Click here to skip navigation
OPM.gov Home  |  Subject Index  |  Important Links  |  Contact Us  |  Help

U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce

Advanced Search

HR Practioners Agencies

Laws, Regulations & Other Guidance

Primary Appointing Authorities for Career and Career-Conditional Appointments

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) provides the following list of the primary appointing authorities agencies may use to make career and career-conditional appointments.  OPM prepared this list to assist Federal human resources specialists.  The list includes citations to applicable law.  It also provides the conditions for appointments made under interchange agreements entered into between an agency and OPM.  OPM also provides a partial list of statutory appointing authorities outside of title 5, United States Code (5 U.S.C.).  OPM does not regulate appointment authorities outside of title 5.  For a description of non-title 5 authorities, agencies should consult the cited laws.

Appointments under the authorities listed below may be subject to additional eligibility requirements, such as citizenship, which are not included in this information.

OPM reminds agencies they must report all vacancies to OPM and must give selection priority in hiring as required by the Career Transition Assistance Program for Surplus and Displaced Employees. See title 5, Code of Federal Regulations (5 CFR) Part 330, Subparts F and G.

Direct-Hire Authorities

Authorities: 5 U.S.C. Section 3304 and 5 CFR Part 337, Subpart B

Using OPM–approved governmentwide or agency specific direct-hire authorities, agencies may appoint candidates to positions without regard to the requirements in title 5 U.S.C. 3309 through 3318.  In order for an agency to use direct hire, OPM must determine that there is either a severe shortage of candidates or a critical hiring need for a position or group of positions.

When using the direct-hire authority, agencies must adhere to the public notice requirements in 5 U.S.C. 3327 and 3330, and the displaced employee procedures in 5 CFR part 330, subparts B, F, and G.  When documenting appointments using a direct-hire authority, an agency must use two authority codes.  The first code is "AYM" and will automatically fill in with "Reg. 337.201."  The second authority code will be the individual one associated with the specific direct-hire authority.  These codes are listed below along with the information about each direct-hire authority.

Governmentwide Direct-Hire Authorities:

Medical Occupations - All grade levels at all locations for the following occupations (GW001, issued June 20, 2003), Second authority code BAB:

  • Diagnostic Radiologic Technologist, GS-0647
  • Medical Officer, GS-0602
  • Nurse, GS-0610, GS-0620
  • Pharmacist, GS-0660

Information Technology Management (Information Security), GS-2210, GS-9 and above at all locations (GW002, issued June 20, 2003), Second authority Code: BAC

Positions involved in Iraqi Reconstruction Efforts that require fluency in Arabic or other related Middle Eastern languages at all WG levels, single-grade interval occupations in the General Schedule (GS), and two-grade interval GS occupations at GS-9 and above. Agencies may appoint U.S. citizens to positions at all locations. (GW003, issued July 1, 2003), Second authority Code: BAD

GW-004, Effective September 30, 2007 is extended by Sec. 853 of the FY08 National Defense Authorization Act(NDAA) for, Federal Acquisition positions covered under title 41, United States Code 433(g)(1)(A).  This authority is based on a severe-shortage of candidates.  Prior to using this authority, the department and agency heads (other than the Secretary of Defense) must determine whether a shortage of highly qualified individuals exists.  When determining the existence of a shortage of highly qualified individuals, agencies are required to use the supporting evidence prescribed in 5 CFR 337.204(b).  The supporting evidence must be kept in a file for documentation and reporting purposes.  In accordance with 5 CFR 337.206(c), OPM may request information from agencies on their use and implementation of this direct-hire authority.  This authority expires on September 30, 2012.  Agencies may not appoint any individual to a position of employment using this authority after September 30, 2012.  The legal authority code for SF-50 item 5-e is “BAE.”

Back to top
Competitive Examining

Authorities: 5 U.S.C. Chapter 33; 5 CFR Part 332; 5 CFR Part 315, Subpart C; 5 CFR Part 337

Competitive examining is the traditional method for making appointments to competitive service positions and requires adherence to title 5's competitive examining requirements.  OPM may delegate authority, by agreement, to an agency to examine for all of its competitive service positions (except administrative law judges).  Vacancies filled through the competitive examining process are open to the public.

Back to top
Current and Former Competitive Service Employees

Authorities: 5 CFR Part 315, Subparts D and E

Agencies may appoint current career and career-conditional employees by transfer (Subpart E).

Agencies may appoint former career and career-conditional employees by reinstatement, but certain time limits may apply (Subpart D).

Employees appointed by transfer or reinstatement may be required to compete under the agency's merit promotion program.  See 5 CFR Part 335.

