(a) The lead agency shall review all material and wage survey data forwarded by the local wage survey committee to:

(1) Assure that the survey was conducted within the prescribed procedures and specifications;

(2) Consider matters included in the local wage survey committee report and recommendations;

(3) Exclude unusable data;

(4) Resolve questionable job matching and wage rate data; and

(5) Verify all computations reported on wage data collection forms.

(b) The lead agency shall determine whether the usable data collected in the wage survey are adequate for computing paylines, according to the following criteria:

(1) The wage survey data collected in an appropriated fund wage survey are adequate if the unweighted job matches include at least one survey job in the WG-01 through 04 range, one survey job in the WG-05 through 08 range, and two survey jobs in the WG-09 and above range, each providing at least 20 samples; and at least six other survey jobs, each providing at least 10 samples.

(2) The wage survey data collected in a nonappropriated fund wage survey are adequate if the unweighted job matches include at least two survey jobs in the NA-01 through 04 range providing 10 samples each, one survey job in the NA-01 through 04 range and three survey jobs in the NA-05 through 15 range providing five samples each; two other survey jobs, each providing at least five samples, and at least 100 unweighted samples for all survey jobs combined are used in the computation of the final payline.

(c)

(1) If the wage survey data do not meet the adequacy criteria in paragraph (b) of this section, the lead agency shall analyze the data, construct lines and wage schedules, submit them to the agency wage committee for its review and recommendations and issue wage schedules, in accordance with the requirements of this subpart, as if the adequacy criteria were met.

(2) The lead agency may determine such a wage area to be adequate if the quantity of data obtained is large enough to construct paylines even though it was obtained for fewer than the prescribed number of jobs, or at different grade levels, or in different combinations than prescribed in paragraph (b) of this section.

(3) The lead agency may not determine a nonappropriated fund wage area to be adequate if fewer than 100 usable unweighted job matches were used in the final payline computation.

(d) If the lead agency determines a wage area to be inadequate under paragraph (c) of this section, it shall promptly refer the problem to OPM for resolution. OPM shall:

(1) Authorize the lead agency to continue to survey the area if the lead agency believes the survey is likely to be adequate in the next full-scale survey;

(2) Authorize the lead agency to expand the scope of the survey; or

(3) Abolish the wage area and establish it as part of one or more other wage areas.

[46 FR 21344, Apr. 10, 1981, as amended at 55 FR 46140, Nov. 1, 1990. Redesignated at 55 FR 46141, Nov. 1, 1990]