This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains regulatory documents having general

applicability and legal effect, most of which

are keyed to and codified in the Code of

Federal Regulations, which is published under

50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.

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Rules and Regulations Federal Register

67589 

Vol. 75, No. 212 

Wednesday, November 3, 2010 

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL 

MANAGEMENT 

5 CFR Parts 302, 330, 335, 337, and 410 

RIN 3206–AL04 

Recruitment, Selection, and Placement 

(General) 

AGENCY: U.S. Office of Personnel 

Management. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Office of Personnel 

Management (OPM) is revising the 

regulations on Federal vacancy 

announcements, reemployment priority 

list requirements, positions restricted to 

preference eligibles, the restriction on 

moving an employee immediately after 

a competitive appointment, the Career 

Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP), and 

the Interagency Career Transition 

Assistance Plan (ICTAP). This final rule 

clarifies the regulations, incorporates 

longstanding OPM policies, revises 

placement assistance programs for 

consistency and effectiveness, removes 

references to two expired interagency 

placement assistance programs, and 

reorganizes information for ease of 

reading. 

DATES: Final rule effective March 3, 

2011. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

subparts A, D, and E, contact Linda 

Watson by telephone at (202) 606–0830; 

TTY at (202) 418–3134; fax at 

(202) 606–0390; or e-mail at 

linda.watson@opm.gov. For all other 

subparts, contact Pam Galemore by 

telephone at (202) 606–0960; TTY at 

(202) 418–3134; fax at (202) 606–2329; 

or e-mail at pamela.galemore@opm.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office 

of Personnel Management (OPM) is 

revising the regulations in 5 CFR part 

330 governing Federal vacancy 

announcements, the Reemployment 

Priority List (RPL), positions restricted 

to preference eligibles, the restriction on 

moving an employee immediately after 

a competitive appointment, the Career 

Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP), and 

the Interagency Career Transition 

Assistance Plan (ICTAP). 

On September 8, 2008, OPM 

published proposed regulations in the 

Federal Register (73 FR 51944) revising 

part 330 to clarify the regulations, 

incorporate longstanding OPM policies, 

revise placement assistance programs 

for consistency and effectiveness, 

remove references to two expired 

interagency placement assistance 

programs, and reorganize information 

for ease of reading. The Supplementary 

Information section of the September 8, 

2008, proposed rule contains a 

discussion of the substantive revisions 

and changes. The 60-day comment 

period for the proposed regulations 

ended on November 7, 2008. During the 

comment period, OPM received 

comments from seven executive branch 

agencies, one legislative branch agency, 

two labor organizations, and one 

employee organization. We address the 

relevant comments received under the 

subpart headings below. The vast 

majority of comments received related 

to provisions in part 330 that were not 

proposed for revision and so were 

outside the scope of the proposed 

regulations. OPM is not responding to 

those comments, i.e., those comments 

concerning current regulatory 

requirements and provisions that we did 

not propose to change. Although we are 

not addressing those comments in this 

final rule, we appreciate that the 

commenters thought additional 

clarification would be helpful in 

applying both continuing and revised 

part 330 provisions. With this in mind, 

we will include additional clarifying 

information both in guidance material 

accompanying this final regulation and 

in the Delegated Examining Operations 

Handbook, as appropriate. 

General Comments 

Overall, the agencies supported 

OPM’s proposed revisions to part 330 as 

benefiting employees affected by 

downsizing actions, clarifying the 

existing regulations and making them 

more readable, and adding helpful 

information. 

The employee organization asked 

whether the revised regulations would 

affect the Administrative Law Judge 

(ALJ) Program. The ALJ Program is 

subject to regulations at 5 CFR part 930, 

subpart B. Under section 930.201(b), 

ALJs follow competitive service 

regulations unless otherwise stated in 

part 930. Because ALJs are above the 

GS–15 level, or equivalent, they are not 

subject to subpart F (the Career 

Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP)) and 

subpart G (the Interagency CTAP or 

ICTAP), which limit selection priority to 

the GS–15 level, or equivalent, or below. 

ALJs are specifically covered by subpart 

B, the Reemployment Priority List, in 

accordance with section 930.210(c)(1). 

The legislative agency questioned the 

proposed definition of agency for the 

purposes of part 330 in section 330.101, 

which included the Government 

Printing Office (GPO). The commenter 

stated that OPM did not have authority 

to include the GPO under the agency 

definition because it is an agency in the 

legislative branch of the Federal 

Government, and the Presidential 

Memorandum dated September 12, 

1995, directing the establishment of the 

career transition assistance programs 

under subparts F and G, CTAP and 

ICTAP, respectively, was limited to the 

internal management of the executive 

branch. The commenter stated that the 

GPO should not have to assist in the 

placement of displaced executive 

branch employees. The commenter also 

stated that the GPO does not object to 

inclusion under subpart B, the 

Reemployment Priority List. 

OPM agrees in part and disagrees in 

part with the commenter’s assertion 

concerning the applicability of part 330 

to the GPO. President Cleveland, by an 

Adopting and Promulgating Order dated 

June 13, 1895, placed all GPO 

employees other than unskilled laborers 

or workmen and those appointed by and 

with the advice and consent of the 

Senate into the classified service, 

subject to the regulations of the Civil 

Service Commission, which became 

OPM in 1979. Although the 1895 Order 

placed GPO employees in the 

competitive service, we agree with the 

commenter that the 1995 Presidential 

Memorandum directing the 

establishment of career transition 

assistance programs was limited to the 

executive branch. Accordingly, we have 

redefined agency from the proposed 

section 330.602 and section 330.702 to 

mean an Executive agency as defined in 

5 U.S.C. 105, i.e., an Executive 


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department, a Government corporation, 

and an independent establishment. The 

revised definition excludes GPO 

employees and positions from coverage 

under subparts F and G, respectively, 

meaning the GPO is not required to 

provide selection priority to displaced 

executive branch employees, and 

executive branch agencies are not 

required to provide selection priority to 

displaced GPO employees. We have also 

revised section 330.404 to exclude GPO 

employees from the provisions of 

section 330.404 through section 330.407 

that require placement assistance to 

preference eligibles separated by 

reduction in force because of a 

contracting-out decision made in 

accordance with Office of Management 

and Budget Circular A–76. We have not 

redefined agency in subpart B because 

OPM regulations regarding the RPL, 

which implement 5 U.S.C. 3315 and 

8151, apply to the GPO per the 1895 

Adopting and Promulgating Order. 

One agency asked if there would be 

an implementation period for agencies 

to update their policies, procedures, 

forms, etc. To allow time for agencies to 

update and revise their policies and 

procedures to conform to the new 

regulatory requirements and to consider 

the new flexibilities, OPM is providing 

that the final regulations will be 

effective 4 months from the date of 

publication in the Federal Register. 

Agencies are required to provide OPM 

with a copy of their final CTAP plans 

in accordance with section 330.603(a). 

One agency suggested that the 

regulations define an ‘‘excepted service 

agency’’ to help employees understand 

this term. This comment was made in 

response to the statement on page 51946 

of the September 8, 2008, Federal 

Register notice about including entities 

with positions in the competitive 

service under subparts F and G. We are 

not adopting this suggestion because it 

is unnecessary and would not add to the 

clarity of this regulation. It is positions, 

not agencies per se, that are excepted 

from the competitive service, and title 5 

of the United States Code already 

defines both the term ‘‘competitive 

service’’ and the term ‘‘excepted service’’ 

at 5 U.S.C. 2102 and 2103, respectively. 

Subpart A—Filling Vacancies in the 

Competitive Service 

One agency commented that, although 

the Supplementary Information for the 

proposed regulations indicated that 

Subpart A was modified to include 

requirements mandated by the Veterans 

Employment Opportunities Act (VEOA), 

the agency did not see any changes that 

related to VEOA. In fact, section 

330.103(b) of the revised regulations is 

intended to implement section 2 of the 

VEOA, codified at 5 U.S.C. 3304(f), by 

requiring that an agency notify OPM 

when filling any vacancy under its merit 

promotion procedures if it is accepting 

applications from outside its permanent 

competitive service workforce. We have 

also clarified the purpose of section 

330.103 by adding that the information 

an agency provides to OPM is the 

vacancy announcement information for 

the particular vacancy. 

One agency commented that recent 

legislation may have been enacted 

regarding protected genetic information. 

The commenter recommended adding 

genetic information to the Equal 

Employment Opportunity (EEO) 

statement suggested in section 

330.104(a)(17). OPM is not adopting this 

suggestion; however, based on the 

agency’s comment, we have removed 

the proposed recommended EEO 

statement in section 330.104(a)(17) and 

replaced it with information as to where 

an agency can locate OPM’s 

recommended language for an EEO 

statement. Placing the recommended 

EEO statement in a central location 

allows OPM to readily update the 

statement with any changes or 

amendments to Federal employment 

discrimination law. Agencies may either 

use the recommended EEO statement 

located on OPM’s USAJOBS Web site 

(http://www.usajobs.gov/eeo) or develop 

its own EEO policy statement. 

For the same reason stated above, 

OPM is removing the current 

recommended statement for Reasonable 

Accommodation in section 

330.707(b)(14)(ii) (which was moved to 

section 330.104(b)(2) in the proposed 

and this final regulation) and replacing 

it with information as to where an 

agency can locate OPM’s recommended 

language for a Reasonable 

Accommodation statement. When 

interpretive changes to the Americans 

with Disabilities Act of 1990 occur, 

OPM will update the recommended 

language for a Reasonable 

Accommodation statement at a central 

location on OPM’s USAJOBS Web site 

(http://www.usajobs.gov/raps.) Agencies 

may either use the recommended 

language located on OPM’s Web site or 

develop its own Reasonable 

Accommodation policy statement. 

One agency noted the incorrect Web 

address for USAJOBS in section 

330.105. We have corrected the Web 

address to http://www.usajobs.gov. 

Subpart B—Reemployment Priority List 

(RPL) 

One agency objected to the proposed 

renaming of ‘‘priority consideration’’ to 

‘‘placement priority’’ throughout subpart 

B because the renamed term could give 

the impression that the agency is 

responsible for placing the employee, 

rather than the employee being 

responsible for seeking employment. 

OPM is retaining the revised term as 

proposed because the RPL, in fact, 

provides placement priority for RPL 

registrants over individuals from 

outside the agency’s permanent 

competitive service workforce. 

Two labor organizations objected to 

the addition of the ‘‘undue interruption’’ 

standard to the definition of qualified in 

section 330.202. One organization was 

concerned about both the deletion of the 

reference to the undue interruption 

definition in 5 CFR 351.203 and the 

concept underlying the undue 

interruption provision. The other 

organization erroneously referred to the 

undue interruption provision as a new 

requirement in subpart B and stated that 

the 90-day standard for an undue 

interruption determination is not 

currently in part 351. (‘‘Undue 

interruption’’ is defined in section 

351.203 as a standard an agency may 

consider when placing an employee 

during a reduction in force. The 

standard may be used when the 

placement of an otherwise eligible 

employee could prevent completion of 

required work 90 days after the 

placement.) As stated in the 

Supplementary Information of the 

proposed rule, the undue interruption 

provision is an exception to RPL 

placement in the current regulation at 

section 330.207(d). The proposed 

change merely moved the substance of 

the exception to the qualified definition 

at the beginning of the subpart. Moving 

the undue interruption provision as an 

exception to the definition of qualified 

for RPL placement priority makes RPL 

placement priority consistent with 

qualifications for placement in a 

position under part 351. We agree, 

however, that retaining a specific crossreference to the undue interruption 

definition in section 351.203 would 

provide a more thorough grounding for 

the provision and be helpful to agencies 

in making determinations. We have 

revised section 330.202 accordingly, 

returning the section 351.203 reference 

and deleting the parenthetical 

information that was taken from the 

section 351.203 definition. 

One agency and two labor 

organizations were concerned about the 

proposed new provision in section 

330.207(b) that allows agencies, at their 

discretion, to designate a different local 

commuting area for RPL eligibles when 

the agency will not have any 

competitive service positions remaining 

in the local commuting area. The agency 


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is concerned that, because no guidelines 

are provided in the regulation about 

when or why an agency would exercise 

this option, major discrepancies could 

arise in how RPL eligibles are treated 

among the various agencies. One labor 

organization recommended that 

agencies, instead of having discretion, 

be required to designate a different local 

commuting area because to leave to 

their discretion the designation of a 

different local commuting area would 

make this provision mere guidance, 

which agencies could disregard. OPM 

believes that each agency is in the best 

position to determine if and when it 

would be appropriate to use this 

flexibility. OPM believes that 

appropriate considerations would 

include the size and locations of the 

agency’s workforce, available vacancies, 

and available funds. We have added 

these general criteria to the regulation in 

section 330.207(b) for agency 

consideration when establishing their 

policies, if they choose to implement 

this provision. 

