II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3423 

To implement merit-based reforms to the civil service hiring system that 

replace degree-based hiring with skills- and competency-based hiring. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 16, 2021 

Ms. SINEMA (for herself, Mr. HAGERTY, and Mr. LANKFORD) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To implement merit-based reforms to the civil service hiring 

system that replace degree-based hiring with skills- and 

competency-based hiring. 

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 ‘‘Chance to Compete 

5 Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 (a) TERMS DEFINED IN SECTION 3308 OF TITLE 5, 

8 UNITED STATES CODE.—In this Act, the terms ‘‘agency’’, 

9 ‘‘Director’’, ‘‘examining agency’’, ‘‘Office’’, ‘‘subject matVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:32 Dec 21, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3423.IS S3423

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1 ter expert’’, and ‘‘technical assessment’’ have the mean2 ings given those terms in subsection (a) of section 3308 

3 of title 5, United States Code, as added by section 3(a). 

4 (b) OTHER TERMS.—In this Act, the term ‘‘competi5 tive service’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

6 2102 of title 5, United States Code. 

7 SEC. 3. DEFINING THE TERM ‘‘EXAMINATION’’ FOR PUR8 POSES OF HIRING IN THE COMPETITIVE 

9 SERVICE. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3308 of title 5, United 

11 States Code, is amended— 

12 (1) by striking ‘‘The Office of Personnel Man13 agement’’ and inserting the following: 

14 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) EXAMINATION DEFINED FOR PURPOSES OF

16 CHAPTER.—For purposes of this chapter, the term 

17 ‘examination’, with respect to the competitive serv18 ice— 

19 ‘‘(A) means an opportunity to directly 

20 demonstrate knowledge, skills, abilities, and 

21 competencies, through a passing score assess22 ment (unless the examining agency determines 

23 that another method, not limited to the out24 comes of pass or fail, makes meaningful and obVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:32 Dec 21, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3423.IS S3423

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1 jective differentiations in rating candidates); 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(B) does not include a self-assessment 

4 from an automated examination, a re ́sume ́ re5 view (unless conducted by a subject matter ex6 pert in a structured manner), or any other 

7 method of determining the experience or level of 

8 educational attainment of an individual, alone. 

9 ‘‘(2) OTHER TERMS.—In this section— 

10 ‘‘(A) the term ‘agency’ means an agency 

11 described in section 901(b) of title 31; 

12 ‘‘(B) the term ‘Director’ means the Direc13 tor of the Office; 

14 ‘‘(C) the term ‘examining agency’ means— 

15 ‘‘(i) the Office; or 

16 ‘‘(ii) an agency to which the Director 

17 has delegated examining authority under 

18 section 1104(a)(2) of this title; 

19 ‘‘(D) the term ‘Office’ means the Office of 

20 Personnel Management; 

21 ‘‘(E) the term ‘passing score assessment’ 

22 means an assessment that an individual can 

23 pass or fail; 

24 ‘‘(F) the term ‘subject matter expert’ 

25 means an employee— 


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1 ‘‘(i) who is determined by the employ2 ee’s agency to be an expert in the subject 

3 and job field of a position in the competi4 tive service; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) whom the employee’s agency des6 ignates to develop and conduct technical 

7 assessments; and 

8 ‘‘(G) the term ‘technical assessment’ 

9 means a position-specific assessment developed 

10 under subsection (b)(1)(A). 

11 ‘‘(b) TECHNICAL ASSESSMENTS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For the purpose of con13 ducting an examination for a position in the com14 petitive service, a subject matter expert who is deter15 mined by the subject matter expert’s agency to be 

16 an expert in the subject and job field of the position, 

17 as affirmed and audited by the Chief Human Capital 

18 Officer or Human Resources Director (as applicable) 

19 of that agency, may— 

20 ‘‘(A) develop, in partnership with human 

21 resources employees of the examining agency, a 

22 position-specific assessment that is relevant to 

23 the position; and 

24 ‘‘(B) conduct the assessment developed 

25 under subparagraph (A) to— 


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1 ‘‘(i) determine whether an applicant 

2 for the position has a passing score to be 

3 qualified for the position; or 

4 ‘‘(ii) rank applicants for the position 

5 as ‘most qualified’ or ‘qualified’ for cat6 egory rating purposes under section 3319. 

7 ‘‘(2) TYPES OF ASSESSMENTS.—A technical as8 sessment developed under paragraph (1) may in9 clude— 

10 ‘‘(A) a structured interview; 

11 ‘‘(B) a work-related sample; 

12 ‘‘(C) a custom or generic behavioral assess13 ment (which, if generic, may be customized as 

14 needed); or 

15 ‘‘(D) another assessment. 

