I 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6967 

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

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

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 8, 2022 

Mr. HICE of Georgia (for himself, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. FOXX, and Mr. MFUME) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Oversight and Reform 

A BILL 

To implement merit-based reforms to the civil service hiring 

system that replace degree-based hiring with skills- and 

competency-based hiring, 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 ‘‘Chance to Compete 

5 Act of 2022’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 (a) TERMS DEFINED IN SECTION 3304 OF TITLE 5, 

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

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1 ter expert’’, and ‘‘technical assessment’’ have the mean2 ings given those terms in subsection (c)(1) of section 3304 

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) EXAMINATIONS; TECHNICAL ASSESSMENTS.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 3304 of title 5, 

12 United States Code, is amended— 

13 (A) by redesignating subsections (c) 

14 through (f) as subsections (d) through (g), re15 spectively; and 

16 (B) by inserting after subsection (b) the 

17 following: 

18 ‘‘(c) EXAMINATIONS.— 

19 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.— 

20 ‘‘(A) EXAMINATION DEFINED FOR PUR21 POSES OF THIS CHAPTER.—For purposes of 

22 this chapter, the term ‘examination’— 

23 ‘‘(i) means an opportunity to directly 

24 demonstrate knowledge, skills, abilities, 


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1 and competencies, through a passing score 

2 assessment; 

3 ‘‘(ii) includes a re ́sume ́ review that 

4 is— 

5 ‘‘(I) conducted by a subject mat6 ter expert; and 

7 ‘‘(II) based upon indicators 

8 that— 

9 ‘‘(aa) are derived from a job 

10 analysis; and 

11 ‘‘(bb) bear a rational rela12 tionship to performance in the 

13 position for which the examining 

14 agency is hiring; and 

15 ‘‘(iii) on and after the date that is 2 

16 years after the date of enactment of the 

17 Chance to Compete Act of 2022, does not 

18 include a self-assessment from an auto19 mated examination, a re ́sume ́ review (ex20 cept as provided in clause (ii)), or any 

21 other method of determining the experi22 ence or level of educational attainment of 

23 an individual, alone. 

24 ‘‘(B) OTHER TERMS.—In this subsection— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the term ‘agency’ means an agen2 cy described in section 901(b) of title 31; 

3 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘Director’ means the 

4 Director of the Office; 

5 ‘‘(iii) the term ‘examining agency’ 

6 means— 

7 ‘‘(I) the Office; or 

8 ‘‘(II) an agency to which the Di9 rector has delegated examining au10 thority under section 1104(a)(2) of 

11 this title; 

12 ‘‘(iv) the term ‘Office’ means the Of13 fice of Personnel Management; 

14 ‘‘(v) the term ‘passing score assess15 ment’ means an assessment that an indi16 vidual can pass or fail; 

17 ‘‘(vi) the term ‘subject matter expert’ 

18 means an employee or selecting official— 

19 ‘‘(I) who possesses understanding 

20 of the duties of, and knowledge, skills, 

21 and abilities required for, the position 

22 for which the employee or selecting of23 ficial is developing or administering 

24 an assessment; and 


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1 ‘‘(II) whom the delegated exam2 ining unit of the agency that employs 

3 the employee or selecting official des4 ignates to assist in the development 

5 and administration of technical as6 sessments under paragraph (2); and 

7 ‘‘(vii) the term ‘technical assessment’ 

8 means an assessment developed under 

9 paragraph (2)(A)(i) that— 

10 ‘‘(I) allows for the demonstration 

11 of job-related technical skills, abilities, 

12 and knowledge; 

13 ‘‘(II)(aa) is based upon a job 

14 analysis; and 

15 ‘‘(bb) is relevant to the position 

16 for which the assessment is developed; 

17 and 

18 ‘‘(III) may include— 

19 ‘‘(aa) a structured interview; 

20 ‘‘(bb) a work-related exer21 cise; 

22 ‘‘(cc) a custom or generic 

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1 related qualifications and inter2 ests; or 

3 ‘‘(dd) another assessment 

4 that meets the criteria under 

5 subclauses (I) and (II). 

6 ‘‘(2) TECHNICAL ASSESSMENTS.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For the purpose of 

8 conducting an examination for a position in the 

9 competitive service, a subject matter expert who 

10 is determined by the subject matter expert’s 

11 agency to be an expert in the subject and job 

12 field of the position, as affirmed and audited by 

13 the Chief Human Capital Officer or Human Re14 sources Director (as applicable) of that agency, 

15 may— 

16 ‘‘(i) develop, in partnership with 

17 human resources employees of the exam18 ining agency, a position-specific assessment 

19 that is relevant to the position; and 

20 ‘‘(ii) administer the assessment devel21 oped under clause (i) to— 

22 ‘‘(I) determine whether an appli23 cant for the position has a passing 

24 score to be qualified for the position; 

25 or 


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1 ‘‘(II) rank applicants for the po2 sition for category rating purposes 

3 under section 3319. 