The other labor organization believes 

that an RPL eligible should be given the 

option of registering for expanded 

consideration in multiple local 

commuting areas if he or she is willing 

to cover the costs of relocation upon 

acceptance of a vacancy offer. OPM 

cannot adopt this suggestion. The 

Federal Travel Regulations (41 CFR part 

302–2) require that an employee is 

entitled to relocation allowances if the 

agency determines the relocation is in 

the interest of the Government. Because 

41 CFR 302–3.205 states that any 

relocation due to reduction in force is 

considered to be in the interest of the 

Government, and 41 CFR 302–3.206 

provides that an agency may pay a 

relocation allowance to a re-employed 

employee separated by reduction in 

force or transfer of function, the agency 

would be required to reimburse the 

employee should the employee claim 

relocation expenses at a later date. 

Based on these considerations, OPM is 

retaining section 330.207(b) as 

proposed. 

Proposed section 330.207(d) requires 

an agency to establish a fair and 

consistent policy for expanding the 

registration area for an employee whose 

RPL eligibility is based on recovery from 

a compensable work injury. One agency 

commented that section 330.207(d) does 

not include information regarding the 

circumstances that would be 

appropriate for expansion. Proposed 

section 330.207(d) merely added a 

requirement to the requirement in 

current section 330.206(b)(1) to expand 

consideration ‘‘at the time and in a 

manner as the agency determines will 

provide the individual with maximum 

opportunities for consideration.’’ The 

new requirement is for the agency to 

establish a fair and consistent policy for 

expanding consideration Because 

Federal agencies range from under a 

hundred positions in one location to 

thousands of positions worldwide, OPM 

believes each agency is in the best 

position to determine if, when, and how 

it will expand consideration for its 

employees who have recovered from a 

compensable injury based on the 

location and availability of positions for 

the RPL registrant to exercise placement 

priority. However, we agree that 

including examples, such as agency 

size, geographic scope, and funding 

availability, would be helpful to 

agencies with establishing their policies 

and we have revised section 330.207(d) 

accordingly. 

One agency commented that proposed 

section 330.208(a) is somewhat 

confusing, perhaps due to the length of 

the sentence, and offered revised 

language to separate the provisions into 

three sentences. We agree that the 

section could be clearer; however, to 

avoid redundancy, we revised section 

330.208(a) to retain the events resulting 

in RPL eligibility within one sentence 

and separated into a second sentence 

the provision that an RPL eligible 

remains registered unless removed from 

the RPL for a reason specified in section 

330.209. Section 330.208(a) as revised 

reads: ‘‘(a) RPL registration expires 

2 years from the date of reduction in 

force separation under part 351 of this 

chapter, or 2 years from the date the 

agency registers the RPL eligible 

because of recovery from a compensable 

work injury under § 330.206(a)(3)(i) or 

(ii). An RPL eligible remains registered 

for the full 2-year period unless the 

registrant is removed from the RPL for 

a reason specified in § 330.209.’’ 

One agency commented that 

extending the duration of RPL eligibility 

in section 330.208(a) to 2 years for both 

tenure groups I and II will benefit the 

registrant, but will also prolong the need 

to check the RPL, ultimately creating 

more work. OPM disagrees with the 

agency’s comment. Under section 

330.210(b), the agency is required to 

check its RPL for registrants each time 

it fills a competitive service vacancy 

from outside its permanent competitive 

service workforce. Extending the 

eligibility period for tenure group II RPL 

registrants will not affect how often the 

agency checks its RPL. 

One agency commented that section 

330.208(b) provides OPM the authority 

to extend an RPL eligible’s registration 

period when the eligible does not 

receive the 2 full years of placement 

priority, but it does not indicate how or 

who notifies OPM of the situation. We 

agree that additional clarification is 

needed. We have added a new 

paragraph to section 330.208(b) 

allowing either the agency or the RPL 

eligible to request OPM approval to 

extend the registration period if the 

registrant was denied the full 2-year 

registration period because of 

administrative or clerical error. 

One agency noted the typographical 

error in section 330.212(c)(2) in 

referencing section 330.210 instead of 

section 330.213. We have corrected the 

reference in this final rule. 

One labor organization objected to the 

provisions of section 330.213(c) and (d) 

concerning the selection order of RPL 

placement priority candidates. The 

labor organization stated the methods 

create complicated and convoluted 

components that do not adequately 

serve RPL candidates in a timely 

fashion. 

In relation to section 330.213(c), the 

proposed rule only changed the title of 

the section from ‘‘Rating and ranking’’ to 

‘‘Numerical scoring.’’ The regulatory 

provisions in the proposed rule are the 

same as those in the current regulation 

in section 330.207(c). Because only the 

title of the section changed and the rest 

of the provisions were not proposed for 

change, the comment concerning 

section 330.213(c) is outside the scope 

of the proposed rule. 

The labor organization also objected 

to the addition of section 330.213(d), 

allowing an agency to use alternative 

rating and selection procedures (also 

called category rating) as prescribed in 

5 U.S.C. 3319 and part 337 of 5 CFR for 

the same reason stated above. We are 

not deleting section 330.213(d) based on 

the labor organization’s objection. We 

proposed to add the alternative rating 

provision at section 330.213(d) precisely 

because we believe it would provide for 

a less complicated method for agencies 

to determine the selection order for RPL 

placement priority candidates. 

Alternative rating has been established 

by statute, codified at 5 U.S.C. 3319, and 

implemented in part 337, as an 

acceptable method, in addition to 

assigning numeric scores, for assessing 

qualified candidates for jobs filled 

through competitive examination while 

preserving veterans’ preference. Because 

agencies may have adopted alternative 

rating in their competitive examination 

process, we are providing the ability to 

use this method when determining 

selection order under the RPL. 

One agency commented that it is 

unclear whether there is an advantage or 

benefit to amending section 330.213(e) 

to allow RPL registrants to apply 


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directly for RPL placement priority, 

stating that it will create additional 

work to track the RPL candidate’s 

application. OPM is not revising section 

330.213(e) based on the comment. We 

believe adding this flexibility, which is 

based on the employee-empowerment 

model used in CTAP and ICTAP, will be 

beneficial to both the agency and the 

RPL registrant by helping to ensure a 

successful placement. For example, the 

agency will consider only those RPL 

registrants who express their interest 

and availability by applying for the 

particular vacancy. The RPL registrant 

can exercise placement priority only for 

those vacancies in which he or she is 

interested, instead of being faced with 

either accepting a less desirable position 

or being removed from the RPL. 

Subpart F—Agency Career Transition 

Assistance Plan (CTAP) for Local 

Surplus and Displaced Employees 

In the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

section of the proposed rule, OPM asked 

stakeholders to comment on the 

exceptions to CTAP and ICTAP 

selection priority. We received 

comments from three agencies. Two 

agencies believed the exceptions were 

appropriate, reasonable and 

comprehensive. One agency proposed to 

add in section 330.609 that an employee 

with reinstatement eligibility who was 

selected for a term appointment from a 

competitive examination certificate may 

be reinstated to a permanent 

appointment as an exception to CTAP 

selection priority. OPM is not adopting 

the proposal. An individual who 

accepted a term appointment is fully 

aware of the time-limited nature of the 

appointment. A CTAP eligible has, by 

definition, been determined to be in a 

surplus position and subject to 

displacement or has received notice of 

separation from the Federal service 

through no fault of his or her own. We 

believe a well-qualified CTAP eligible 

should retain selection priority for 

permanent positions over an individual 

who accepted a designated time-limited 

offer. However, we understand that a 

time-limited appointment may be the 

only option available to a CTAP eligible 

for continued employment within an 

agency during a reduction in force. For 

this reason, we have added paragraph 

(ee) to section 330.609 to provide an 

additional exception to applying CTAP 

selection priority. The new exception 

allows an agency to convert an 

employee’s time-limited appointment in 

the competitive or excepted service to a 

permanent appointment in the 

competitive service if the employee 

accepted the time-limited appointment 

while a CTAP eligible. 

One labor organization recommended 

restoring language in section 

330.606(b)(1) that was deleted in the 

proposed rule. OPM is not adopting the 

recommendation. OPM proposed to 

delete the statement, ‘‘Selective and 

quality ranking factors cannot be so 

restrictive that they run counter to the 

goal of placing displaced employees’’ 

because it was unnecessary. We 

continue to believe the statement is 

unnecessary and, in fact, could be 

misconstrued. The goal of placing, or 

not placing, displaced employees is 

irrelevant to the establishment of 

selective and quality ranking factors. 

(Selective factors are knowledge, skills, 

abilities (KSAs), or special 

qualifications that are in addition to the 

minimum requirements in a 

qualification standard and are 

determined to be essential to perform 

the duties and responsibilities of a 

particular position. Quality ranking 

factors are KSAs that are expected to 

enhance performance in a position, but, 

unlike selective factors, are not essential 

for satisfactory performance. Quality 

ranking factors are used to evaluate and 

determine the best qualified of qualified 

applicants.) These factors are 

considered an employment practice 

and, therefore, must be developed in 

accordance with 5 CFR 300. Part 300 

requires a job analysis to determine the 

job-related quality ranking factors, or 

selective factors, as applicable. The fact 

that placement assistance candidates 

may apply for the position has no 

relevance to their establishment or use. 

These factors are established for the 

position to be filled before the job is 

announced and apply to all individuals 

who apply to the job announcement. 

(For additional information on selective 

and quality ranking factors, see part E.6 

of the Operating Manual: Qualification 

Standards for General Schedule 

Positions on OPM’s Web site at http:// 

www.opm.gov.) 

One agency and one labor 

organization commented on the new 

provision in sections 330.606(c) and 

330.704(c) allowing an agency to 

include the results of a structured 

scored interview when determining if a 

CTAP or an ICTAP eligible is wellqualified. Both the agency and the labor 

organization stated that structured 

interviews were too subjective for use in 

making well-qualified determinations. 

OPM disagrees with the commenters; 

however, we are deleting this provision 

as unnecessary from both sections in the 

final regulations. A scored structured 

interview is a valid assessment tool that 

involves eliciting, observing, evaluating, 

and scoring responses to pre-established 

job-related questions. A structured 

interview, when used, is part of an 

agency’s overall assessment process to 

differentiate the qualified from the 

highly- or well-qualified applicants for 

a particular position or group of 

positions. Because the structured 

interview is a component of the 

assessment process, we have 

determined it is not necessary to 

separately address this component from 

other components used in the process. 

Subpart G—Interagency Career 

Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) for 

Displaced Employees 

One agency and one labor 

organization commented on section 

330.705(d)(2). This section allows an 

agency to make additional selections 

from an applicant pool previously 

established by a vacancy announcement 

that was open to ICTAP eligibles. The 

agency states the provision is confusing 

as written in that it implies the agency 

could readvertise the vacancy without 

accepting additional ICTAP eligibles’ 

applications. The labor organization 

believes reissuing selection certificates 

without readvertising for ICTAP 

eligibles may invite the specter of 

inappropriate or suspect activity on the 

part of an agency in its execution of 

ICTAP. OPM is retaining the provision; 

however, we revised section 

330.705(d)(2) for clarity. As stated in the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION of the 

proposed rule, under current ICTAP 

regulations, an agency must determine if 

ICTAP eligibles are available whenever 

it makes a selection that is not an 

authorized exception to ICTAP. For 

example, an agency issues a vacancy 

announcement for one position for 

which no ICTAP eligibles apply. The 

agency makes a selection and appoints 

the selectee. The selectee resigns 

2 weeks later. The agency’s merit 

promotion plan allows it to re-issue the 

selection certificate containing other 

highly qualified candidates to make a 

second selection in this circumstance, 

but, under the current regulation, the 

agency would have to issue a new 

vacancy announcement to ensure no 

ICTAP eligibles are available before it 

could fill its position. This provision 

would allow the agency to fill the 

position from the applicant pool 

established by the original 

announcement under which ICTAP 

eligibles could apply. We see no reason 

to prohibit the agency from making the 

second selection in this limited 

circumstance. 

One agency recommended that 

section 330.708 be revised to allow 

ICTAP selection priority candidates 

referred for selection on an agency 


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certificate to retain their priority until 

the certificate expires under agency 

policies. OPM is not adopting this 

recommendation because to do so 

would provide some ICTAP eligibles 

with 1 year of eligibility while 

providing others with more than 1 year, 

possibly on the same agency certificate. 

As noted in the SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION of the proposed rule, the 

proposed revision to section 330.708 

was a clarification of, not a change to, 

existing policy. Also as noted in the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION, an agency 

retains the option to select a displaced 

employee whose ICTAP eligibility has 

expired, provided no other ICTAP 

eligibles have selection priority for the 

vacancy. 

