§4094 Enhanced Pay Authority for Certain Research and Technology Positions in Science and Technology Reinvention Laboratories

Summary

Allows the Secretary of Defense to pay higher salaries for certain jobs in the Department of Defense’s science and technology reinvention labs. The goal is to help military departments hire and keep top experts who run big, costly research and tech projects. Each military department must get okay from its service acquisition executive before using the program. Eligible jobs need extremely high skill in science, technology, professional work, or acquisition management and must be key to important research or development missions. Pay can be set up to 150 percent of the rate for level I of the Executive Schedule with the service acquisition executive’s approval. More than 150 percent needs approval from the military department’s Secretary. The higher pay can only be used when needed to recruit or retain exceptionally qualified people. No more than five such positions per military department can be paid this way at one time, unless the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and the department Secretaries agree to move positions between departments. The pay rules only apply to labs named under section 4121(b).