Subpart A—Filling Vacancies in the Competitive Service

(a) In this part:

Agency means:

(1) An Executive department listed at 5 U.S.C. 101;

(2) A military department listed at 5 U.S.C. 102;

(3) A Government owned corporation in the executive branch;

(4) An independent establishment in the executive branch as described at 5 U.S.C. 104; and

(5) The Government Printing Office.

Component means the first major subdivision of an agency, separately organized, and clearly distinguished in work function and operation from other agency subdivisions (e.g., the Internal Revenue Service under the Department of the Treasury or the National Park Service under the Department of the Interior).

Local commuting area has the meaning given that term in § 351.203 of this chapter.

Permanent competitive service workforce and permanent competitive service employees mean agency employees serving under career or career-conditional appointments, in tenure group I or II, respectively.

Position change has the meaning given that term in § 210.102 of this chapter.

Rating of record has the meaning given that term in § 351.203 of this chapter.

Representative rate has the meaning given that term in § 351.203 of this chapter.

Tenure groups are described in § 351.501 of this chapter.

(b) In this subpart:

Vacancy means a vacant position in the competitive service, regardless of whether the position will be filled by permanent or time-limited appointment, for which an agency is seeking applications from outside its current permanent competitive service workforce.

An agency may fill a vacancy in the competitive service by any method authorized in this chapter, including competitive appointment from a list of eligibles, noncompetitive appointment under special authority, reinstatement, transfer, reassignment, change to lower grade, or promotion. The agency must exercise its discretion in each personnel action solely on the basis of merit and fitness, without regard to political or religious affiliation, marital status, or race, and veterans' preference entitlements.

An agency must provide the vacancy announcement information to OPM promptly when:

(a) Filling a vacancy for more than 120 days from outside the agency's current permanent competitive service workforce, as required by the Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan, subpart G of this part, unless the action to be taken is listed in subpart G as an exception to that subpart;

(b) Filling any vacancy under the agency's merit promotion procedures when the agency will accept applications from outside its permanent competitive service workforce; and

(c) Filling a vacancy by open competitive examination, including direct hire procedures under part 337 of this chapter, or in the Senior Executive Service, as required by 5 U.S.C. 3327.

(a) Each vacancy announcement must contain the following information:

(1) Name of issuing agency;

(2) Announcement number;

(3) Position title, series, pay plan, and grade (or pay rate);

(4) Duty location;

(5) Number of vacancies;

(6) Opening date and application deadline (closing date) and any other information concerning how receipt of applications will be documented, such as by date of receipt or postmark, and considered, such as by cut-off dates in open continuous announcements;

(7) Qualification requirements, including knowledge, skills, and abilities or competencies;

(8) Starting pay;

(9) Brief description of duties;

(10) Basis of rating;

(11) What to file;

(12) Instructions on how to apply;

(13) Information on how to claim veterans' preference, if applicable;

(14) Definition of “well-qualified,” as required by subparts F and G of this part;

(15) Information on how candidates eligible under subparts F and G of this part may apply, including required proof of eligibility;

(16) Contact person or contact point;

(17) Equal employment opportunity statement (Agencies may use the recommended equal employment opportunity statement located on OPM's USAJOBS website.); and

(18) Reasonable accommodation statement.

(b)(1) An agency may use wording of its choice in its statement that conveys the availability of reasonable accommodation required by § 330.104(a)(18). In its reasonable accommodation statement, an agency may not list types of medical conditions or impairments appropriate for accommodation.

(2) Agencies may use the recommended reasonable accommodation statement located on OPM's USAJOBS website.

(c) If an agency is sharing a certificate of eligibles under part 332 of this chapter, the original hiring agency must provide notice in the job opportunity announcement that the resulting list of eligible candidates may be used by one or more hiring agencies, and of how the applicant may opt-in to the disclosure of his or her applicant records to other hiring agencies.

[75 FR 67593, Nov. 3, 2010, as amended at 82 FR 5339, Jan. 18, 2017]

An agency can find the instructions to add a vacancy announcement to USAJOBS on OPM's Web site at http://www.usajobs.gov. An electronic file of the complete vacancy announcement must be included within USAJOBS.

Each year, OPM will charge a fee for the agency's share of the cost of providing employment information to the public and to Federal employees as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3330(f).