One agency suggested section 330.710 

retain the example from the current 

regulation in section 330.708(a)(2)(ii) 

that lists a Standard Form 50 as an 

example of documentation to establish 

ICTAP eligibility. We agree and have 

retained the Standard Form 50 as an 

example of proof of eligibility. Also, in 

reviewing section 330.710, we noted an 

oversight. The proposed provision 

requires an ICTAP eligible to submit one 

of the documents listed under the 

definition of displaced in section 

330.702 to establish ICTAP selection 

priority. However, definition (2) of 

displaced lists former career or careerconditional employees separated by 

reduction in force under part 351 or 

removed under part 752 adverse action 

procedures; no ‘‘document’’ is included 

in definition (2). We have revised 

section 330.710 to correct this oversight. 

The final regulation also includes 

minor edits for readability and finalizes 

the conforming changes in parts 302— 

Employment in the Excepted Service, 

335—Promotion and Internal 

Placement, 337—Examining System, 

and 410—Training of OPM’s regulations 

to revise citations because of the 

movement of rules governing vacancy 

announcements from subpart G to 

subpart A. We also clarified in section 

330.708 when ICTAP eligibility 

terminates for a Military Reserve 

Technician or National Guard 

Technician. By law in 5 U.S.C. 8337(h) 

and 8456, a Technician’s special 

annuity terminates upon appointment to 

a Government position, declination of 

an appointment, restoration to earning 

capacity, or recovery from the disability. 

We have added in section 330.708(f) 

that ICTAP eligibility for displaced 

Technicians, as described in section 

330.702, terminates when the 

Technician no longer receives the 

special disability retirement annuity 

under 5 U.S.C. 3887(h) or 8456. 

For the convenience of the reader, the 

final part 330 is published in its 

entirety. 

E.O. 12866, Regulatory Review 

This rule has been reviewed by the 

Office of Management and Budget in 

accordance with E.O. 12866. 

Regulatory Flexibility Act 

I certify that these regulations would 

not have a significant economic impact 

on a substantial number of small entities 

because they would apply only to 

Federal agencies and employees. 

List of Subjects 

5 CFR Parts 302, 335, and 337 

Government employees. 

5 CFR Part 330 

Armed forces reserves, District of 

Columbia, Government employees. 

5 CFR Part 410 

Education, Government employees. 

U.S. Office of Personnel Management. 

John Berry, 

Director. 

■ Accordingly, OPM is amending 5 CFR 

parts 302, 330, 335, 337, and 410 as 

follows: 

PART 302—EMPLOYMENT IN THE 

EXCEPTED SERVICE 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 302 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 1302, 3301, 3302, 8151, 

E.O. 10577 (3 CFR 1954–1958 Comp., p. 218); 

§ 302.105 also issued under 5 U.S.C. 1104, 

Pub. L. 95–454, sec. 3(5); § 302.501 also 

issued under 5 U.S.C. 7701 et seq. 

§ 302.106 [Amended] 

■ 2. In § 302.106, remove ‘‘§ 330.707 of 

subpart G’’ and add, in its place, ‘‘part 

330, subpart A’’. 

PART 330—RECRUITMENT, 

SELECTION, AND PLACEMENT 

(GENERAL) 

■ 3. Revise part 330 to read as follows: 

Subpart A—Filling Vacancies in the 

Competitive Service 

Sec. 

330.101 Definitions. 

330.102 Methods of filling vacancies. 

330.103 Requirement to notify OPM. 

330.104 Requirements for vacancy 

announcements. 

330.105 Instructions on how to add a 

vacancy announcement to USAJOBS. 

330.106 Funding. 

Subpart B—Reemployment Priority List 

(RPL) 

330.201 Purpose. 

330.202 Definitions. 

330.203 RPL eligibility. 

330.204 Agency requirements and 

responsibilities. 

330.205 Agency RPL applications. 

330.206 RPL registration timeframe and 

positions. 

330.207 Registration area. 

330.208 Duration of RPL registration. 

330.209 Removal from an RPL. 

330.210 Applying RPL placement priority. 

330.211 Exceptions to RPL placement 

priority. 

330.212 Agency flexibilities. 

330.213 Selection from an RPL. 

330.214 Appeal rights. 

Subpart C—[Reserved] 

Subpart D—Positions Restricted to 

Preference Eligibles 

330.401 Restricted positions. 

330.402 Exceptions to restriction. 

330.403 Positions brought into the 

competitive service. 

330.404 Displacement of preference 

eligibles occupying restricted positions 

in contracting out situations. 

330.405 Agency placement assistance. 

330.406 OPM placement assistance. 

330.407 Eligibility for the Interagency 

Career Transition Assistance Plan. 

Subpart E—Restrictions To Protect 

Competitive Principles 

330.501 Purpose. 

330.502 General restriction on movement 

after competitive appointment. 

330.503 Ensuring agency compliance with 

the principles of open competition. 

330.504 Exception to the general restriction. 

Subpart F—Agency Career Transition 

Assistance Plan (CTAP) for Local Surplus 

and Displaced Employees 

330.601 Purpose. 

330.602 Definitions. 

330.603 Requirements for agency CTAPs. 

330.604 Requirements for agency CTAP 

selection priority. 

330.605 Agency responsibilities for 

deciding who is well-qualified. 

330.606 Minimum criteria for agency 

definition of ‘‘well-qualified’’. 

330.607 Applying CTAP selection priority. 

330.608 Other agency CTAP 

responsibilities. 

330.609 Exceptions to CTAP selection 

priority. 

330.610 CTAP eligibility period. 

330.611 Establishing CTAP selection 

priority. 

330.612 Proof of eligibility. 

330.613 OPM’s role in CTAP. 

Subpart G—Interagency Career Transition 

Assistance Plan (ICTAP) for Displaced 

Employees 

330.701 Purpose. 

330.702 Definitions. 

330.703 Agency responsibilities for 

deciding who is well-qualified. 

330.704 Minimum criteria for agency 

definition of ‘‘well-qualified’’. 

330.705 Applying ICTAP selection priority. 

330.706 Other agency ICTAP 

responsibilities. 

330.707 Exceptions to ICTAP selection 

priority. 


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330.708 ICTAP eligibility period. 

330.709 Establishing ICTAP selection 

priority. 

330.710 Proof of eligibility. 

330.711 OPM’s role in ICTAP. 

Subpart H—[Reserved] 

Subpart I—[Reserved] 

Subpart J—Prohibited Practices 

330.1001 Withdrawal from competition. 

Subpart K—[Reserved] 

Subpart L—[Reserved] 

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 1104, 1302, 3301, 3302, 

3304, and 3330; E.O. 10577, 3 CFR, 1954–58 

Comp., p. 218; Section 330.103 also issued 

under 5 U.S.C. 3327; Subpart B also issued 

under 5 U.S.C. 3315 and 8151; Section 

330.401 also issued under 5 U.S.C. 3310; 

Subparts F and G also issued under 

Presidential Memorandum on Career 

Transition Assistance for Federal Employees, 

September 12, 1995; Subpart G also issued 

under 5 U.S.C. 8337(h) and 8456(b). 

Subpart A—Filling Vacancies in the 

Competitive Service 

§ 330.101 Definitions. 

(a) In this part: 

Agency means: 

(1) An Executive department listed at 

5 U.S.C. 101; 

(2) A military department listed at 5 

U.S.C. 102; 

(3) A Government owned corporation 

in the executive branch; 

(4) An independent establishment in 

the executive branch as described at 5 

U.S.C. 104; and 

(5) The Government Printing Office. 

Component means the first major 

subdivision of an agency, separately 

organized, and clearly distinguished in 

work function and operation from other 

agency subdivisions (e.g., the Internal 

Revenue Service under the Department 

of the Treasury or the National Park 

Service under the Department of the 

Interior). 

Local commuting area has the 

meaning given that term in § 351.203 of 

this chapter. 

Permanent competitive service 

workforce and permanent competitive 

service employees mean agency 

employees serving under career or 

career-conditional appointments, in 

tenure group I or II, respectively. 

Position change has the meaning 

given that term in § 210.102 of this 

chapter. 

Rating of record has the meaning 

given that term in § 351.203 of this 

chapter. 

Representative rate has the meaning 

given that term in § 351.203 of this 

chapter. 

Tenure groups are described in 

§ 351.501 of this chapter. 

(b) In this subpart: 

Vacancy means a vacant position in 

the competitive service, regardless of 

whether the position will be filled by 

permanent or time-limited appointment, 

for which an agency is seeking 

applications from outside its current 

permanent competitive service 

workforce. 

§ 330.102 Methods of filling vacancies. 

An agency may fill a vacancy in the 

competitive service by any method 

authorized in this chapter, including 

competitive appointment from a list of 

eligibles, noncompetitive appointment 

under special authority, reinstatement, 

transfer, reassignment, change to lower 

grade, or promotion. The agency must 

exercise its discretion in each personnel 

action solely on the basis of merit and 

fitness, without regard to political or 

religious affiliation, marital status, or 

race, and veterans’ preference 

entitlements. 

§ 330.103 Requirement to notify OPM. 

An agency must provide the vacancy 

announcement information to OPM 

promptly when: 

(a) Filling a vacancy for more than 

120 days from outside the agency’s 

current permanent competitive service 

workforce, as required by the 

Interagency Career Transition 

Assistance Plan, subpart G of this part, 

unless the action to be taken is listed in 

subpart G as an exception to that 

subpart; 

(b) Filling any vacancy under the 

agency’s merit promotion procedures 

when the agency will accept 

applications from outside its permanent 

competitive service workforce; and 

(c) Filling a vacancy by open 

competitive examination, including 

direct hire procedures under part 337 of 

this chapter, or in the Senior Executive 

Service, as required by 5 U.S.C. 3327. 

§ 330.104 Requirements for vacancy 

announcements. 

(a) Each vacancy announcement must 

contain the following information: 

(1) Name of issuing agency; 

(2) Announcement number; 

(3) Position title, series, pay plan, and 

grade (or pay rate); 

(4) Duty location; 

(5) Number of vacancies; 

(6) Opening date and application 

deadline (closing date) and any other 

information concerning how receipt of 

applications will be documented, such 

as by date of receipt or postmark, and 

considered, such as by cut-off dates in 

open continuous announcements; 

(7) Qualification requirements, 

including knowledge, skills, and 

abilities or competencies; 

(8) Starting pay; 

(9) Brief description of duties; 

(10) Basis of rating; 

(11) What to file; 

(12) Instructions on how to apply; 

(13) Information on how to claim 

veterans’ preference, if applicable; 

(14) Definition of ‘‘well-qualified,’’ as 

required by subparts F and G of this 

part; 

(15) Information on how candidates 

eligible under subparts F and G of this 

part may apply, including required 

proof of eligibility; 

(16) Contact person or contact point; 

(17) Equal employment opportunity 

statement (Agencies may use the 

recommended equal employment 

opportunity statement located on OPM’s 

USAJOBS website.); and 

(18) Reasonable accommodation 

statement. 

(b)(1) An agency may use wording of 

its choice in its statement that conveys 

the availability of reasonable 

accommodation required by 

§ 330.104(a)(18). In its reasonable 

accommodation statement, an agency 

may not list types of medical conditions 

or impairments appropriate for 

accommodation. 

(2) Agencies may use the 

recommended reasonable 

accommodation statement located on 

OPM’s USAJOBS website. 

§ 330.105 Instructions on how to add a 

vacancy announcement to USAJOBS. 

An agency can find the instructions to 

add a vacancy announcement to 

USAJOBS on OPM’s Web site at 

http://www.usajobs.gov. An electronic 

file of the complete vacancy 

announcement must be included within 

USAJOBS. 

§ 330.106 Funding. 

Each year, OPM will charge a fee for 

the agency’s share of the cost of 

providing employment information to 

the public and to Federal employees as 

authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3330(f). 

Subpart B—Reemployment Priority 

List (RPL) 

§ 330.201 Purpose. 

(a) The Reemployment Priority List 

(RPL) is a required component of an 

agency’s placement programs to assist 

its current and former competitive 

service employees who will be or were 

separated by reduction in force (RIF) 

under part 351 of this chapter, or who 

have recovered from a compensable 

work-related injury after more than 1 

year, as required by part 353 of this 

chapter. In filling vacancies, an agency 

must give its RPL registrants placement 

priority for most competitive service 


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vacancies before hiring someone from 

outside its own permanent competitive 

service workforce. An agency may 

choose to consider RPL placement 

priority candidates before other agency 

permanent competitive service 

employees under its Career Transition 

Assistance Plan (CTAP) established 

under subpart F of this part, after 

fulfilling agency obligations to its CTAP 

selection priority candidates. 

(b) Agencies must use an RPL to give 

placement priority to their: 

(1) Current competitive service 

employees with a specific notice of RIF 

separation or a Certification of Expected 

Separation issued under part 351 of this 

chapter; 

(2) Former competitive service 

employees separated by RIF under part 

351 of this chapter; and 

(3) Former competitive service 

employees fully recovered from a 

compensable injury (as defined in part 

353 of this chapter) after more than 

1 year. 