4 ‘‘(B) SHARING AND CUSTOMIZATION OF

5 ASSESSMENTS.— 

6 ‘‘(i) SHARING.—An examining agency 

7 may share a technical assessment with an8 other examining agency if each agency 

9 maintains appropriate control over exam10 ination material. 

11 ‘‘(ii) CUSTOMIZATION.—An examining 

12 agency with which a technical assessment 

13 is shared under clause (i) may customize 

14 the assessment as appropriate, provided 

15 that the resulting assessment satisfies the 

16 requirements under part 300 of title 5, 

17 Code of Federal Regulations (or any suc18 cessor regulation). 

19 ‘‘(iii) PLATFORM FOR SHARING AND

20 CUSTOMIZATION.— 

21 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—The Director 

22 shall establish and operate a platform 

23 on which examining agencies can 

24 share and customize technical assess25 ments under this subparagraph. 


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1 ‘‘(II) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 

2 1 year after the date of enactment of 

3 the Chance to Compete Act of 2022, 

4 the Director shall issue guidance to 

5 examining agencies on how to effi6 ciently and effectively share assess7 ments using the platform established 

8 under subclause (I). 

9 ‘‘(C) ADOPTION OF DETERMINATIONS BY

10 OTHER AGENCIES.—For purposes of sections 

11 3318(b) and 3319(c), an appointing authority, 

12 other than the appointing authority requesting 

13 a certificate of eligibles, that selects an indi14 vidual from that certificate in accordance with 

15 such section 3318(b) or 3319(c) may adopt the 

16 determination described in subparagraph (A) of 

17 this paragraph of a subject matter expert em18 ployed by the requesting appointing authority 

19 instead of administering an additional technical 

20 assessment of the individual.’’. 

21 (2) ALTERNATIVE RANKING AND SELECTION

22 PROCEDURES.—Section 3319(a) of title 5, United 

23 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 

24 following: ‘‘To be placed in a quality category under 

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1 quired to have passed an examination in accordance 

2 with section 3304(b), subject to the exceptions in 

3 that section.’’. 

4 (3) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMEND5 MENT.—Section 3330a(a)(1)(B) of title 5, United 

6 States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘section 

7 3304(f)(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 3304(g)(1)’’. 

8 (b) IMPLEMENTATION OF PASSING SCORE ASSESS9 MENT REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 2 years after the 

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

11 of any other examining agency shall eliminate the use of 

12 any examination for the competitive service that does not 

13 satisfy the definition of the term ‘‘examination’’ in sub14 section (c)(1)(A) of section 3304 of title 5, United States 

15 Code, as added by subsection (a) of this section. 

16 (c) OPM REPORTING.— 

17 (1) PUBLIC DASHBOARD.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall 

19 maintain and periodically update a publicly 

20 available dashboard that, with respect to each 

21 position in the competitive service for which an 

22 examining agency examined applicants during 

23 the applicable period, includes— 

24 (i) the type of assessment used, such 

25 as— 


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1 (I) a behavioral off-the-shelf as2 sessment; 

3 (II) a re ́sume ́ review conducted 

4 by a subject matter expert; 

5 (III) an interview conducted by a 

6 subject matter expert; 

7 (IV) a technical off-the-shelf as8 sessment; or 

9 (V) a cognitive ability test; 

10 (ii) whether or not the agency selected 

11 a candidate for the position; and 

12 (iii) the hiring authority used to fill 

13 the position. 

14 (B) TIMING.— 

15 (i) INITIAL DATA.—Not later than 

16 180 days after the date of enactment of 

17 this Act, the Director shall update the 

18 dashboard described in subparagraph (A) 

19 with data for positions in the competitive 

20 service for which an examining agency ex21 amined applicants during the period begin22 ning on the date of enactment of this Act 

23 and ending on the date of submission of 

24 the report. 


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1 (ii) SUBSEQUENT UPDATES.—Not 

2 later than October 1 of each fiscal year be3 ginning after the date on which the dash4 board is initially updated under clause (i), 

5 the Director shall update the dashboard 

6 described in subparagraph (A) with data 

7 for positions in the competitive service for 

8 which an examining agency examined ap9 plicants during the preceding fiscal year. 

10 (2) ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each year, the Direc12 tor, in accordance with subparagraphs (B) and 

13 (C), shall make publicly available and submit to 

14 Congress an overall progress report that in15 cludes summary data of the use of examinations 

16 (as defined in subsection (c)(1)(A) of section 

17 3304 of title 5, United States Code, as added 

18 by subsection (a) of this section) for the com19 petitive service, including technical assessments. 

20 (B) CATEGORIES; BASELINE DATA.—In 

21 carrying out subparagraph (A), the Director 

22 shall— 

23 (i) break the data down by applicant 

24 demographic indicator, including veteran 

25 status, race, gender, disability, and any 


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1 other measure the Director determines ap2 propriate; and 

3 (ii) use the data available as of Octo4 ber 1, 2020, as a baseline. 