Back to top
Noncompetitive Conversion

Several Governmentwide appointing authorities, listed below, permit or require agencies to noncompetitively convert employees to career or career-conditional appointments from excepted service or temporary appointments.  In addition, some agencies may have their own conversion authority(ies) based on specific provisions of law.

Veterans Recruitment Appointment

Authorities: 38 U.S.C. 4214; 5 CFR Part 307; 5 CFR 315.705

Disabled Veterans

Authorities: 5 U.S.C. 3112; 5 CFR 316.402(b)(4); 5 CFR 315.707

Persons with Mental Retardation, Severe Physical Disabilities, or Psychiatric Disabilities

Authorities: Executive Orders 12125, and 13124; 5 CFR 3.1(b); 5 CFR 213.3102(u); 5 CFR 315.709

Student Career Experience Program (formerly the "Co-op Program")

Authorities: Executive Order 12015; 5 CFR 213.3202(b)

Federal Career Intern Program

Authorities:  Executive Order 13162; 5 CFR 213.3202(o); 5 CFR 315.712

Presidential Management Fellows Program

Authorities: Executive Order 12364; 5 CFR 213.3102(ii); 5 CFR Part 362; 5 CFR 315.708

Back to top
Interchange Agreements With Other Merit Systems

Authorities: Civil Service Rule 6.7 (5 CFR 6.7)

Current Agreements

Under Rule 6.7, OPM and an agency having an established merit system in the excepted service may enter into an agreement prescribing conditions under which employees may be moved from the agency's system to the competivice service.  OPM has agreements with:

Tennessee Valley Authority

Covers employees in salary policy positions (trades and labor positions are not covered).  Agreement effective 10/16/57; extended indefinitely.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Agreement effective 10/1/75; extended indefinitely.

Veterans Health Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs

Covers employees who occupy medical or medical-related positions and were appointed under 38 U.S.C. 7401(1) or (3) [formerly 38 U.S.C. 4104(1) and (3)].  Agreements effective 10/31/79 and 5/12/87; extended indefinitely.

Veterans Canteen Service of the Department of Veterans Affairs

Covers employees in the Canteen Management Program. Agreement effective 11/1/79; extended indefinitely.

Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel System (DCIPS)

Covers employees of the military departments in the Department of Defense (Army, Navy, including the Marines, and Air Force) appointed in the Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel System (DCIPS).  This DCIPS Interchange Agreement was effective on April 14, 2005, and expires on September 30, 2008.  [Note:  No interchange authority existed for DCIPS between December 30, 2004 and April 14, 2005.]

Nonappropriated Fund (NAF) employees of the Department of Defense

Agreement effective 9/20/91; extended indefinitely.  Also see the paragraph on the portability of benefits for nonappropriated fund employees.

Federal Aviation Administration

Agreement effective 11/6/97; expires 12/31/09.

International Boundary and Water Commission

Agreement effective 07/11/03; expires 12/31/09.

Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration

Agreement effective 02/01/05; expires 01/31/13.

Corporation for National and Community Service

Agreement effective 07/29/05; expires 7/29/09.

Appointment Conditions

An agency may noncompetitively appoint an employee covered by an interchange agreement to a career or career-conditional appointment subject to the conditions listed below.  Each interchange agreement specifies these conditions.  The conditions do not appear in the Code of Federal Regulations.  Individuals who do not meet the requirements for appointment under the interchange agreement may apply for a position under competitive examining or other appointment procedures, provided the individual satisfies all applicable eligibility requirements.

Qualifying for appointment in other merit systems

To be eligible for career or career-conditional appointment, a person must:

  1. Be currently serving under an appointment without time limit in the other merit system or have been involuntarily separated from such appointment without personal cause within the preceding year; AND

  2. Be currently serving in or have been involuntarily separated from a position covered by an interchange agreement (some agreements do not cover all positions of the other merit system); AND

  3. Have served continuously for at least 1 year in the other merit system prior to appointment under the interchange agreement

    1. A person who previously met this requirement, separated, and later returned to an appointment without time limit, is considered as having met this requirement, regardless of length of service under the current appointment.  (See paragraph on type of appointment received when appointed to a competitive service position.)

    2. Eligible employees under appointment without time limit in the Department of Defense Nonappropriated Fund Instrumentalities (NAFI) system may include flexible employees, who work the equivalent of a part-time, intermittent, or on-call schedule.  To determine their creditable service, apply the rules in 5 CFR 315.201(b)(4)

Appointment requirements

A person must be appointed to the competitive service without a break in service of 1 workday, except that a person may be appointed within 1 year after being involuntarily separated from the other merit system.  The qualification standards (including internal placement provisions, subject to 5 CFR Part 335) and requirements, appointing documents, and determinations for these appointees are the same as for transfer of employees within the competitive service.