(c) All agency components within the 

local commuting area use a single RPL 

and are responsible for giving placement 

priority to the agency’s RPL registrants. 

(d) With prior OPM approval, an 

agency may operate an alternate 

placement program which satisfies the 

basic requirements of this subpart, 

including veterans’ preference, as an 

exception to the RPL regulations under 

this subpart. This provision is limited to 

reemployment priority because of RIF 

separation and allows agencies to adopt 

different placement strategies that are 

effective for their programs and satisfy 

employee entitlements to reemployment 

priority. 

§ 330.202 Definitions. 

In this subpart: 

Competitive area means a competitive 

area as described in § 351.402 of this 

chapter. 

Competitive service appointment 

includes new appointments, 

reinstatements, reemployment, and 

transfers as defined in § 210.102 of this 

chapter, and conversions as defined in 

OPM’s ‘‘Guide to Processing Personnel 

Actions.’’ 

Injury, in relation to the RPL, has the 

meaning given that term in § 353.102 of 

this chapter. 

Overseas has the meaning given that 

term in § 210.102 of this chapter. 

Qualified refers to an RPL registrant 

who: 

(1) Meets OPM-established or 

-approved qualification standards and 

requirements for the position, including 

minimum educational requirements, 

and agency-established selective factors 

(as this term is used in OPM’s 

‘‘Operating Manual: Qualification 

Standards for General Schedule 

Positions’’); 

(2) Will not cause an undue 

interruption, as defined in § 351.203 of 

this chapter, that would prevent the 

completion of required work by the 

registrant 90 days after the registrant is 

placed in the position; 

(3) Is physically qualified, with or 

without reasonable accommodation, to 

perform the duties of the position; 

(4) Meets any special OPM-approved 

qualifying conditions for the position; 

and 

(5) Meets any other applicable 

requirements for competitive service 

appointment. 

RPL eligible means a current or former 

employee of the agency who meets the 

conditions in either paragraph (a) or (b) 

of § 330.203. As used in this subpart, 

‘‘RPL eligible’’ and ‘‘eligible’’ are 

synonymous. 

RPL placement priority candidate 

means an RPL registrant who is 

qualified and available for a specific 

agency vacancy. 

RPL registrant means an RPL eligible 

who submitted a timely RPL application 

and who is registered on the agency’s 

RPL. As used in this subpart, ‘‘RPL 

registrant’’ and ‘‘registrant’’ are 

synonymous. 

Vacancy means any vacant position to 

be filled by a competitive service 

permanent or time-limited appointment. 

§ 330.203 RPL Eligibility. 

An employee must meet the 

conditions in either paragraph (a) or (b) 

of this section to be an RPL eligible. 

(a) For eligibility based on part 351 of 

this chapter, the employee: 

(1) Must be serving in an appointment 

in the competitive service in tenure 

group I or II; 

(2) Must have received either a 

specific notice of separation or a 

Certification of Expected Separation 

under part 351 of this chapter that has 

not been cancelled, rescinded, or 

modified so that the employee is no 

longer under notice of separation; 

(3) Must have received a rating of 

record of at least fully successful (Level 

3) or equivalent as the most recent 

performance rating of record; and 

(4) Must not have declined an offer 

under part 351, subpart G, of this 

chapter of a position with the same type 

of work schedule and with a 

representative rate at least as high as 

that of the position from which the 

employee will be separated. 

(b) For eligibility based on part 353 of 

this chapter, the employee or former 

employee: 

(1) Must be serving in, or separated 

from, an appointment in the competitive 

service in tenure group I or II; 

(2) Must either have accepted a 

position at a lower grade or pay level in 

lieu of separation or have been 

separated because of a compensable 

injury or disability. (For the purposes of 

this subpart, any reference to the 

position from which an individual was 

or will be separated includes the 

position from which the RPL eligible 

accepted the lower graded or pay level 

position under this paragraph.); 

(3) Must have fully recovered more 

than 1 year after compensation began; 

and 

(4) Must have received notification 

from the Office of Workers’ 

Compensation Programs, Department of 

Labor, that injury compensation benefits 

have ceased or will cease. 

§ 330.204 Agency requirements and 

responsibilities. 

(a) An agency must establish policies 

and maintain an RPL for each local 

commuting area in which the agency 

has RPL eligibles. 

(b) An agency must give each RPL 

eligible information about its RPL 

program, including Merit Systems 

Protection Board appeal rights under 

§ 330.214, when: 

(1) The agency issues a RIF separation 

notice or a Certification of Expected 

Separation under part 351 of this 

chapter; or 

(2) The employee accepts a position at 

a lower grade or pay level or is 

separated from the agency because of a 

compensable work-related injury. 

(c) An agency must register an RPL 

eligible on the appropriate RPL no later 

than 10 calendar days after receiving the 

eligible’s written application. 

(d) Agencies must include in their 

RPL policies established under this 

subpart how they will assist RPL 

eligibles who: 

(1) Request an RPL application; 

(2) Request help in completing the 

RPL application; and 

(3) Request help in identifying and 

listing on the RPL application those 

positions within the agency for which 

they are qualified and interested. 

(e) An agency must give RPL 

registrants placement priority for 

personnel actions as described in 

§ 330.210. 

(f) An agency must not remove an 

individual from the RPL under 

§ 330.209(a)(1), (b)(1), or (b)(2) without 

evidence (such as a Postal Service 

return receipt signed by addressee only) 

showing that the offer, inquiry, or 

scheduled interview was made in 

writing. The written offer, inquiry, or 


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scheduled interview must clearly state 

that failure to respond will result in 

removal from the RPL for positions at 

that grade or pay level and for positions 

at lower grades and pay levels for which 

registered. 

§ 330.205 Agency RPL applications. 

Agencies may develop their own 

application format which must, at a 

minimum: 

(a) Allow an RPL eligible to register 

for positions at the same representative 

rate and work schedule (full-time, parttime, seasonal, or intermittent) as the 

position from which the RPL eligible 

was, or will be, separated; and 

(b) Allow an RPL eligible to specify 

the conditions under which he or she 

will accept a position, including grades 

or pay levels, appointment type 

(permanent or time-limited), 

occupations (e.g., position classification 

series or career groups), and minimum 

number of hours of work per week, as 

applicable. 

§ 330.206 RPL registration timeframe and 

positions. 

(a) To register, an RPL eligible must: 

(1) Meet the eligibility conditions 

under § 330.203(a) or (b); 

(2) Complete an RPL application 

prescribed by the current or former 

agency and keep the agency informed of 

any significant changes in the 

information provided; and 

(3) Submit the RPL application on or 

before the RIF separation date or, if an 

RPL eligible under § 330.203(b), within 

30 calendar days after the: 

(i) Date injury compensation benefits 

cease; or 

(ii) Date the Department of Labor 

denies an appeal for continuation of 

injury compensation benefits. 

(b) RPL eligibles may register and 

receive placement priority for positions 

for which they are qualified and that: 

(1) Have a representative rate no 

higher than the position from which 

they were, or will be, separated unless 

the eligible was demoted as a tenure 

group I or II employee in a previous RIF. 

If the eligible was so demoted, the 

eligible can register for positions with a 

representative rate up to the 

representative rate of the position held 

on a permanent appointment 

immediately before the RIF demotion 

was effective; 

(2) Have no greater promotion 

potential than the position from which 

they were, or will be, separated; and 

(3) Have the same type of work 

schedule as the position from which 

they were, or will be, separated. 

§ 330.207 Registration area. 

(a) Except as provided in paragraphs 

(b) through (e) of this section, RPL 

registration is limited to the local 

commuting area in which the eligible 

was, or will be, separated. 

(b) If the agency has, or will have, no 

competitive service positions remaining 

in the local commuting area from which 

the RPL eligible will be separated under 

part 351 of this chapter, the agency may 

designate a different local commuting 

area where there are continuing 

positions for the RPL eligible to exercise 

placement priority. The agency has sole 

discretion over whether to offer this 

option and which local commuting area 

to designate, taking into consideration 

the size and locations of its workforce, 

available vacancies, and available funds. 

(c) If the RPL eligible agreed to 

transfer with his or her function under 

part 351 of this chapter but will be 

separated by RIF from the gaining 

competitive area, registration is limited 

to the RPL covering the gaining 

competitive area’s local commuting 

area. 

(d) For an individual who is eligible 

under § 330.203(b), registration is 

initially limited to the RPL covering the 

local commuting area of the position 

from which the employee was 

separated. The agency must establish a 

fair and consistent policy that permits 

RPL eligibles to expand their 

registration to available local 

commuting areas mutually acceptable to 

the RPL eligible and the agency, up to 

agency-wide as required by 5 U.S.C. 

8151. (For example, an agency could 

consider the number and location(s) of 

its positions and funding availability 

when establishing its policies on 

expanding consideration.) In lieu of 

expanded registration, the agency policy 

may provide for the RPL eligible to elect 

to receive placement priority for the 

next best available position in the 

former local commuting area. 

(e) If the RPL eligible was, or will be, 

separated from an overseas position (see 

part 301 of this chapter), RPL 

registration is limited to the local 

commuting area in which the eligible 

was, or will be, separated, unless: 

(1) The agency approves a written 

request by the RPL eligible for 

registration in the local commuting area 

from which employed for overseas 

service, or in another area within the 

United States that is mutually 

acceptable to the eligible and the 

agency; or 

(2) The agency has a formal program 

for rotating employees between overseas 

areas and the United States, and the RPL 

eligible’s preceding and prospective 

overseas service would exceed the 

maximum duration of an overseas duty 

tour in the rotation program. In this 

case, the eligible may register for a local 

commuting area within the United 

States that is mutually acceptable to the 

eligible and the agency. 

§ 330.208 Duration of RPL registration. 

(a) RPL registration expires 2 years 

from the date of reduction in force 

separation under part 351 of this 

chapter, or 2 years from the date the 

agency registers the RPL eligible 

because of recovery from a compensable 

work injury under § 330.206(a)(3)(i) or 

(ii). An RPL eligible remains registered 

for the full 2-year period unless the 

registrant is removed from the RPL for 

a reason specified in § 330.209. 

(b)(1) OPM may extend the 

registration period when an RPL eligible 

does not receive a full 2 years of 

placement priority, for example, 

because of an agency’s administrative or 

procedural error. 

(2) Either the agency or the RPL 

eligible may request OPM to extend the 

registration period under paragraph 

(b)(1) of this section. The request must 

describe the administrative or 

procedural error that caused the RPL 

eligible to be registered for less than the 

full 2-year period. OPM may request 

additional information either from the 

agency or the RPL eligible in connection 

with any such request. OPM will notify 

both the agency and the RPL eligible of 

the decision to approve or deny an 

extension request. OPM’s decision 

regarding an extension request is not 

subject to appeal under § 330.214. 

§ 330.209 Removal from an RPL. 

(a) An RPL registrant is removed from 

the RPL at all registered grades or pay 

levels if the registrant: 

(1) Declines or fails to reply to the 

agency’s inquiry about an RPL offer of 

a career, career-conditional, or excepted 

appointment without time limit for a 

position having the same type of work 

schedule and a representative rate at 

least as high as the position from which 

the registrant was, or will be, separated; 

(2) Receives a written cancellation, 

rescission, or modification to: 

(i) The RIF separation notice or 

Certification of Expected Separation so 

that the employee no longer meets the 

conditions for RPL eligibility in 

§ 330.203(a); or 

(ii) The notification of cessation of 

injury compensation benefits so that 

injury compensation benefits continue; 

(3) Separates from the agency for any 

other reason (such as retirement, 

resignation, or transfer) before the RIF 

separation effective date. Registration 

continues if the RPL registrant retires on 


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or after the RIF separation effective date. 

This paragraph does not apply to an 

RPL registrant under § 330.203(b); 

(4) Requests the agency to remove his 

or her name from the RPL; 

(5) Is placed in a position without 

time limit at any grade or pay level 

within the agency; 

(6) Is placed in a position under a 

career, career-conditional, or excepted 

appointment without time limit at any 

grade or pay level in any agency; or 

(7) Leaves the area covered by an 

overseas RPL (see 5 CFR part 301) or is 

ineligible for continued overseas 

employment because of previous service 

or residence. 

(b) An RPL registrant is removed from 

the RPL at registered grades or pay 

levels with a representative rate at and 

below the representative rate of a 

position offered by the agency if the 

offered position is below the last grade 

or pay level held and the registrant: 

(1) Declines or fails to reply to the 

agency’s inquiry about an RPL offer of 

a career, career-conditional, or excepted 

appointment without time limit for a 

position meeting the acceptable 

conditions shown on the RPL 

registrant’s application; or 

(2) Declines or fails to appear for a 

scheduled interview. 

(c) An RPL registrant removed from 

the RPL under paragraph (b) of this 

section at lower grades or pay levels 

than the last grade or pay level held 

remains on the RPL for positions with 

a representative rate higher than the 

offered position up to the grade or pay 

level last held, unless registration 

expires or otherwise terminates. 