5 (C) LIMITATIONS.—In carrying out sub6 paragraph (A), the Director may only make 

7 publicly available and submit to Congress data 

8 relating to examinations for which— 

9 (i) the related announcement is 

10 closed; 

11 (ii) certificates have been audited; and 

12 (iii) all hiring processes are com13 pleted. 

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

15 date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 

16 of the United States shall submit to Congress a report 

17 that— 

18 (1) assesses the implementation of this section 

19 and the amendments made by this section; 

20 (2) assesses the impact and modifications to the 

21 hiring process for the competitive service made by 

22 this section and the amendments made by this sec23 tion; and 


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1 (3) makes recommendations for the improve2 ment of the hiring process for the competitive serv3 ice. 

4 SEC. 4. AMENDMENTS TO COMPETITIVE SERVICE ACT OF 

5 2015. 

6 (a) PLATFORMS FOR SHARING CERTIFICATES OF

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

8 Code, is amended— 

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

10 and inserting ‘‘1-year’’; 

11 (2) by redesignating paragraph (5) as para12 graph (6); and 

13 (3) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol14 lowing: 

15 ‘‘(5) PLATFORM FOR SHARING RE ́SUME ́S OF IN16 DIVIDUALS ON CERTIFICATES OF ELIGIBLES.—The 

17 Director of the Office shall establish and operate a 

18 platform on which an appointing authority can 

19 share, with other appointing authorities and the 

20 Chief Human Capital Officers Council established 

21 under section 1303 of the Chief Human Capital Of22 ficers Act of 2002 (5 U.S.C. 1401 note; Public Law 

23 107–296), the re ́sume ́s of individuals who are on a 

24 certificate of eligibles requested by the appointing 

25 authority.’’. 


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1 (b) MAXIMIZING SHARING OF APPLICANT INFORMA2 TION.—Section 2 of the Competitive Service Act of 2015 

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

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

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

6 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(c) MAXIMIZING SHARING OF APPLICANT INFORMA9 TION.— 

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

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

12 ‘Office’ have the meanings given those terms in 

13 section 3304(c)(1) of title 5, United States 

14 Code; and 

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

16 meaning given the term in section 2102 of title 

17 5, United States Code. 

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

19 shall maximize the sharing of information among 

20 agencies regarding qualified applicants for positions 

21 in the competitive service, including by— 

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

23 agencies of the authority of the Office to host 

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1 turn on investment on high-quality pooled an2 nouncements; and 

3 ‘‘(B) sharing certificates of eligibles and 

4 accompanying re ́sume ́s for appointment.’’. 

5 (c) AMENDMENT OF IMPLEMENTING REGULA6 TIONS.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enact7 ment of this Act, the Director shall promulgate regulations 

8 to carry out the amendments made by this section. 

9 SEC. 5. MODERNIZING AND REFORMING THE ASSESSMENT 

10 AND HIRING OF FEDERAL JOB CANDIDATES. 

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

12 States Code, is amended— 

13 (1) by striking ‘‘scientific, technical, or profes14 sional’’; 

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

16 and 

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

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

19 prescribed minimum education’’. 

20 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.— 

21 (1) REGULATIONS AND GUIDANCE DOCU22 MENTS.—Not later than 1 year after the date of en23 actment of this Act, the Director shall amend all 

24 regulations and guidance documents as necessary to 

25 implement the amendments made by subsection (a). 


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

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

3 and the head of any other examining agency shall 

4 amend the hiring practices of the Office or the other 

5 examining agency, respectively, in accordance with 

6 the amendments made by subsection (a). 

7 SEC. 6. TALENT TEAMS. 

8 (a) FEDERAL AGENCY TALENT TEAMS.— 

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

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

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

12 level. 

13 (2) DUTIES.—An agency talent team shall pro14 vide hiring support to the agency and other agencies, 

15 including by— 

16 (A) improving examinations (as defined in 

17 subsection (c)(1)(A) of section 3304 of title 5, 

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

19 (B) facilitating writing job announcements 

20 for the competitive service; 

21 (C) sharing high-quality certificates of eli22 gibles; and 

23 (D) facilitating hiring for the competitive 

24 service using examinations (as defined in such 


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1 subsection (c)(1)(A)) and subject matter ex2 perts. 

3 (b) OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT.—The 

4 Director may establish a Federal talent team to support 

5 agency talent teams in facilitating pooled hiring actions 

6 across the Federal Government, providing training, and 

7 creating technology platforms to facilitate hiring for the 

8 competitive service, including— 

9 (1) the development of technical assessments; 

10 and 

11 (2) the sharing of certificates of eligibles and 

12 accompanying re ́sume ́s under sections 3318(b) and 

13 3319(c) of title 5, United States Code. 

Æ 


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