Selection

Eligible persons may be considered for appointment to positions in the same manner that other individuals are considered for noncompetitive appointment.  The appointments are not subject to the merit promotion provisions of 5 CFR Part 335 unless required by agency policy.

Type of appointment

Persons appointed to competitive positions under the interchange agreements will receive career or career-conditional appointments, depending on whether they meet the 3-year service requirement for career tenure or are exempt from it under 5 CFR 315.201(c).  Service that begins with a person's current permanent appointment in the other merit system counts toward the 3-year service requirement for career tenure.  Interchange agreements do not authorize temporary or term appointments.

Probation and status

Persons appointed under these agreements are not subject to probation under 5 CFR Part 315, Subpart H, but acquire civil service status on appointment.  Appointees are subject to the supervisory or managerial probationary period in 5 CFR Part 315, Subpart I, but appropriate service in the other merit system may be considered in determining the applicability of the probationary period and creditable service toward completion of probation.

Appointment in other merit systems

Interchange agreements provide for two-way movement.  This means that career and career-conditional employees are eligible for employment in the other merit systems with which the U.S. Office of Personnel Management has agreements under conditions similar to those described in the preceding section.  A career or career-conditional employee who is not eligible for appointment under an interchange agreement may be eligible for appointment consideration under other appointment procedures of the other merit system.

Portability of Benefits for Nonappropriated Fund Employees

The Portability of Benefits for Nonappropriated Fund Employees Act of 1990 (Pub. L. 101-508) permits service with a nonappropriated fund instrumentality (NAFI) to be considered when establishing pay and benefits of a Department of Defense (DOD) NAFI employee who moves to a civil service appointment within DOD and of a Coast Guard NAFI employee who moves to a civil service appointment within the Coast Guard on or after January 1, 1987--but only if the employee moves between the two appointments without a break in service of more than 3 days. Also, Public Law 104-106 (February 10, 1996) amended the Portability Act to allow certain retirement benefits with a break in service of not more than 1 year.  To be covered by these provisions, an appointment may be based on the interchange agreement or any other valid appointing authority.

The following lists some of the more common actions and where instructions can be found on giving credit for NAFI benefits and service.  These provisions apply to any agency subject to a particular law. For example, an agency subject to the reduction in force provisions of chapter 35 of title 5, United States Code, would apply the instructions below relating to service credit for reduction in force purposes.

Setting basic pay.  See 5 CFR 531.216.  Also, a Department of Defense (DOD) Nonappropriated Fund Instrumentality (NAFI) employee moving within DOD and a Coast Guard NAFI employee moving within the Coast Guard, without a break in service of more than 3 days, are NOT eligible for a superior qualifications appointment under 5 CFR 531.212.  A NAFI employee moving to civil service employment under any other circumstance (and with a break of at least 90 days since his or her last period of Federal or certain District of Columbia employment) may be considered for a superior qualifications appointment.

Creditable service for a within grade increase.  See 5 CFR 531.406(b)(4).

Creditable service for time-in-grade purposes.  See 5 CFR 300.605.

Eligibility for grade and pay retention.  See 5 CFR Part 536 Subparts B and C, respectively.

Eligibility for severance pay.  See 5 CFR 550.705 and 550.708.

Credit for leave accrued in NAFI leave system.  See 5 U.S.C. 6308(b).

Service credit for leave purposes.  See the U.S. Office of Personnel Management Operating Manual, The Guide to Processing Personnel Actions, Chapter 6, section 1-7c.

Service credit for reduction in force purposes.  Public Law 104-106 (February 10, 1996) gives service credit for reduction-in-force (RIF) purposes to employees of Nonappropriated Fund (NAF) instrumentalities who moved, on or after January 1, 1966, without a break in service of more than 3 days, from a position in a NAF instrumentality of the Department of Defense or the Coast Guard to a non-NAF instrumentality position in the Department of Defense or the Coast Guard, respectively.

Retirement coverage.  Public Law 104-106 (February 10, 1996) amended the Portability Act to allow certain retirement benefits with a break in service of not more than 1 year. See the implementing regulations published in the Federal Register (FR) on August 9, 1996 (61 FR 41713-41728). This publication amended various provisions of Title 5, Code of Federal Regulation (5 CFR) and added a new 5 CFR Part 847, Elections of Retirement Coverage by Current and Former Employees of Nonappropriated Fund Instrumentalities.

Thrift Savings Plan Coverage.  See 5 CFR Part 1620, Subpart G, published by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board in the Federal Register on August 9, 1996 (61 FR 41485-41488).