(d) Declination of time-limited 

employment does not affect RPL 

eligibility. 

§ 330.210 Applying RPL placement 

priority. 

(a) RPL placement priority applies to: 

(1) Permanent and time-limited 

positions to be filled by competitive 

service appointment; and 

(2) The grade or pay level at which 

the agency fills the position. If a 

position is available at multiple grades 

or pay levels, placement priority applies 

at the grade or pay level at which the 

position is ultimately filled. 

(b) An agency must not effect a 

permanent or time-limited competitive 

service appointment of another 

individual if there is an RPL placement 

priority candidate registered for the 

vacancy, unless the action is listed as an 

exception in § 330.211. 

(c) An agency must document that 

there are no RPL placement priority 

candidates for the vacancy when 

requesting a competitive certificate of 

eligibles under part 332 of this chapter. 

Similarly, an agency must offer the 

vacancy to any RPL placement priority 

candidate(s) before effecting an 

appointment under a noncompetitive 

appointing authority, such as under part 

315 of this chapter. 

(d) Once an agency has ensured there 

are no RPL placement priority 

candidates for a particular vacancy and 

documents in writing an employment 

offer that is accepted by another 

individual, the agency may fulfill that 

employment offer to that individual. 

§ 330.211 Exceptions to RPL placement 

priority. 

An agency may effect the following 

personnel actions as exceptions to 

§ 330.210: 

(a) Fill a vacancy with an employee of 

the agency’s current permanent 

competitive service workforce through 

detail or position change, subject to the 

requirements of subpart F of this part; 

(b) Appoint a 10-point preference 

eligible through an appropriate 

appointing authority; 

(c) Appoint a current or former 

employee exercising restoration rights 

under part 353 of this chapter based on 

return from military service or recovery 

from a compensable injury or disability 

within 1 year; 

(d) Appoint a current or former 

employee exercising other statutory or 

regulatory reemployment rights; 

(e) Fill a specific position when all 

RPL placement priority candidates 

decline an offer of the position or fail to 

respond to a written agency inquiry 

about their availability; 

(f) Convert an employee serving under 

an appointment that provides 

noncompetitive conversion eligibility to 

a competitive service appointment, 

including from: 

(1) A Veterans Recruitment 

Appointment under part 307 of this 

chapter; 

(2) An appointment under 5 U.S.C. 

3112 and part 316 of this chapter of a 

veteran with a compensable serviceconnected disability of 30 percent or 

more; and 

(3) An excepted service appointment 

under part 213 of this chapter, such as 

for persons with disabilities or in the 

Presidential Management Fellow 

Program, the Student Career Experience 

Program, or the Federal Career Intern 

Program; 

(g) Reappoint without a break in 

service to the same position currently 

held by an employee serving under a 

temporary appointment of 1 year or less 

(only to another temporary appointment 

not to exceed 1 year or less); 

(h) Extend an employee’s temporary 

or term appointment up to the 

maximum permitted by the 

appointment authority or as authorized 

by OPM; or 

(i) Appoint an individual under an 

excepted service appointing authority. 

§ 330.212 Agency flexibilities. 

An agency may provide the following 

flexibilities within its written RPL 

policies established under this subpart: 

(a) Allow RPL eligibles to register 

only for certain sub-areas of a local 

commuting area when the agency has 

components dispersed throughout a 

large commuting area. However, an 

agency cannot deny registration 

throughout the local commuting area if 

the RPL eligible requests it. 

(b) Suspend an RPL registration for all 

positions, permanent and time-limited, 

if the agency is unable, through 

documented written means, to contact 

the RPL registrant; however, the agency 

must reactivate an RPL registration 

when the registrant submits an updated 

application or otherwise requests 

reactivation in writing. Registration 

suspension and reactivation do not 

change the expiration date of the 

original registration period set in 

§ 330.208. 

(c)(1) Modify the OPM or OPMapproved qualification standard used to 

determine if an RPL eligible is qualified 

for a position, provided the: 

(i) Exception is applied consistently 

and equitably in filling a position; 

(ii) RPL registrant meets any 

minimum educational requirements for 

the position; and 

(iii) RPL registrant has the capacity, 

adaptability, and special skills needed 

to satisfactorily perform the duties and 

responsibilities of the position, as 

determined by the agency. 

(2) Any modification to the 

qualification standard under paragraph 

(c)(1) of this section does not authorize 

a waiver of the selection order required 

under § 330.213. 

(d) Permit RPL eligibles to register for 

positions with work schedules different 

from the work schedule of the position 

from which they were, or will be, 

separated. 

(e) Permit RPL registrants to update 

their qualifications or conditions for 

accepting positions during the RPL 

registration period. If an agency 

provides this flexibility in its RPL 

policies, the agency must update the 

RPL registrant’s registration information 

within 10 calendar days of receipt of the 

registrant’s written request. The updated 

registration information would apply 

only to those vacancies becoming 

available after the agency updates the 

RPL registrant’s registration. 


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§ 330.213 Selection from an RPL. 

(a) Methods. An agency must adopt 

one of the selection methods in 

paragraphs (b), (c), or (d) of this section 

for a single RPL. The agency may adopt 

the same method for each RPL it 

establishes or may vary the method by 

location, but it must adopt a written 

policy for each RPL it establishes and 

maintains. While an agency may not 

vary the method used for an individual 

vacancy, it may at any time change the 

selection method for all positions 

covered by a single RPL. 

(b) Retention standing order. For each 

vacancy to be filled, the agency places 

qualified RPL placement priority 

candidates in tenure group and 

subgroup order in accordance with part 

351 of this chapter. In making a 

selection, an agency may not pass over 

a candidate in tenure group I to select 

from tenure group II and, within a 

tenure group, may not pass over a 

candidate in a higher subgroup to select 

from a lower subgroup. Within a 

subgroup, an agency may select any 

candidate without regard to order of 

retention standing. 

(c) Numerical scoring. (1) For each 

vacancy to be filled, the agency rates 

RPL placement priority candidates 

according to their job experience and 

education. The agency must use jobrelated evaluation criteria for the 

position to be filled that can distinguish 

differences in qualifications measured 

and must apply the criteria in a fair and 

consistent manner. The agency assigns 

the candidates a numerical score of at 

least 70 on a scale of 100, based on the 

evaluation criteria developed under this 

paragraph. The agency must grant 5 

additional points to veterans’ preference 

eligibles under 5 U.S.C. 2108(3)(A) and 

(B), and 10 additional points to 

veterans’ preference eligibles under 5 

U.S.C. 2108(3) (C) through (G). 

(2) RPL placement priority candidates 

with an eligible numerical score are 

ranked in the following order: 

(i) Veterans’ preference eligibles 

having a compensable serviceconnected disability of 10 percent or 

more in the order of their augmented 

ratings, unless the position to be filled 

is a professional or scientific position at 

or above the GS–9 level, or equivalent; 

and 

(ii) All other candidates in the order 

of their augmented ratings. At each 

score, candidates entitled to 10-point 

veterans’ preference will be entered 

ahead of all other candidates, and those 

entitled to 5-point veterans’ preference 

will be entered ahead of those 

candidates not entitled to veterans’ 

preference. 

(3) The agency must make its 

selection from among the highest three 

candidates available and may not pass 

over a veterans’ preference eligible to 

select a nonpreference eligible. 

(d) Alternative rating and selection. 

(1) For each vacancy to be filled, the 

agency may use alternative rating and 

selection procedures (also called 

category rating) as described in 5 U.S.C. 

3319 and part 337 of this chapter. The 

agency assesses RPL placement priority 

candidates against job-related 

evaluation criteria and then places them 

into two or more pre-defined quality 

categories. 

(2) To use this method, the agency 

must: 

(i) Establish a system for evaluating 

RPL placement priority candidates that 

provides for two or more quality 

categories; 

(ii) Define each quality category 

through job analysis conducted in 

accordance with the ‘‘Uniform 

Guidelines on Employee Selection 

Procedures’’ at 29 CFR part 1607 and 

part 300 of this chapter. Each quality 

category must have a clear definition 

that distinguishes it from other quality 

categories; and 

(iii) Place candidates into the 

appropriate quality categories based 

upon their job-related competencies, 

knowledge, skills, and abilities. 

(3) Veterans’ preference must be 

applied as prescribed in 5 U.S.C. 

3319(b) and (c)(2). Veterans’ preference 

points as prescribed in paragraph (c)(1) 

of this section are not applied under this 

method. 

(4) The agency must make its 

selection from the highest quality 

category in accordance with its category 

rating policy established under part 337 

of this chapter. 

(e) Application-based procedure. (1) 

An agency may adopt an applicationbased procedure which allows RPL 

registrants to apply directly for RPL 

placement priority under an advertised 

vacancy announcement. Before using 

this procedure, the agency must 

establish policies and procedures for: 

(i) Informing RPL registrants of 

available vacancies; 

(ii) Informing RPL registrants of 

acceptable application formats, 

including how to permanently change 

initial registration information and how 

to apply changes only to the specific 

vacancy announcement for which the 

application is made; 

(iii) Determining the method under 

which the RPL registrant will be rated 

and ranked (paragraph (b), (c), or (d) of 

this section); and 

(iv) Informing each RPL registrant 

who applies under this method whether 

he or she was determined to be an RPL 

placement priority candidate and the 

outcome of the selection process, if the 

candidate was referred for selection. 

(2) RPL registrants may not be 

removed from the RPL for failure to 

apply for a vacancy under this 

paragraph. Registration continues until 

it expires or the registrant is removed 

from the RPL under § 330.209. 

§ 330.214 Appeal rights. 

An RPL registrant who believes the 

agency violated his or her 

reemployment rights under this subpart 

by employing another person who 

otherwise could not have been 

appointed properly may appeal to the 

Merit Systems Protection Board under 

the Board’s regulations in part 1200 of 

this chapter. 

Subpart C—[Reserved] 

Subpart D—Positions Restricted to 

Preference Eligibles 

§ 330.401 Restricted positions. 

Under 5 U.S.C. 3310, competitive 

examinations for the positions of 

custodian, elevator operator, guard, and 

messenger (referred to in this subpart as 

restricted positions) are restricted to 

preference eligibles as long as a 

preference eligible is available. For more 

information on these restricted 

positions, refer to the OPM Delegated 

Examining Operations Handbook. 

§ 330.402 Exceptions to restriction. 

(a) An agency may fill a restricted 

position with a nonpreference eligible 

under the following circumstances: 

(1) By competitive examination when 

no preference eligible applies; 

(2) By position change (promotion, 

demotion, or reassignment) to a position 

in the organizational entity (i.e., the part 

of an agency from which selections are 

normally made for promotion or 

reassignment to the position in 

question) in which the nonpreference 

eligible is employed; 

(3) By reemployment in the agency 

where the nonpreference eligible was 

formerly employed when he or she is 

being appointed from the 

Reemployment Priority List under 

subpart B of this part; 

(4) By reinstatement in the agency 

where the nonpreference eligible was 

formerly employed when he or she was 

last separated because of disability 

retirement; or 

(5) By reappointment of certain 

temporary employees as provided for in 

part 316 of this chapter. 

(b) Except as indicated in paragraph 

(a) of this section, OPM must authorize 


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any other agency noncompetitive action 

(e.g., under an authority specified in 

part 315 of this chapter) to fill a 

restricted position with a nonpreference 

eligible. 

§ 330.403 Positions brought into the 

competitive service. 

An agency may convert the 

appointment of a nonpreference eligible 

whose restricted position was brought 

into the competitive service under part 

316 of this chapter, and who meets the 

requirements for conversion under part 

315 of this chapter, to career or career 

conditional appointment. 

§ 330.404 Displacement of preference 

eligibles occupying restricted positions in 

contracting out situations. 

An individual agency and OPM both 

have additional responsibilities when 

the agency decides, in accordance with 

the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) Circular A–76, to contract out 

the work of a preference eligible who 

holds a restricted position. These 

additional responsibilities as described 

in §§ 330.405 and 330.406 are 

applicable if a preference eligible holds 

a competitive service position (other 

than in the Government Printing Office) 

that is: 

(a) A restricted position as designated 

in 5 U.S.C. 3310 and § 330.401; and 

(b) In tenure group I or II, as defined 

in § 351.501(b)(1) and (2) of this chapter. 

§ 330.405 Agency placement assistance. 

An agency that separates a preference 

eligible from a restricted position by 

reduction in force under part 351 of this 

chapter because of a contracting out 

situation covered in § 330.404 must, 

consistent with § 330.603, advise the 

employee of the opportunity to 

participate in available career transition 

programs. The agency is also 

responsible for: 

(a) Applying OMB’s policy directives 

on the preference eligible’s right of first 

refusal for positions that are contracted 

out to the private sector; and 

(b) Cooperating with State units as 

designated or created under title I of the 

Workforce Investment Act of 1998 to 

retrain displaced preference eligibles for 

other continuing positions. 

