I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8703 

To require the Director of the Office of Personnel Management to revise 

job classification and qualification standards for positions within the 

competitive service regarding educational requirements for such positions, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 30, 2020 

Mr. BUDD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Oversight and Reform 

A BILL 

To require the Director of the Office of Personnel Management to revise job classification and qualification standards for positions within the competitive service regarding educational requirements for such positions, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Skills Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REVISION OF JOB CLASSIFICATION AND QUALI2 FICATION STANDARDS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of Per4 sonnel Management, in consultation with the Director of 

5 the Office of Management and Budget, the Assistant to 

6 the President for Domestic Policy, and the heads of agen7 cies, shall review and revise all job classification and quali8 fication standards for positions within the competitive 

9 service, as necessary and consistent with the requirements 

10 of this section. Any change to job classification and quali11 fication standards shall be made available to the public 

12 not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of 

13 this Act and go into effect not later than 180 days after 

14 such date of enactment. 

15 (b) EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENT.—An agency may 

16 prescribe a minimum educational requirement for employ17 ment in the Federal competitive service only when a min18 imum educational qualification is legally required to per19 form the duties of the position in the State or locality 

20 where those duties are to be performed. 

21 (c) CONSIDERATION OF EDUCATION.—Unless an 

22 agency is determining a candidate’s satisfaction of a le23 gally required minimum educational requirement, an agen24 cy may consider education in determining a candidate’s 

25 satisfaction of some other minimum qualification only if 

26 the candidate’s education directly reflects the comVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:17 Nov 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8703.IH H8703

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1 petencies necessary to satisfy that qualification and per2 form the duties of the position. 

3 (d) POSITION LISTING.—Position descriptions and 

4 job postings published by agencies for positions within the 

5 competitive service should be based on the specific skills 

6 and competencies required to perform those jobs. 

7 SEC. 3. IMPROVING THE USE OF ASSESSMENTS IN THE FED8 ERAL HIRING PROCESS. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of Per10 sonnel Management shall work with the heads of all agen11 cies to ensure that, not later than 180 days after the date 

12 of enactment of this Act, for positions within the competi13 tive service, agencies assess candidates in a manner that 

14 does not rely solely on educational attainment to deter15 mine the extent to which candidates possess relevant 

16 knowledge, skills, competencies, and abilities. The heads 

17 of all agencies shall develop or identify such assessment 

18 practices. 

19 (b) CONSIDERATION OF SELF-EVALUATION.—In as20 sessing candidates, agencies may not rely solely on can21 didates’ self-evaluations of their stated abilities. Appli22 cants must clear other assessment hurdles in order to be 

23 certified for consideration. 

24 (c) EVALUATION.—Agencies shall continually evalu25 ate the effectiveness of different assessment strategies to 


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1 promote and protect the quality and integrity of their hir2 ing processes. 

3 SEC. 4. APPLICATION. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act shall be con5 strued to impair or otherwise affect— 

6 (1) the authority granted by law to an executive 

7 department or agency, or the head thereof; or 

8 (2) the functions of the Director of the Office 

9 of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, 

10 administrative, or legislative proposals. 

11 (b) RIGHTS OR BENEFITS.—This Act is not intended 

12 to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive 

13 or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party 

14 against the United States, its departments, agencies, or 

15 entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other 

16 person. 

17 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

18 In this Act— 

19 (1) the term ‘‘assessment’’ means any valid and 

20 reliable method of collecting information on an indi21 vidual for the purposes of making a decision about 

22 qualification, hiring, placement, promotion, referral, 

23 or entry into programs leading to advancement; 


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1 (2) the term ‘‘competitive service’’ has the 

2 meaning given that term in section 2102 of title 5, 

3 United States Code; 

4 (3) the term ‘‘education’’ refers to Post High5 School Education as that term is defined in the Of6 fice of Personnel Management General Schedule 

7 Qualification Policies; and 

8 (4) the term ‘‘qualification’’ means the min9 imum requirements necessary to perform work of a 

10 particular position or occupation successfully and 

11 safely. 

Æ 


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