114 STAT. 2763A-166 PUBLIC LAW 106-554—APPENDIX C non-Federal pay within any of the metropoUtan statistical areas described in subsection (d)(3), using— (1) data from surveys of the Bureau of Labor Statistics; (2) salary data sets obtained under subsection (c); or (3) any combination thereof. (c) To the extent necessary in order to carry out this section, the President's pay agent may obtain any salary data sets (referred to in subsection (b)) from any organization or entity that regularly compiles similar data for businesses in the private sector. (d)(1)(A) This paragraph applies with respect to the five metropolitan statistical areas described in paragraph (3) which— (i) have the highest levels of nonfarm employment (as determined based on data made available by the Bureau of Labor Statistics); and (ii) as of the date of the enactment of this Act, have not previously been surveyed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (as discrete pay localities) for purposes of section 5304 of title 5, United States Code. (B) The President's pay agent, based on such comparisons under subsection (b) as the pay agent considers appropriate, shall: (i) determine whether any of the five areas under subparagraph (A) warrants designation as a discrete pay locality; and (ii) if so, make recommendations as to what level of comparability payments would be appropriate during 2002 for each area so determined. (C)(i) Any recommendations under subparagraph (B)(ii) shall be included— (I) in the pay agent's report under section 5304(d)(1) of title 5, United States Code, submitted for purposes of comparability payments scheduled to become payable in 2002; or (II) if compliance with subclause (I) is impracticable, in a supplementary report which the pay agent shall submit to the President and the Congress no later than March 1, 2001. (ii) In the event that the recommendations are completed in time to be included in the report described in clause (i)(I), a copy of those recommendations shall be transmitted by the pay agent to the Congress contemporaneous with their submission to the President. (D) Each of the five areas under subparagraph (A) that so warrants, as determined by the President's pay agent, shall be designated as a discrete pay locality under section 5304 of title 5, United States Code, in time for it to be treated as such for purposes of comparability payments becoming payable in 2002. (2) The President's pay agent may, at any time after the 180th day following the submission of the report under subsection (f), make any initial or further determinations or recommendations under this section, based on any pay comparisons under subsection (b), with respect to any area described in paragraph (3). (3) An area described in this paragraph is any metropolitan statistical area within the continental United States that (as determined based on data made available by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Office of Personnel Management, respectively) has a high level of nonfarm employment and at least 2,500 General Schedule employees whose post of duty is within such area. (e)(1) The authority under this section to make pay comparisons and to make any determinations or recommendations based on such comparisons shall be available to the President's pay agent only for purposes of comparability payments becoming payable on
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