§ 330.406 OPM placement assistance. 

OPM’s responsibilities include: 

(a) Assisting agencies in operating 

positive placement programs, such as 

the Career Transition Assistance Plan, 

which is authorized by subpart F of this 

part; 

(b) Providing interagency selection 

priority through the Interagency Career 

Transition Assistance Plan, which is 

authorized by subpart G of this part; and 

(c) Encouraging cooperation between 

local Federal activities to assist these 

displaced preference eligibles in 

applying for other Federal positions, 

including positions with the U.S. Postal 

Service. 

§ 330.407 Eligibility for the Interagency 

Career Transition Assistance Plan. 

(a) A preference eligible who is 

separated from a restricted position by 

reduction in force under part 351 of this 

chapter because of a contracting out 

situation covered in § 330.404 has 

interagency selection priority under the 

Interagency Career Transition 

Assistance Plan, which is authorized by 

subpart G of this part. 

(b) A preference eligible covered by 

this subpart is eligible for the 

Interagency Career Transition 

Assistance Plan for 2 years following 

separation by reduction in force from a 

restricted position. 

Subpart E—Restrictions To Protect 

Competitive Principles 

§ 330.501 Purpose. 

The restrictions in this subpart are 

designed to prevent circumvention of 

the open competitive examination 

system defined in Civil Service Rule 1.3 

(5 CFR 1.3). These restrictions limit an 

appointee’s immediate movement to 

another position after appointment from 

a competitive certificate of eligibles. 

§ 330.502 General restriction on movement 

after competitive appointment. 

(a) An agency must wait at least 90 

days after an employee’s latest 

nontemporary competitive appointment 

before the agency may take the 

following actions: 

(1) Promote an employee; 

(2) Transfer, reinstate, reassign, or 

detail an employee to a different 

position; or 

(3) Transfer, reinstate, reassign, or 

detail an employee to a different 

geographical area. 

(b) Upon written request from an 

agency, OPM may waive the restriction 

against movement to a different 

geographical area when moving such an 

employee is consistent with open 

competition principles. 

§ 330.503 Ensuring agency compliance 

with the principles of open competition. 

OPM will review appointments made 

from competitive examinations and 

subsequent position changes to 

determine if agencies are complying 

with open competition principles. The 

fact that an agency waited 90 days to 

make the changes, as required under 

this subpart, is not an absolute 

protection. If OPM finds that an agency 

has not complied with these principles, 

either in an individual instance or on a 

program-wide basis, OPM will order an 

agency to correct the situation. 

§ 330.504 Exception to the general 

restriction. 

The restrictions in this subpart do not 

apply to a person who is eligible for a 

competitive appointment from a 

certificate of eligibles under part 332 of 

this chapter. 

Subpart F—Agency Career Transition 

Assistance Plan (CTAP) for Local 

Surplus and Displaced Employees 

§ 330.601 Purpose. 

(a) An agency’s Career Transition 

Assistance Plan (CTAP) provides intraagency selection priority for the 

agency’s eligible surplus and displaced 

employees. This subpart sets forth 

minimum requirements for agency plans 

and establishes requirements for CTAP 

selection priority. 

(b) Consistent with these regulations 

and at their discretion, an agency may 

supplement these requirements to 

expand career transition opportunities 

to its surplus and displaced workers. 

(c) With prior OPM approval, an 

agency may operate an alternate 

placement program that satisfies the 

basic requirements of this subpart as an 

exception to CTAP selection priority 

under this subpart. This provision 

allows agencies to adopt different 

placement strategies that are effective 

for their programs while satisfying 

employee entitlements to selection 

priority. 

§ 330.602 Definitions. 

For purposes of this subpart: 

Agency means an Executive agency as 

defined in 5 U.S.C. 105. 

CTAP eligible means an agency 

surplus or displaced employee who has 

a current performance rating of record of 

at least fully successful (Level 3) or 

equivalent. As used in this subpart, 

‘‘CTAP eligible’’ and ‘‘eligible’’ are 

synonymous. 

CTAP selection priority candidate 

means a CTAP eligible who applied for 

and was determined to be well-qualified 

by the agency and whom the agency 

must select over any other applicant for 

the vacancy, unless the action to be 

taken is listed as an exception under 

§ 330.609. 

Displaced describes an agency 

employee in one of the following two 

categories: 

(1) A current career or careerconditional (tenure group I or II) 

competitive service employee at grade 

GS–15 (or equivalent) or below who: 


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(i) Received a reduction in force (RIF) 

separation notice under part 351 of this 

chapter and has not declined an offer 

under part 351, subpart G, of this 

chapter of a position with the same type 

of work schedule and a representative 

rate at least as high as that of the 

position from which the employee will 

be separated; or 

(ii) Received a notice of proposed 

removal under part 752 of this chapter 

for declining a directed geographic 

relocation outside of the local 

commuting area (e.g., a directed 

reassignment or change in duty station). 

(2) A current excepted service 

employee on an appointment without 

time limit at grade level GS–15 (or 

equivalent) or below who: 

(i) Is covered by a law providing both 

noncompetitive appointment eligibility 

to, and selection priority for, 

competitive service positions; and 

(ii) Received a RIF separation notice 

under part 351 of this chapter or a 

notice of proposed removal under part 

752 of this chapter for declining a 

directed geographic relocation outside 

the local commuting area (e.g., a 

directed reassignment or a change in 

duty station). 

Surplus describes an agency 

employee in one of the following three 

categories: 

(1) A current career or careerconditional (tenure group I or II) 

competitive service employee at grade 

GS–15 (or equivalent) or below who 

received a Certification of Expected 

Separation under part 351 of this 

chapter or other official agency 

certification or notification indicating 

that the employee’s position is surplus 

(for example, a notice of position 

abolishment or a notice of eligibility for 

discontinued service retirement). 

(2) A current excepted service 

employee on an appointment without 

time limit at grade GS–15 (or 

equivalent) or below who: 

(i) Is covered by a law providing both 

noncompetitive appointment eligibility 

to, and selection priority for, 

competitive service positions; and 

(ii) Received a Certification of 

Expected Separation under part 351 of 

this chapter or other official agency 

certification or notification indicating 

that the employee’s position is surplus 

(for example, a notice of position 

abolishment or a notice of eligibility for 

discontinued service retirement). 

(3) A current excepted service 

employee on a Schedule A or B 

appointment without time limit at grade 

level GS–15 (or equivalent) or below 

who is in an agency offering CTAP 

selection priority to its excepted service 

employees and who: 

(i) Received a Certification of 

Expected Separation under part 351 of 

this chapter or other official agency 

certification indicating that the 

employee is surplus (for example, a 

notice of position abolishment, or notice 

of eligibility for discontinued service 

retirement); or 

(ii) Received a RIF notice of 

separation under part 351 of this 

chapter or a notice of proposed removal 

under part 752 of this chapter for 

declining a directed geographic 

relocation outside the local commuting 

area (e.g., a directed reassignment or a 

change in duty station). 

Vacancy means a vacant competitive 

service position at grade GS–15 (or 

equivalent) or below to be filled for a 

total of 121 days or more, including all 

extensions, regardless of whether the 

agency issues a specific vacancy 

announcement. 

§ 330.603 Requirements for agency 

CTAPs. 

(a) Each agency must establish a 

CTAP for its surplus and displaced 

employees. Each agency must send its 

plan, and any modifications, to OPM, 

Employee Services, after approval by an 

authorized agency official. 

(b) Each agency must uniformly and 

consistently apply its CTAP and these 

regulations to all surplus and displaced 

employees. 

(c) In addition to a description of the 

agency’s selection priority policies 

required by § 330.604, a CTAP must 

describe the agency’s policies with 

regard to how it will provide career 

transition services to all its surplus and 

displaced agency employees, including 

excepted service and Senior Executive 

Service employees. The plan must 

describe: 

(1) The types of career transition 

services the agency will provide; 

(2) Policies on employees’ and former 

employees’ use of transition services 

and facilities, including: 

(i) Excused absences for transitionrelated activities; 

(ii) Access to services or facilities after 

separation; 

(iii) Orientation sessions on career 

transition services and information as 

described in § 330.608(a) and (b), 

respectively; 

(iv) Retraining policies; 

(v) Access to agency CTAP services 

and resources by all employees, 

including those with disabilities, those 

in field offices, and those in remote 

sites; 

(vi) Access to other Federal, State, and 

local resources available to support 

career transition for employees with 

disabilities; and 

(vii) Availability of employee 

assistance programs and services. 

(d) An agency’s CTAP must also 

describe the agency’s policies and 

procedures for its Reemployment 

Priority List established under subpart B 

of this part and the Interagency Career 

Transition Placement Plan established 

under subpart G of this part. 

§ 330.604 Requirements for agency CTAP 

selection priority. 

In addition to the overall 

requirements of § 330.603, an agency’s 

CTAP must describe: 

(a) How the agency will provide 

CTAP selection priority to surplus and 

displaced employees for vacancies in 

the local commuting area before 

selecting any other candidate from 

either within or outside the agency; 

(b) Procedures for reviewing CTAP 

eligibles’ qualifications and resolving 

qualification issues or disputes; 

(c) Decisions involving discretionary 

areas under § 330.607 (such as whether 

excepted service employees will receive 

CTAP selection priority, priority of 

surplus versus displaced employees, 

designation of agency components, and 

selection priority beyond the local 

commuting area); and 

(d) When and how the agency will 

inform its surplus and displaced 

employees about CTAP eligibility 

criteria, as required by § 330.608(b), 

how to apply for agency vacancies, and 

how to request CTAP selection priority. 

§ 330.605 Agency responsibilities for 

deciding who is well-qualified. 

(a) An agency must define what 

constitutes a well-qualified candidate 

for its specific vacancies, consistent 

with this subpart, and uniformly apply 

that definition to all CTAP eligibles 

being considered for the vacancy. 

(b) An agency must conduct an 

independent second review and 

document the specific job-related 

reasons whenever a CTAP eligible is 

determined to be not well-qualified 

under the agency’s definition. The 

agency must give the CTAP eligible the 

written results of this review as required 

by § 330.608(e). 

§ 330.606 Minimum criteria for agency 

definition of ‘‘well-qualified’’. 

(a) At a minimum, the agency must 

define ‘‘well-qualified’’ as having 

knowledge, skills, abilities, and/or 

competencies clearly exceeding the 

minimum qualification requirements for 

the vacancy. The agency definition may 

or may not equate to the highly or best 

qualified assessment criteria established 

for the vacancy; however, the agency 

definition of ‘‘well-qualified’’ must 


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satisfy the criteria in paragraph (b) of 

this section. 

(b) Under an agency’s definition of 

‘‘well-qualified,’’ the agency must be 

able to determine whether a CTAP 

eligible: 

(1) Meets the basic eligibility 

requirements (including employment 

suitability requirements under part 731 

of this chapter and any medical 

qualifications requirements), 

qualification standards (including 

minimum educational and experience 

requirements), and any applicable 

selective factors; 

(2) Is physically qualified, with or 

without reasonable accommodation, to 

perform the essential duties of the 

position; 

(3) Meets any special qualifying 

conditions of the position; 

(4) Is able to satisfactorily perform the 

duties of the position upon entry; and 

(5) At agency discretion, either: 

(i) Rates at or above specified level(s) 

on all quality ranking factors; or 

(ii) Rates above minimally qualified in 

the agency’s rating and ranking process. 

§ 330.607 Applying CTAP selection 

priority. 

(a) An agency must not place any 

other candidate from within or outside 

the agency into a vacancy if there is an 

available CTAP selection priority 

candidate, unless the personnel action 

to be effected is an exception under 

§ 330.609. 

(b) In accordance with the conditions 

of part 300, subpart E, of this chapter, 

an agency may not procure temporary 

help services under that subpart until a 

determination is made that no CTAP 

eligible is available. 

(c) CTAP selection priority applies to 

a vacancy that: 

(1) Is at a grade or pay level with a 

representative rate no higher than the 

representative rate of the grade or pay 

level of the CTAP eligible’s permanent 

position of record; 

(2) Has no greater promotion potential 

than the CTAP eligible’s permanent 

position of record; 

(3) Is in the same local commuting 

area as the CTAP eligible’s permanent 

position of record; 

(4) Is filled during the CTAP eligible’s 

eligibility period; and, if applicable, 

(5) Is filled under the same excepted 

appointing authority as the CTAP 

eligible’s permanent position of record 

if the CTAP eligible is an excepted 

service employee and the agency CTAP 

provides selection priority in the 

excepted service. 

(d) An agency may take actions under 

§ 335.102 of this chapter to place a 

permanent competitive service 

employee into a vacancy if there are no 

CTAP eligible employees in the local 

commuting area or if no CTAP eligibles 

apply for the vacancy. 

