United States
Office of Personnel Management




Office of Merit Systems Oversight and Effectiveness
Digest of Significant Classification Decisions and Opinions
December 2001
Article No. 27-03


Standards:	Logistics Management, GS-346 (January 1987)
	General Facilities and Equipment, GS-1601 (August 1975)
Factor:	N/A
Issue:	Series determination

Identification of the Classification Issue

The appellant’s position was classified to the General Facilities and Equipment 
Series, GS-1601.  The appellant managed and coordinated aircraft maintenance 
and repair functions carried out by subordinate organizations to support an Air 
Force Wing.  He believed his position should be classified in the Logistics 
Management Series, GS-346, because Air Force instructions and policy directives 
include aircraft maintenance and aviation logistics organizationally as part of the 
Logistics Group.  He stated that the GS-1601 series does not cover aircraft 
maintenance and repair operations and that the Air Force’s automated personnel 
staffing system does not have specialized aircraft maintenance skill codes for 
positions in the GS-1601 series.  He also claimed that, because the Wing did not 
include a Logistics Group, he was in effect carrying out the duties of a Logistics 
Group Commander, a position which was last occupied by an Air Force colonel.  
He, therefore, believed that he had been given the authority and responsibility, but 
not the commensurate grade, of a military officer.    

Resolution

The primary purpose of the appellant’s organization was to provide aircraft 
maintenance support to the Wing by ensuring that an adequate number of aircraft 
were available to meet daily pilot training requirements of about 300 flying 
missions per day.  The appellant planned, prioritized, supervised, directed, 
controlled, and coordinated all maintenance activities related to several weapons 
systems and diverse aerospace ground equipment.  He directed the operation and 
administration of the maintenance organization through eight subordinate flights 
that were responsible for flight line maintenance, shop support, and evaluation of 
contract support associated with aircraft and support equipment maintenance.

OPM found that the GS-346 work assigned to the appellant’s position was 
secondary to the maintenance function that he supervised.  Both the GS-346 and 
the GS-1601 series address functions related to maintenance, resource and fiscal 
management, and manpower management.  However, the overriding characteristic 
of logistics management work is the coordination of individual functional areas 
into a unified program that meets total support requirements.  The appellant did 
not provide logistics support to other programs by orchestrating separate and 
distinct operations.  In addition, his position required more technical knowledge 
of the equipment and its functions, operation, and maintenance than is typical of 
GS-346 positions, and also called for an in-depth knowledge of the maintenance 
organization.  Since his primary duties were clearly maintenance-based, and the 
requisite skills and knowledges fit the GS-1601 series, his position was correctly 
placed in that series.  OPM sustained the agency’s series determination of the 
position.

“Back to the Basics”

Although organizational location can provide an indication of the appropriate 
series for a position, the primary work and the paramount qualifications are the 
usual determinants for series assignment.  An agency’s skill code structure has no 
bearing on determining the appropriate series for a position.

Military assignments are governed by the “rank-in-the-person” concept, in 
contrast to the Federal position classification system, which regards the inherent 
grade value of the work being performed as separate from the qualifications or 
experience of the employee performing it.  Comparison to military rank cannot be 
considered when classifying civilian positions, nor can a pay grade be added 
exclusively to equate the “status” of a civilian position to a counterpart military 
position. 


Link to C-1601-14-01

Digest of Significant Classification Decisions and Opinions, No. 27, December 2001