16 ‘‘(3) SHARING AND CUSTOMIZATION OF ASSESS17 MENTS.— 

18 ‘‘(A) SHARING.—An examining agency 

19 may share a technical assessment developed 

20 under paragraph (1) with another examining 

21 agency. 

22 ‘‘(B) CUSTOMIZATION.—An examining 

23 agency with which a technical assessment is 

24 shared under subparagraph (A) may customize 

25 the assessment as appropriate. 


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1 ‘‘(C) PLATFORM FOR SHARING AND

2 CUSTOMIZATION.—The Director shall establish 

3 and operate a platform on which examining 

4 agencies can share and customize technical as5 sessments under this paragraph. 

6 ‘‘(4) ADOPTION OF DETERMINATIONS BY

7 OTHER AGENCIES.—For purposes of sections 

8 3318(b) and 3319(c), an appointing authority, other 

9 than the appointing authority requesting a certifi10 cate of eligibles, that selects an individual from that 

11 certificate in accordance with such section 3318(b) 

12 or 3319(c) may adopt the determination described in 

13 paragraph (1) of this subsection of a subject matter 

14 expert employed by the requesting appointing au15 thority instead of conducting an additional technical 

16 assessment of the individual. 

17 ‘‘(c) EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—The Office’’; 

18 and 

19 (2) in subsection (c), as so designated, in the 

20 second sentence, by striking ‘‘this section’’ and in21 serting ‘‘this subsection’’. 

22 (b) IMPLEMENTATION OF PASSING SCORE ASSESS23 MENT REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 1 year after the 

24 date of enactment of this Act, the Director and the head 

25 of any other examining agency shall eliminate the use of 


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1 any examination for the competitive service that does not 

2 satisfy the definition of the term ‘‘examination’’ in sub3 section (a) of section 3308 of title 5, United States Code, 

4 as added by subsection (a) of this section. 

5 (c) OPM REPORTING.— 

6 (1) PUBLIC DASHBOARD.— 

7 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall 

8 maintain and periodically update a publicly 

9 available dashboard that, with respect to each 

10 position in the competitive service for which an 

11 examining agency examined applicants during 

12 the applicable period, includes— 

13 (i) the type of assessment used, such 

14 as— 

15 (I) a behavioral off-the-shelf as16 sessment; 

17 (II) a re ́sume ́ review conducted 

18 by a subject matter expert; 

19 (III) an interview conducted by a 

20 subject matter expert; 

21 (IV) a technical off-the-shelf as22 sessment; or 

23 (V) a cognitive ability test; 

24 (ii) whether or not the agency selected 

25 a candidate for the position; and 


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1 (iii) the hiring authority used to fill 

2 the position. 

3 (B) TIMING.— 

4 (i) INITIAL DATA.—Not later than 

5 180 days after the date of enactment of 

6 this Act, the Director shall update the 

7 dashboard described in subparagraph (A) 

8 with data for positions in the competitive 

9 service for which an examining agency ex10 amined applicants during the period begin11 ning on the date of enactment of this Act 

12 and ending on the date of submission of 

13 the report. 

14 (ii) SUBSEQUENT UPDATES.—Not 

15 later than October 1 of each fiscal year be16 ginning after the date on which the dash17 board is initially updated under clause (i), 

18 the Director shall update the dashboard 

19 described in subparagraph (A) with data 

20 for positions in the competitive service for 

21 which an examining agency examined ap22 plicants during the preceding fiscal year. 

23 (2) ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT.—Each year, 

24 the Director shall make publicly available and sub25 mit to Congress an overall progress report that inVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:32 Dec 21, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3423.IS S3423

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1 cludes summary data of the use of examinations (as 

2 defined in subsection (a) of section 3308 of title 5, 

3 United States Code, as added by subsection (a) of 

4 this section) for the competitive service, including 

5 technical assessments, broken down by applicant de6 mographic indicator, including veteran status, race, 

7 gender, disability, and any other measure the Direc8 tor determines appropriate, using the data available 

9 as of October 1, 2020, as a baseline. 

10 (d) GAO REPORT.—Not later than 5 years after the 

11 date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 

12 of the United States shall submit to Congress a report 

13 that— 

14 (1) assesses the implementation of this section 

15 and the amendments made by this section; 

16 (2) assesses the impact and modifications to the 

17 hiring process for the competitive service made by 

18 this section and the amendments made by this sec19 tion; and 

20 (3) makes recommendations for the improve21 ment of the hiring process for the competitive serv22 ice. 


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1 SEC. 4. AMENDMENTS TO COMPETITIVE SERVICE ACT OF 

2 2015. 

