The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has vetoed the Special Salary Rate (SSR) for IT and cybersecurity employees, according to Department of Energy (DoE) Chief Information Officer (CIO) Ann Dunkin.
Dunkin made that announcement today at ATARC’s 2023 CIO Summit in Washington, D.C., noting that Federal agencies will need to turn to other ways to attract and retain top tech talent.
“For those of you who pay attention to the news, OMB said, ‘We’re not sure you need the Special Salary Rate, and you can’t afford it anyways, so we’re not implementing it,’” Dunkin said. “So, that great plan we had for special salary for IT – that’s gone.”
“We don’t have a lot of levers in terms of money,” she added. “So, we’ve got to find other ways to attract talent, retain talent, and build training opportunities to, again, help us attract and retain those folks.”
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) initially approved a government-wide SSR for IT specialists – pending communications with other Federal agencies – in January. Agencies such as the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) said they planned to implement the SSR as a way to compete with private sector salaries.
However, the VA officially implemented an SSR in July under its new PACT Act authority – making it unclear whether or not an SSR is in store for other Federal agencies.
Nevertheless, Dunkin said that DoE is turning to other ways to recruit and retain talent, including through DoE’s Omni Technology Alliance Internship Program, which provides college students with a rotating summer internship across DoE for up to three consecutive summers.
Additionally, DoE is implementing cyber workforce development and its Cyber Retention Incentive Program, which offers cyber bonuses of up to 25 percent of the eligible employee’s salary.
