Each agency shall establish a recruitment program, in accordance with guidelines which shall be issued by the Office of Personnel Management, which provides for recruitment of career appointees from—
(1)
all groups of qualified individuals within the civil service; or
(2)
all groups of qualified individuals whether or not within the civil service.
(b)
Each agency shall establish one or more executive resources boards, as appropriate, the members of which shall be appointed by the head of the agency from among employees of the agency or commissioned officers of the uniformed services serving on active duty in such agency. The boards shall, in accordance with merit staffing requirements established by the Office, conduct the merit staffing process for career appointees, including—
(1)
reviewing the executive qualifications of each candidate for a position to be filled by a career appointee; and
(2)
making written recommendations to the appropriate appointing authority concerning such candidates.
(c)(1)
The Office shall establish one or more qualifications review boards, as appropriate. It is the function of the boards to certify the executive qualifications of candidates for initial appointment as career appointees in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Office. Of the members of each board more than one-half shall be appointed from among career appointees. Appointments to such boards shall be made on a non-partisan basis, the sole selection criterion being the professional knowledge of public management and knowledge of the appropriate occupational fields of the intended appointee.
(2)
The Office shall, in consultation with the various qualification review boards, prescribe criteria for establishing executive qualifications for appointment of career appointees. The criteria shall provide for—
(A)
consideration of demonstrated executive experience;
(B)
consideration of successful participation in a career executive development program which is approved by the Office; and
(C)
sufficient flexibility to allow for the appointment of individuals who have special or unique qualities which indicate a likelihood of executive success and who would not otherwise be eligible for appointment.
(d)
An individual’s initial appointment as a career appointee shall become final only after the individual has served a 1-year probationary period as a career appointee.
(e)
Each career appointee shall meet the executive qualifications of the position to which appointed, as determined in writing by the appointing authority.
(f)
The title of each career reserved position shall be published in the Federal Register.
(g)
11 So in original. A career appointee may not be removed from the Senior Executive Service or civil service except in accordance with the applicable provisions of sections 1215,, 3592, 3595, 7532, or 7543 of this title.
Pub. L. 98–6151984—Subsec. (b). inserted provision referring to commissioned officers of the uniformed services serving on active duty in such agency in provisions preceding par. (1).
Pub. L. 117–81section 1599e of Title 10section 1599e of Title 10Amendment by applied as if effective , to correspond to the effective date of the repeal of , Armed Forces, to reflect the probable intent of Congress. See Effective Date of Repeal note under .
section 3595a of this titlesection 3131 of this title“The amendments made by this title [enacting , amending this section and sections 3135, 3593 to 3595, 4312, 5383, and 5384 of this title, and enacting provisions set out as a note under ] shall be effective following the expiration of the 90-day period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act [], except that the amendments made by section 304 [amending sections 3395, 3595, 7543, and 8336 of this title] shall be effective as of such date of enactment.”
Pub. L. 95–454Pub. L. 95–454section 3131 of this titleSection effective 9 months after , and congressional review of provisions of sections 401 through 412 of , see section 415(a)(1), (b) of , set out as an Effective Date note under .
Temporary Inapplicability of Certification of Executive Qualifications by Qualification Review Boards of Office of Personnel Management
section 3393(c) of title 5Notwithstanding , United States Code, or any regulations implementing that section, and subject to the provisions of this section, the Secretary of Defense may appoint individuals for service in the Senior Executive Service of the Department of Defense without such individuals being subject to the certification of executive qualifications by a qualification review board of the Office of Personnel Management in connection with such appointment otherwise required by that section.
“(b)
Qualifications of Individuals Appointed .—
The Secretary shall ensure that individuals appointed under this section possess the necessary qualifications and experience for the position to which appointed.
“(c)
Limitation .—
The total number of appointments made under this section in any year may not exceed 50 appointments.
“(d)
Reports.—
“(1)
Initial report .—
Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act [], the Secretary shall submit to the committees of Congress and official specified in paragraph (4) a report on the number and type of appointments made under this section as of the date of the report, including—
“(A)
a description of the qualifications of the individuals appointed; and
“(B)
data on the time required to appoint the individuals.
“(2)
Final report .—
Not later than two years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the committees of Congress and official specified in paragraph (4) a report on the use of the authority in this section. The report shall include the following:
“(A)
The number and type of appointments made under this section during the one-year period ending on the date of the report.
“(B)
Data on and an assessment whether appointments under the authority in this section reduced the time to hire when compared with the time to hire under the current review system of the Office of Personnel Management.
“(C)
An assessment of the utility of the appointment authority and process under this section.
“(D)
An assessment whether the appointments made under this section resulted in higher quality new executives for the Senior Executive Service of the Department when compared with the executives produced under the current review system of the Office of Personnel Management.
“(E)
Any recommendation for the improvement of the selection and qualification process for the Senior Executive Service of the Department that the Secretary considers necessary in order to attract and hire highly qualified candidates for service in that Senior Executive Service.
“(3)
Additional report .—
Not later than , the Secretary shall submit to the committees of Congress specified in paragraph (4) and the Comptroller General of the United States a report on the use of the authority provided in this section. The report shall include the following:
“(A)
The number and type of appointments made under this section between , and the date of the report.
“(B)
Data on and an assessment of whether appointments under the authority in this section reduced the time to hire when compared with the time to hire under the review system of the Office of Personnel Management in use as of the date of the report.
“(C)
An assessment of the utility of the appointment authority and process under this section.
“(D)
An assessment of whether the appointments made under this section resulted in higher quality new executives for the Senior Executive Service of the Department when compared with the executives produced in the Department under the review system in use between , and .
“(E)
Any recommendation for the improvement of the selection and qualification process for the Senior Executive Service of the Department that the Secretary considers necessary in order to attract and hire highly qualified candidates for service in that Senior Executive Service.
“(4)
Committees of congress and official .—
The committees of Congress and official specified in this paragraph are—
“(A)
the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate;
“(B)
the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform [now Committee on Oversight and Accountability] of the House of Representatives; and
“(C)
the Director of the Office of Personnel Management.