Red herring. No one has alluded to the DPA...except for guys like you who need to create a smoke screen.

It's a play from Barry's handbook...when the masses are up in arms after a test balloon crashes and burns (in this case, pay banding and a "cost neutral" contract)...
- distance yourself
- deny responsibility
- invent a boogeyman to blame
- insert a non-sequiter
- wait a couple of days, and repeat