What about merit?
dear mcgavin,
re:”What about merit?”
I can tell you, that the GS-12 writing the performance reports for the GS-11’s and below, can and have written them to justify performance awards, both warranted and those just doing their job.
When NOLA-VA made their criteria, it was a minimum 3years with the VA, not counting any and all years in any and all other federal offices - military and civilian.
I had ‘step awards’ and ‘incentive awards’. I had more than 20 years total service between military, DoD, and the Census Bureau before coming to the VA.
I did NOT have the prerequisite ‘3 years’ with the VA, at the time of the downsizing, (2 years, 9 months and days).