§4121 Science and Technology Reinvention Laboratories: Authority and Designation

Summary

The Secretary of Defense may run special personnel demonstration projects at certain Department of Defense labs called science and technology reinvention laboratories. Each project must be generally like the China Lake demonstration project (the project continued at the Naval Weapons Center, China Lake, California, and at the Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, California, under the Civil Service Miscellaneous Amendments Act of 1983). The rules in title 5, section 4703, apply to these projects except that subsection (d) does not apply, the Secretary’s authority comes from this law, and the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering will use the Office of Personnel Management authorities for the projects, focusing on efficient lab operations and using help from the labs as needed. Employees in these projects are not counted under limits on supervisor-to-worker ratios or caps on numbers in job categories. They are managed by the lab director under the Under Secretary’s supervision. The limits in section 5373 of title 5 do not stop the Secretary from setting pay schedules and related benefits for these projects. The law designates the following as reinvention laboratories: Air Force Research Laboratory; Joint Warfare Analysis Center; Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences; Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center; Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory; Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation and Missile Center; Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center; Combat Capabilities Development Command C5ISR Center; Combat Capabilities Development Command Ground Vehicle Systems Center; Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center; Engineer Research and Development Center; Medical Research and Development Command; Technical Center, US Army Space and Missile Defense Command; Naval Air Systems Command Warfare Centers; Naval Facilities Engineering Command Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center; Naval Information Warfare Centers Atlantic and Pacific; Naval Medical Research Center; Naval Research Laboratory; Naval Sea Systems Command Warfare Centers; and the Office of Naval Research. The Secretary must move civilian staff at these labs into the demonstration personnel system without cutting pay or other terms, follow section 4703(f), finish the change within 18 months of designation, and exclude prevailing rate employees and senior executives. These labs may not use any other personnel system without Congress approving it first.