(e) An agency component may place 

a component employee within the local 

commuting area in the vacancy after the 

component applies CTAP selection 

priority to its employees. 

(f) If there are two or more CTAP 

selection priority candidates for a 

vacancy, the agency may place any of 

them. An agency may decide the 

specific order of selection among CTAP 

selection priority candidates. For 

example, an agency may: 

(1) Provide a displaced candidate 

higher priority than a surplus candidate; 

or 

(2) Provide an internal component 

candidate higher priority than another 

component’s candidate. 

(g) After an agency makes the vacancy 

available to its CTAP eligibles and 

meets its obligation to any CTAP 

selection priority candidates, the agency 

may place into the vacancy any other 

permanent competitive service 

candidate from within its workforce, 

under appropriate staffing procedures. 

(h) An agency may provide CTAP 

selection priority to eligible employees 

from another commuting area after 

fulfilling its obligation to CTAP 

selection priority candidates in the local 

commuting area. 

(i) An agency may deny a CTAP 

eligible future selection priority if the 

eligible: 

(1) Declines an offer of a permanent 

appointment at any grade or pay level 

in the competitive or excepted service; 

or 

(2) Fails to respond within a 

reasonable period of time, as defined by 

the agency, to an offer of a permanent 

appointment at any grade or pay level 

in the competitive or excepted service. 

(j) Before appointing an individual 

from outside the agency’s permanent 

competitive service workforce, the 

agency must follow the requirements of 

subparts B and G of this part. 

§ 330.608 Other agency CTAP 

responsibilities. 

(a) An agency must make a career 

transition orientation session available 

to all agency surplus and displaced 

employees with information on 

selection priority under this subpart and 

subparts B and G. Such orientation 

sessions may be in person or web-based 

through an agency automated training 

system or intranet. 

(b) An agency must give each agency 

CTAP eligible written information on 

selection priority under its plan, 

explaining how to locate and apply for 

agency vacancies and request selection 

priority. The agency may meet this 

requirement by providing a copy of its 

CTAP established under § 330.603. 

(c) An agency must take reasonable 

steps to ensure that agency CTAP 

eligibles have access to information on 

all vacancies, including how CTAP 

eligibles can apply, what proof of 

eligibility is required, and the agency 

definition of ‘‘well-qualified’’ for the 

vacancy. 

(d) If the agency can document that 

there are no CTAP eligibles in a local 

commuting area, the agency need not 

post the vacancy for CTAP eligibles. 

(e) An agency must provide a CTAP 

eligible who applied for a specific 

vacancy written notice of the final status 

of his or her application, including 

whether the eligible was determined to 

be well-qualified. The agency notice 

must include the results of the 

independent, second review under 

§ 330.605(b), if applicable; whether 

another CTAP selection priority 

candidate was hired; whether the 

position was filled under an exception 

listed in § 330.609; and whether the 

recruitment was cancelled. 

§ 330.609 Exceptions to CTAP selection 

priority. 

An agency may take the following 

personnel actions as exceptions to 

§ 330.607: 

(a) Reemploy a former agency 

employee with regulatory or statutory 

reemployment rights, including the 

reemployment of an injured worker who 

either has been restored to earning 

capacity by the Office of Workers’ 

Compensation Programs, Department of 

Labor, or has received a notice that his 

or her compensation benefits will cease 

because of full recovery from the 

disabling injury or illness; 

(b) Reassign or demote an employee 

under part 432 or 752 of this chapter; 

(c) Appoint an individual for a period 

limited to 120 or fewer days, including 

all extensions; 

(d) Reassign agency employees 

between or among positions in the local 

commuting area (sometimes called job 

swaps) when there is no change in grade 

or promotion potential and no actual 

vacancy results; 

(e) Convert an employee currently 

serving under an appointment providing 

noncompetitive conversion eligibility to 

a competitive service appointment, 

including from: 

(1) A Veterans Recruitment 

Appointment under part 307 of this 

chapter; 

(2) An appointment under 5 U.S.C. 

3112 and part 316 of this chapter of a 

veteran with a compensable serviceVerDate Mar<15>2010 16:21 Nov 02, 2010 Jkt 223001 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 4700 Sfmt 4700 E:\FR\FM\03NOR1.SGM 03NOR1

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67602 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 212 / Wednesday, November 3, 2010 / Rules and Regulations 

connected disability of 30 percent or 

more; and 

(3) Make an excepted service 

appointment under part 213 of this 

chapter, such as for persons with 

disabilities or in the Presidential 

Management Fellow Program, the 

Student Career Experience Program, or 

the Federal Career Intern Program; 

(f) Effect a personnel action under, or 

specifically in lieu of, part 351 of this 

chapter; 

(g) Effect a position change of an 

employee into a different position as a 

result of a formal reorganization, as long 

as the former position ceases to exist 

and no actual vacancy results; 

(h) Assign or exchange an employee 

under a statutory program, such as 

subchapter VI of chapter 33 of title 5, 

United States Code (also called the 

Intergovernmental Personnel Act), or 

the Information Technology Exchange 

Program under chapter 37 of title 5, 

United States Code; 

(i) Appoint an individual under an 

excepted service appointing authority; 

(j) Effect a position change of an 

employee within the excepted service; 

(k) Detail an employee within the 

agency; 

(l) Promote an employee for a period 

limited to 120 or fewer days, including 

all extensions; 

(m) Effect a position change of a 

surplus or displaced employee in the 

local commuting area; 

(n) Effect a position change of an 

employee under 5 U.S.C. 8337 or 8451 

to allow continued employment of an 

employee who is unable to provide 

useful and efficient service in his or her 

current position because of a medical 

condition; 

(o) Effect a position change of an 

employee to a position that constitutes 

a reasonable offer as defined in 5 U.S.C. 

8336(d) and 8414(b); 

(p) Effect a position change of an 

employee resulting from a 

reclassification action (such as accretion 

of duties or an action resulting from 

application of new position 

classification standards); 

(q) Promote an employee to the next 

higher grade or pay level of a designated 

career ladder position; 

(r) Recall a seasonal or intermittent 

employee from nonpay status; 

(s) Effect a position change of an 

injured or disabled employee to a 

position in which he or she can be 

reasonably accommodated; 

(t) Effect a personnel action pursuant 

to the settlement of a formal complaint, 

grievance, appeal, or other litigation; 

(u) Reassign or demote an employee 

under § 315.907 of this chapter for 

failure to complete a supervisory or 

managerial probationary period; 

(v) Retain an individual whose 

position is brought into the competitive 

service under part 316 of this chapter 

and convert that individual, when 

applicable, under part 315 of this 

chapter; 

(w) Retain an employee covered by an 

OPM-approved variation under Civil 

Service Rule 5.1 (5 CFR 5.1); 

(x) Reemploy a former agency 

employee who retired under a formal 

trial retirement and reemployment 

program and who requests 

reemployment under the program’s 

provisions and applicable time limits; 

(y) Extend a time-limited promotion 

or appointment up to the maximum 

period allowed (including any OPMapproved extensions beyond the 

regulatory limit on the time-limited 

promotion or appointment), if the 

original action was made subject to 

CTAP selection priority and the original 

announcement or notice stated that the 

promotion or appointment could be 

extended without further 

announcement; 

(z) Transfer an employee between 

agencies under appropriate authority 

during an interagency reorganization, 

interagency transfer of function, or 

interagency mass transfer; 

(aa) Appoint a member of the Senior 

Executive Service into the competitive 

service under 5 U.S.C. 3594; 

(bb) Transfer an employee voluntarily 

from one agency to another under a 

Memorandum of Understanding or 

similar agreement under appropriate 

authority resulting from an interagency 

reorganization, interagency transfer of 

function, or interagency mass transfer, 

when both the agencies and the affected 

employee agree to the transfer; 

(cc) Reassign an employee whose 

position description or other written 

mobility agreement provides for 

reassignment outside the commuting 

area as part of a planned agency 

rotational program; or 

(dd) Transfer or a position change of 

an employee under part 412 of this 

chapter. 

(ee) Convert an employee’s timelimited appointment in the competitive 

or excepted service to a permanent 

appointment in the competitive service 

if the employee accepted the timelimited appointment while a CTAP 

eligible. 

§ 330.610 CTAP eligibility period. 

(a) CTAP eligibility begins on the date 

the employee meets the definition of 

surplus or displaced in § 330.602. 

(b) CTAP eligibility ends on the date 

the employee: 

(1) Separates from the agency either 

voluntarily or involuntarily; 

(2) Receives a notice rescinding, 

canceling, or modifying the notice 

which established CTAP eligibility so 

that the employee no longer meets the 

definition of surplus or displaced; 

(3) Is placed in another position 

within the agency at any grade or pay 

level, either permanent or time-limited, 

before the agency separates the 

employee; or 

(4) Is appointed to a career, careerconditional, or excepted appointment 

without time limit in any agency at any 

grade or pay level. 

§ 330.611 Establishing CTAP selection 

priority. 

(a) CTAP selection priority for a 

specific agency vacancy begins when: 

(1) The CTAP eligible submits all 

required application materials, 

including proof of eligibility, within 

agency-established timeframes; and, 

(2) The agency determines the eligible 

is well-qualified for the vacancy. 

(b) An agency may allow CTAP 

eligible employees to become CTAP 

selection priority candidates for 

positions in other local commuting 

areas only if there are no CTAP 

selection priority candidates within the 

local commuting area of the vacancy. 

(c) An agency may deny future CTAP 

selection priority for agency positions if 

the CTAP eligible declines an offer of 

permanent appointment at any grade 

level (whether it is a competitive or 

excepted appointment). 

§ 330.612 Proof of eligibility. 

(a) The CTAP eligible must submit a 

copy of one of the documents listed 

under the definition of displaced or 

surplus in § 330.602 to establish 

selection priority under § 330.611. 

(b) The CTAP eligible may also 

submit a copy of a RIF notice with an 

offer of another position, accompanied 

by the signed declination of the offer. 

The RIF notice must state that 

declination of the offer will result in 

separation under RIF procedures. 

§ 330.613 OPM’s role in CTAP. 

OPM has oversight of CTAP and may 

conduct reviews of agency compliance 

and require corrective action at any 

time. 

Subpart G—Interagency Career 

Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) for 

Displaced Employees 

§ 330.701 Purpose. 

The Interagency Career Transition 

Assistance Program (ICTAP) provides 

eligible displaced Federal employees 

with interagency selection priority for 

vacancies in agencies that are filling 

positions from outside their respective 


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permanent competitive service 

workforces. The ICTAP selection 

priority does not apply in the ICTAP 

eligible’s current or former agency and 

it does not prohibit movement of 

permanent competitive service 

employees within an agency, as 

permitted by subpart F of this part. This 

subpart establishes requirements for 

ICTAP selection priority. 

§ 330.702 Definitions. 

In this subpart: 

Agency means an Executive agency as 

defined in 5 U.S.C. 105. 

Displaced describes an individual in 

one of the following categories: 

(1) A current career or careerconditional (tenure group I or II) 

competitive service employee of any 

agency at grade GS–15 (or equivalent) or 

below whose current performance rating 

of record is at least fully successful 

(Level 3) or equivalent and who: 

(i) Received a reduction in force (RIF) 

separation notice under part 351 of this 

chapter and has not declined an offer 

under part 351, subpart G, of this 

chapter of a position with the same type 

of work schedule and a representative 

rate at least as high as that of the 

position from which the employee will 

be separated; or 

(ii) Received a notice of proposed 

removal under part 752 of this chapter 

for declining a directed geographic 

relocation outside the local commuting 

area (e.g., a directed reassignment or a 

change in duty station). 

(2) A former career or careerconditional (tenure group I or II) 

competitive service employee of any 

agency at grade GS–15 (or equivalent) or 

below whose last performance rating of 

record was at least fully successful 

(Level 3) or equivalent who was either: 

(i) Separated by RIF under part 351 of 

this chapter and did not decline an offer 

under part 351, subpart G, of this 

chapter of a position with the same type 

of work schedule and a representative 

rate at least as high as that of the 

position from which the employee was 

separated; or 

(ii) Removed under part 752 of this 

chapter for declining a directed 

geographic relocation outside the local 

commuting area (e.g., a directed 

reassignment or a change in duty 

station). 

(3) A former career or careerconditional employee of any agency 

who was separated because of a 

compensable work-related injury or 

illness as provided under 5 U.S.C. 

chapter 81, subchapter I, whose 

compensation was terminated and who 

has received certification from the 

former employing agency that it is 

unable to place the employee as 

required by part 353 of this chapter. 

(4) A former career or careerconditional (tenure group I or II) 

competitive service employee of any 

agency who retired with a disability 

annuity under 5 U.S.C. 8337 or 8451 

and who has received notification from 

OPM that the disability annuity has 

been or will be terminated. 

