[walrus01]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the pay can also be considerably higher if you work at a federally funded research lab but are not a direct federal employee. Employee of an implementing contractor company. Such as various positions at Hanford, Idaho National Lab, Los Alamos, Brookhaven, Argonne, Sandia, Livermore, etc.

[ptero]

This is definitely true. Most employees at national labs are not paid according to the GS schedule.

[nataz]

They are also not federal employees.

[ninjaa]

they should hook up military discounts