(a) The Office of Personnel Management:

(1) Defines the boundaries of wage and survey areas;

(2) Prescribes the required industries to be surveyed;

(3) Prescribes the required job coverage for surveys;

(4) Designates a lead agency for each wage area;

(5) Establishes, jointly with lead agencies, a nationwide schedule of wage surveys;

(6) Arranges for technical services with other Government agencies;

(7) Considers recommendations of the national headquarters of any agency or labor organization relating to the Office of Personnel Management's responsibilities for the Federal Wage System; and

(8) Establishes wage schedules and rates for prevailing rate employees who are United States citizens outside of the United States, District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Canal Zone, the Territories and Possessions of the United States, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

(b) Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee. This committee functions in accordance with the requirements set forth under section 5347 of title 5, United States Code.

(c) Employing agencies—

(1) Heads of agencies. The head of an agency is responsible, within the policies and procedures of the Federal Wage System, for authorizing application of wage schedules developed by a lead agency and fixing and administering rates of pay for wage employees of his/her organization.

(2) Heads of local activities. The head of each activity in a wage area is responsible for providing employment information, wage survey committee members, the prescribed number of data collectors, and any other assistance needed to conduct local wage survey committee functions.

(d) Lead agencies are responsible for:

(1) Planning and conducting the wage survey for that area;

(2) Developing survey specifications and providing or arranging for the identification of establishments to be surveyed;

(3) Officially ordering wage surveys;

(4) Establishing wage schedules, applying wage schedules authorized by the head of the agency; and

(5) Referring pertinent matters to the agency wage committee and the Office of Personnel Management.

(e) Agency wage committees. As appropriate, agency wage committees consider and make recommendations to the lead agency on wage schedules and any matters involving survey specifications for full-scale surveys if the lead agency chooses not to accept recommendations of the local wage survey committee or those in a minority report filed by a local wage survey committee member.

(f) Local wage survey committees. The local wage survey committee plans and conducts the wage survey in the designated wage area.

[46 FR 21344, Apr. 10, 1981, as amended at 55 FR 46140, Nov. 1, 1990. Redesignated at 55 FR 46141, Nov. 1, 1990; 58 FR 15415, Mar. 23, 1993]