Anna Efetova/Getty Images

Rank Awards Nominations Open, and More

A weekly roundup of pay and benefits news.

The Office of Personnel Management announced Tuesday that has begun to accept nominations for the Presidential Rank Awards, an annual program to reward top performing career leaders across the federal government.

The awards, which provide winners with cash bonuses, were controversially canceled in 2020 by the Trump administration, who cited the COVID-19 pandemic. When President Biden took office, he reinstated the program, and the 2021 iteration doled out awards to 230 senior executives and leaders from 37 agencies, an increase from the 141 winners in 2019 and 131 in 2018.

In a memo to agency heads, OPM Director Kiran Ahuja said nominations would be open from now until March 25, and the White House will choose winners by Sept. 30. This year, agencies will be limited to nominating 9% of their career senior executives and senior leaders, with some caveats.

“By regulations, all agencies, as well as inspectors general nominations made through [the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency], may nominate up to 9% of their career SES and SL/ST populations; however, agency heads should consider their fiscal conditions and resources needed to meet overall agency mission priorities in determining the number of nominations to submit,” Ahuja wrote. “[Agencies] with fewer than 12 SES or SL/ST employees may still nominate one SES and/or SL/ST member respectively.”

In a statement accompanying the announcement, Ahuja said the award program is an important way for the government to show that it values the federal workforce.

“The award recognizes senior executives who see opportunity in every challenge and who inspire and empower the people who work around them,” she said. “We are looking for extraordinary leaders who have displayed an earnest commitment to public service, and I have encouraged agencies to draw on all segments of their executive workforce to nominate every deserving individual for this honor.”

TSP Adjusts How It Confirms Its Investment Strategy

Officials at the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program on Wednesday voted to tweak the process by which it affirms the policy governing how the Thrift Savings Plan invests federal employees’ savings.

The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, which administers the TSP, operates many aspects of federal employees’ defined contribution retirement savings program, but issues contracts to two asset management firms to handle the day-to-day investment decisions for four of the five “core” funds. Those firms rely on an investment policy, which is laid out by the TSP board and for decades has been reaffirmed on a quarterly basis.

Sean McCaffrey, the TSP’s chief investment officer, said that the TSP worked with a consultant to examine that longstanding practice, and found that most defined contribution plans, including most public sector plans, update their investment policies on an annual basis, rather than quarterly.

“Changes to the investment policy are extremely rare, as are the changes to the funds’ benchmarks,” McCaffrey said. “The funds are [passively], not actively, managed, and deviations from benchmarks due to investment policies are expected to be small.”

TSP Board Member Bill Jasien asked what staff found regarding why the TSP adopted a quarterly standard for affirming its investment policies.

“Why was it established on a quarterly basis to begin with?” he said. “Was that just the way it’s always been, or is there a specific reason?”

“To my knowledge, it has been this way from the beginning,” McCaffrey said.

Board Member Dana Bilyeu was supportive of the change, noting that examining the investment policy so frequently has led the process to become a rote exercise, rather than a meaningful review.

“Reviewing on a quarterly basis in some ways defeats the purpose of the long-term nature of this fund,” she said. “I fully support moving to an annual review process.”

The board voted unanimously to approve the change. The next time the TSP will reaffirm its investment policy now will be in January 2023.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.