NIST Looks to Speed Hiring

The National Institute of Standards and Technology is launching a pilot program that will help it fill mission-critical positions faster.

In a notice in the Federal Register on Wednesday, NIST said it will modify existing provisions of its 23-year-old Alternative Personnel Management System for one year in order to test direct-hire authority for mission-critical scientific and technology positions. Those positions include NIST's scientific and engineering career path at pay band III and above, nuclear reactor operation positions in the scientific and engineering technician career path at pay band III and above, and all occupations for which there is a special rate under the General Schedule pay system, according to the notice.

The APMS was instituted in 1987 and was modified to its current form in 1997. The program is designed to improve hiring and allow NIST to compete more effectively for high-quality employees through direct hiring, selective use of higher entry-level salaries, pay for performance and more managerial involvement. An Office of Personnel Management review of the system found that it helped NIST better recruit, hire and retain talent. NIST hopes the new direct-hire authority will build on that success, according to the notice.

The one-year pilot period will allow NIST to gather data on the impact of direct-hire authority on veterans preference as well as information on whether or not there is a severe shortage of candidates for the positions covered under the new direct-hire authority, the notice states.