What was originally touted as a major summit to begin crafting a new pay-for-performance system for the federal government has been downgraded to a closed-door brainstorming session that will be held next week in Washington.

David Ellwood, dean of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, will host the meeting Oct. 28, which will be closed to the media and off the record. The Washington Post today reported that participants will discuss the government's future workforce needs, hiring process reform and skills gaps.

Ellwood was to be one of three co-chairmen of the summit, Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry announced in June. Kennedy School spokesman Doug Gavel said he was not sure whether the other previously announced co-chairmen — Google Vice President Laszlo Bock and former Sen. Paul Sarbanes — would attend. He said Berry will attend. Gavel did not have a list of other attendees.

The Office of Personnel Management is not organizing the meeting, agency spokesman Edmund Byrnes said.

"It's been scaled way back," Byrnes said. He said he did not know why it had been downgraded.

The meeting "may or may not lead to additional sessions," Gavel said.

Gavel said the school decided to keep the meeting small and private "to ensure the conversation is uninhibited."

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