Back to top
Appointment of Foreign Service Employees

Authorities: Executive Order 11219 (5/6/65); Executive Order 12292 (2/23/81); 5 CFR 315.606

Current Agreements

Agencies may noncompetitively appoint to career or career-conditional appointments current and former Foreign Service employees who meet the criteria under appointment conditions below.

Appointment Conditions

Note:  These appointment conditions do not appear in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).

Qualifying appointment

To be eligible for a career or career-conditional appointment, a current or former Foreign Service employee must:

(a) Have served in the Foreign Service under an unlimited, career-type appointment;

(b) Immediately before separation from that appointment, have completed at least 1 year of continuous service without a break of a workday under one or more nontemporary Foreign Service appointments, which may include the service that made the employee eligible for career-type appointment;

(c) Meet the qualification standard and other requirements governing appointment to the competitive service, except the individual is not required to compete in a competitive examination, or under internal merit staffing procedures unless an agency's policies require the individual to do so; and

(d) Be appointed to the competitive service within 3 years of separation from a Foreign Service career-type appointment, but the time limit does not apply to an individual entitled to veterans' preference or one who has completed 3 years of substantially continuous service under one or more nontemporary Foreign Service appointments immediately before separation from an unlimited, career-type appointment. [To compute the 3 years of service, apply the rules on breaks in service and leave without pay contained in 5 CFR 315.201(b).]

Nontemporary Foreign Service appointment means (i) an appointment without condition or limitation or, (ii) a limited appointment that made the employee eligible for an unlimited, career-type appointment without a break in service of a workday between the two appointments.

Substantially continuous service means creditable service without a single break of more than 30 calendar days; except for breaks or other employment specifically defined in 5 CFR 315.201(b)(3).

Type of appointment

A career appointment is given to a person who has completed 3 years of substantially continuous service immediately before separation from an unlimited, career-type Foreign Service appointment or who meets a requirement of 5 CFR 315.201(c) for career tenure.

Others appointed under this authority receive a career-conditional appointment. Service that begins with a nontemporary Foreign Service appointment counts toward the 3-year service requirement for career tenure only if the person is appointed under this authority within 30 days after separation from the career-type appointment in the Foreign Service.

Probation and status

Appointees are not subject to a probationary period but acquire civil service status on appointment.

Back to top
Miscellaneous Authorities Regulated by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Career or Career-Conditional Appointment Under Special Authorities

Authority: 5 CFR Part 315, Subpart F

This subpart contains noncompetitive appointing authorities covering a variety of situations and individuals, such as Peace Corps volunteers, former overseas employees, and incumbents of positions brought into the competitive service.

Conversion to Career or Career-Conditional Employment From Other Types of Employment

Authority: 5 CFR Part 315, Subpart G

This subpart contains authorities to noncompetitively convert certain current employees from nonpermanent to permanent employment, such as employees formerly appointed via competitive examining and appointments leading to noncompetitive conversion.

Employment in Senior-Level (SL) and Scientific and Professional (ST) Positions

Authority: 5 CFR Part 319

This subpart covers appointments to competitive service positions above the GS-15 level that are subject to SL and ST salary rates. (See 5 CFR Part 317 for appointments to Senior Executive Service (SES) positions.)

Back to top
Miscellaneous Authorities Not Regulated by U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

What follows is a partial list of appointing authorities authorized by statutes outside of title 5 U.S.C.  Because OPM does not regulate these authorities, they do not appear in 5 CFR.  For a description of these authorities, agencies should consult the cited statutes.

Using these authorities, an agency may appoint an eligible individual to any position for which the person meets the qualification standard and other requirements governing appointment to the competitive service, except the individual is not required to compete in a competitive examination.  Nor is the individual required to compete with career and career-conditional employees under internal merit staffing procedures unless an agency's policies require the individual to do so.  The agency must verify applicant eligibility.  To determine whether an appointee must serve probation, see 5 CFR Part 315, Subpart H.  To determine when an appointee acquires career tenure, see 5 CFR Part 315, Subpart B.

Postal Career Service Employees

Authorities:  (39 U.S.C. 1006)

Postal Rate Commission Employees

Authorities:  (39 U.S.C. 3604(e))

Government Accountability Office (GAO) Employees

Authorities:  (31 U.S.C. 732(g))

Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts Employees

Authorities:  (28 U.S.C. 602, Public Law 101-474)

Back to top
 
PDF Help U.S. Office of Personnel Management 1900 E Street NW, Washington, DC 20415 | (202) 606-1800 | TTY (202) 606-2532