.
165 Ibid. DCIPS guidance is that, in order to ensure that bonus amounts are meaningful, no more than 50 percent of
employees generally should receive a bonus.
166 2010 DCIPS Survey Preliminary Results, Question 10.. Response choices included “Strongly Disagree,”
“Disagree,” “Neither Agree nor Disagree,” “Agree,” and “Strongly Agree.”
167 Ibid. Questions 11, 13.
168 Ibid. Questions 49, 68.
169 Ibid. Questions 58, 67
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