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That’s only base salary. There are quite a few performance and skill based bonus programs in the federal government which end up in the mid-200s.

Are there published guidelines for this, or is it more that you negotiate with a hiring manager?

There are published guidelines within the agency, your recruiting human capital person or hiring manager could tell you more.

There’s no negotiation though, either the billet is part of the program (CISA calls their CTMS) or it’s not, and either you check the box (usually with a certification) or you don’t.

Edit: found this on their site.

https://dhscs.usajobs.gov/assets/pdf/Career_Level_Guide.pdf

So basically it's still not worth it to work for the government, and it's more profitable, literally, to sell secrets to private companies.

Absolutely wild and shortsighted.

At least they get to play with some cool "toys".