3 (a) PLATFORMS FOR SHARING CERTIFICATES OF

4 ELIGIBLES.—Section 3318(b) of title 5, United States 

5 Code, is amended— 

6 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘240-day’’ 

7 and inserting ‘‘1-year’’; 

8 (2) by redesignating paragraph (5) as para9 graph (6); and 

10 (3) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol11 lowing: 

12 ‘‘(5) PLATFORM FOR SHARING RE ́SUME ́S OF IN13 DIVIDUALS ON CERTIFICATES OF ELIGIBLES.—The 

14 Director of the Office shall establish and operate a 

15 platform on which an appointing authority can 

16 share, with other appointing authorities and the 

17 Chief Human Capital Officers Council established 

18 under section 1303 of the Chief Human Capital Of19 ficers Act of 2002 (5 U.S.C. 1401 note; Public Law 

20 107–296), the re ́sume ́s of individuals who are on a 

21 certificate of eligibles requested by the appointing 

22 authority.’’. 

23 (b) MAXIMIZING SHARING OF APPLICANT INFORMA24 TION.—Section 2 of the Competitive Service Act of 2015 

25 (Public Law 114–137; 130 Stat. 310) is amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as 

2 subsections (d) and (e), respectively; and 

3 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(c) MAXIMIZING SHARING OF APPLICANT INFORMA6 TION.— 

7 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 

8 ‘‘(A) the terms ‘agency’, ‘Director’, and 

9 ‘Office’ have the meanings given those terms in 

10 section 3308(a) of title 5, United States Code; 

11 and 

12 ‘‘(B) the term ‘competitive service’ has the 

13 meaning given the term in section 2102 of title 

14 5, United States Code. 

15 ‘‘(2) MAXIMIZING SHARING.—The Director 

16 shall maximize the sharing of information among 

17 agencies regarding qualified applicants for positions 

18 in the competitive service, including by— 

19 ‘‘(A) providing for the delegation to other 

20 agencies of the authority of the Office to host 

21 multi-agency hiring actions to increase the re22 turn on investment on high-quality pooled an23 nouncements; and 

24 ‘‘(B) sharing certificates of eligibles for ap25 pointment.’’. 


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1 (c) AMENDMENT OF IMPLEMENTING REGULA2 TIONS.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enact3 ment of this Act, the Director shall promulgate regulations 

4 to carry out the amendments made by this section. 

5 SEC. 5. MODERNIZING AND REFORMING THE ASSESSMENT 

6 AND HIRING OF FEDERAL JOB CANDIDATES. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (c) of section 3308 of 

8 title 5, United States Code, as so designated by section 

9 3(a), is amended— 

10 (1) by striking ‘‘scientific, technical, or profes11 sional’’; 

12 (2) by inserting ‘‘legally’’ before ‘‘performed’’; 

13 and 

14 (3) by inserting ‘‘in a jurisdiction in which the 

15 duties of the position are to be performed’’ after ‘‘a 

16 prescribed minimum education’’. 

17 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.— 

18 (1) REGULATIONS AND GUIDANCE DOCU19 MENTS.—Not later than 1 year after the date of en20 actment of this Act, the Director shall amend all 

21 regulations and guidance documents as necessary to 

22 implement the amendments made by subsection (a). 

23 (2) HIRING PRACTICES.—Not later than 1 year 

24 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director 

25 and the head of any other examining agency shall 


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1 amend the hiring practices of the Office or the other 

2 examining agency, respectively, in accordance with 

3 the amendments made by subsection (a). 

4 SEC. 6. TALENT TEAMS. 

5 (a) FEDERAL AGENCY TALENT TEAMS.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—An agency may establish 1 

7 or more talent teams (referred to in this section as 

8 ‘‘agency talent teams’’), including at the component 

9 level. 

10 (2) DUTIES.—An agency talent team shall pro11 vide hiring support to the agency and other agencies, 

12 including by— 

13 (A) improving examinations (as defined in 

14 subsection (a) of section 3308 of title 5, United 

15 States Code, as added by section 3(a)); 

16 (B) facilitating writing job announcements 

17 for the competitive service; 

18 (C) sharing high-quality certificates of eli19 gibles; and 

20 (D) facilitating hiring for the competitive 

21 service using examinations (as defined in such 

22 subsection (a)) and subject matter experts. 

23 (b) OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT.—The 

24 Director may establish a Federal talent team to support 

25 agency talent teams in facilitating pooled hiring actions 


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1 across the Federal Government, providing training, and 

2 creating technology platforms to facilitate hiring for the 

3 competitive service, including— 

4 (1) the development of technical assessments; 

5 and 

6 (2) the sharing of certificates of eligibles under 

7 sections 3318(b) and 3319(c) of title 5, United 

8 States Code. 

Æ 


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