(5) A former Military Reserve 

Technician or National Guard 

Technician receiving a special disability 

retirement annuity under 5 U.S.C. 

8337(h) or 8456 and who has 

certification of such annuity from the 

military department or National Guard 

Bureau. 

(6) A current or former excepted 

service employee on an appointment 

without time limit at grade GS–15 (or 

equivalent) or below whose current or 

last performance rating of record is or 

was at least fully successful (Level 3) or 

equivalent and who: 

(i) Has been provided by law with 

both noncompetitive appointment 

eligibility and selection priority for 

competitive service positions; and 

(ii) Has received a RIF separation 

notice under part 351 of this chapter or 

notice of proposed removal under part 

752 of this chapter for declining a 

directed geographic relocation outside 

the local commuting area (e.g., a 

directed reassignment or a change in 

duty station) or has been separated by 

RIF procedures or removed for declining 

a geographic relocation outside the local 

commuting area. 

ICTAP eligible means an individual 

who meets the definition of displaced. 

As used in this subpart, ‘‘ICTAP eligible’’ 

and ‘‘eligible’’ are synonymous. 

ICTAP selection priority candidate 

means an ICTAP eligible who applied 

for a vacancy, was determined by the 

agency to be well-qualified for that 

vacancy, and who the agency must 

select over any other candidate from 

outside the agency’s current competitive 

service workforce for the vacancy, 

unless the action to be taken is listed as 

an exception under § 330.707. 

Vacancy means a vacant competitive 

service position at grade GS–15 (or 

equivalent) or below to be filled for 121 

days or more, including extensions. 

§ 330.703 Agency responsibilities for 

deciding who is well-qualified. 

(a) Agencies must define ‘‘wellqualified’’ for their specific vacancies, 

consistent with this subpart, and 

uniformly apply that definition to all 

ICTAP eligibles being considered for the 

vacancy. 

(b) Agencies must conduct an 

independent second review and 

document the specific job-related 

reasons whenever an ICTAP eligible is 

determined to be not well-qualified for 

the vacancy under the agency’s 

definition. An agency must give the 

ICTAP eligible the written results of this 

review as required by § 330.706(d). 

§ 330.704 Minimum criteria for agency 

definition of ‘‘well-qualified’’. 

(a) At a minimum, agencies must 

define ‘‘well-qualified’’ as having 

knowledge, skills, abilities, and/or 

competencies clearly exceeding the 

minimum qualification requirements for 

the vacancy. The agency definition may 

or may not equate to the highly or best 

qualified assessment criteria established 

for the vacancy; however, the agency 

definition of ‘‘well-qualified’’ must 

satisfy the criteria in paragraph (b) of 

this section. 

(b) Under an agency’s definition of 

‘‘well-qualified,’’ the agency must be 

able to determine whether an ICTAP 

eligible: 

(1) Meets the basic eligibility 

requirements (including employment 

suitability requirements under part 731 

of this chapter and any medical 

qualification requirements), 

qualification standards (including 

minimum educational and experience 

requirements), and any applicable 

selective factors; 

(2) Is physically qualified, with or 

without reasonable accommodation, to 

perform the essential duties of the 

position; 

(3) Meets any special qualifying 

conditions of the position; 

(4) Is able to satisfactorily perform the 

duties of the position upon entry; and 

(5) At agency discretion, either: 

(i) Rates at or above specified level(s) 

on all quality ranking factors; or 

(ii) Rates above minimally qualified in 

the agency’s rating and ranking process. 

§ 330.705 Applying ICTAP selection 

priority. 

(a) An agency must not appoint any 

candidate from outside its permanent 

competitive service workforce if there is 

an ICTAP selection priority candidate 

available for the vacancy, unless the 

personnel action to be effected is an 

exception under § 330.707. 

(b) ICTAP selection priority applies to 

a vacancy that: 

(1) Is at a grade or pay level with a 

representative rate no higher than the 

representative rate of the grade or pay 

level of the ICTAP eligible’s current or 

last permanent position of record; 

(2) Has no greater promotion potential 

than the ICTAP eligible’s current or last 

permanent position of record; 


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67604 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 212 / Wednesday, November 3, 2010 / Rules and Regulations 

(3) Is in the same local commuting 

area as the ICTAP eligible’s current or 

last permanent position of record; and 

(4) Is filled during the ICTAP 

eligible’s eligibility period. 

(c) An agency may appoint any ICTAP 

selection priority candidate for a 

vacancy. 

(d)(1) After an agency announces the 

vacancy and meets its obligation to any 

ICTAP selection priority candidates, the 

agency may appoint any other candidate 

from outside its current permanent 

competitive service workforce, under 

appropriate staffing procedures. 

(2) An agency may make additional 

selections or reissue selection 

certificates in accordance with its merit 

promotion program without 

readvertising for ICTAP eligibles only if 

the additional selections are made from 

the applicant pool established by the 

original vacancy announcement, 

including readvertisements for the same 

vacancy, under which ICTAP eligibles 

had an opportunity to apply. 

(e) An agency may deny an ICTAP 

eligible future selection priority for 

vacancies in that agency if the ICTAP 

eligible: 

(1) Declines an offer of a permanent 

appointment at any grade or pay level 

in the competitive or excepted service; 

or 

(2) Fails to respond within a 

reasonable period of time, as defined by 

the agency, to an offer or official inquiry 

of availability for a permanent 

appointment at any grade or pay level 

in the competitive or excepted service. 

(f) An agency may deny an ICTAP 

eligible future selection priority for a 

position previously obtained through 

ICTAP if the eligible was terminated or 

removed from that position under part 

432 or 752 of this chapter. 

§ 330.706 Other agency ICTAP 

responsibilities. 

(a) Before appointing any other 

candidate from outside the agency’s 

permanent competitive service 

workforce, the agency must first fulfill 

its obligation to any employees entitled 

to selection priority under subparts B 

and F of this part. 

(b) In accordance with the conditions 

of part 300, subpart E, of this chapter, 

an agency may not procure temporary 

help services under that subpart until a 

determination is made that no ICTAP 

eligible is available. 

(c) An agency must announce all 

vacancies it intends to fill from outside 

its permanent competitive service 

workforce. Vacancy announcements 

must meet the requirements of subpart 

A of this part. 

(d) An agency must provide an ICTAP 

eligible who applied for a specific 

vacancy written notice of the final status 

of his or her application, including 

whether the eligible was determined to 

be well-qualified. The agency notice 

must include the results of the 

independent second review under 

§ 330.703(b), if applicable; whether 

another ICTAP selection priority 

candidate was hired; whether the 

position was filled under an exception 

listed in § 330.707; and whether the 

recruitment was cancelled. 

§ 330.707 Exceptions to ICTAP selection 

priority. 

An agency may take the following 

personnel actions as exceptions to 

§ 330.705: 

(a) Place a current or reinstate a 

former agency employee with RPL 

selection priority under subpart B of 

this part; 

(b) Effect a position change of a 

current permanent competitive service 

agency employee; 

(c) Appoint a 10-point veteran 

preference eligible through an 

appropriate appointing authority; 

(d) Reemploy a former agency 

employee with regulatory or statutory 

reemployment rights, including the 

reemployment of an injured worker who 

either has been restored to earning 

capacity by the Office of Workers’ 

Compensation Programs, Department of 

Labor, or has received a notice that his 

or her compensation benefits will cease 

because of recovery from disabling 

injury or illness; 

(e) Appoint an individual for a period 

limited to 120 or fewer days, including 

all extensions; 

(f) Effect a personnel action under, or 

specifically in lieu of, part 351 of this 

chapter; 

(g) Appoint an individual under an 

excepted service appointing authority; 

(h) Convert an employee serving 

under an appointment that provides 

noncompetitive conversion eligibility to 

a competitive service appointment, 

including from: 

(1) A Veterans Recruitment 

Appointment under part 307 of this 

chapter; 

(2) An appointment under 5 U.S.C. 

3112 and part 316 of this chapter of a 

veteran with a compensable serviceconnected disability of 30 percent or 

more; and 

(3) An excepted service appointment 

under part 213 of this chapter, such as 

for persons with disabilities or in the 

Presidential Management Fellow 

Program, the Student Career Experience 

Program, or the Federal Career Intern 

Program; 

(i) Transfer an employee between 

agencies under appropriate authority 

during an interagency reorganization, 

interagency transfer of function, or 

interagency mass transfer; 

(j) Reemploy a former agency 

employee who retired under a formal 

trial retirement and reemployment 

program and who requests 

reemployment under the program’s 

provisions and applicable time limits; 

(k) Effect a personnel action pursuant 

to the settlement of a formal complaint, 

grievance, appeal, or other litigation; 

(l) Extend a time-limited appointment 

up to the maximum period allowed 

(including any OPM-approved 

extension past the regulatory limit on 

the time-limited appointment), if the 

original action was made subject to 

ICTAP selection priority and the 

original vacancy announcement stated 

that the appointment could be extended 

without further announcement; 

(m) Reappoint a former agency 

employee into a hard-to-fill position 

requiring unique skills and experience 

to conduct a formal skills-based agency 

training program; 

(n) Retain an individual whose 

position is brought into the competitive 

service under part 316 of this chapter 

and convert that individual, when 

applicable, under part 315 of this 

chapter; 

(o) Retain an employee covered by an 

OPM-approved variation under Civil 

Service Rule 5.1 (5 CFR 5.1); 

(p) Appoint an appointee of the 

Senior Executive Service into the 

competitive service under 5 U.S.C. 

3594; 

(q) Assign or exchange an employee 

under a statutory program, such as 

subchapter VI of chapter 33 of title 5, 

United States Code (also called the 

Intergovernmental Personnel Act), or 

the Information Technology Exchange 

Program under chapter 37 of title 5, 

United States Code; 

(r) Detail an employee to another 

agency; 

(s) Transfer employees under an 

OPM-approved interagency job swap 

plan designed to facilitate the exchange 

of employees between agencies to avoid 

or minimize involuntary separations; 

(t) Transfer or reinstate an ICTAP 

eligible who meets the agency’s 

definition of ‘‘well-qualified’’; 

(u) Transfer an employee voluntarily 

from one agency to another under a 

Memorandum of Understanding or 

similar agreement under appropriate 

authority resulting from an interagency 

reorganization, interagency transfer of 

function, or interagency realignment, 

when both the agencies and the affected 

employee agree to the transfer; or 

(v) Transfer or a position change of an 

employee under part 412 of this chapter. 


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Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 212 / Wednesday, November 3, 2010 / Rules and Regulations 67605 

§ 330.708 ICTAP eligibility period. 

(a) ICTAP eligibility begins on the 

date the employee or former employee 

meets the definition of displaced in 

§ 330.702. 

(b) ICTAP eligibility ends 1 year from 

the date of: 

(1) Separation by RIF under part 351 

of this chapter; 

(2) Removal by the agency under part 

752 of this chapter for declining a 

directed geographic relocation outside 

the local commuting area (e.g., a 

directed reassignment or a change in 

duty station); 

(3) Agency certification that it cannot 

place the employee under part 353 of 

this chapter; or 

(4) OPM notification that an 

employee’s disability annuity has been, 

or will be, terminated. 

(c) ICTAP eligibility ends 2 years after 

RIF separation if eligible under subpart 

D of this part. 

(d) ICTAP eligibility also ends on the 

date the eligible: 

(1) Receives a notice rescinding, 

canceling, or modifying the notice 

which established ICTAP eligibility so 

that the employee no longer meets the 

definition of displaced in § 330.702; 

(2) Separates from the agency for any 

reason before the RIF or removal 

effective date; or 

(3) Is appointed to a career, careerconditional, or excepted appointment 

without time limit in any agency at any 

grade or pay level. 

(e) OPM may extend the eligibility 

period when an ICTAP eligible does not 

receive a full 1 year (or 2 years under 

subpart D of this part) of eligibility, for 

example, because of administrative or 

procedural error. 

(f) ICTAP eligibility for a former 

Military Reserve Technician or National 

Guard Technician described in 

§ 330.702 ends when the Technician no 

longer receives the special disability 

retirement annuity under 5 U.S.C. 

8337(h) or 8456. 

§ 330.709 Establishing ICTAP selection 

priority. 

ICTAP selection priority for a specific 

vacancy begins when: 

(a) The ICTAP eligible submits all 

required application materials, 

including proof of eligibility, within 

agency-established timeframes; and 

(b) The agency determines the eligible 

is well-qualified for the vacancy. 

§ 330.710 Proof of eligibility. 

(a) The ICTAP eligible must submit a 

copy of one of the documents listed 

under paragraphs (1) or (3) through (6) 

of the definition of displaced in 

§ 330.702, as applicable, to establish 

selection priority under § 330.709. To 

establish selection priority under the 

paragraph (2) of the definition of 

displaced in § 330.702, the ICTAP 

eligible must submit documentation of 

the separation or removal, as applicable, 

for example, the Notification of 

Personnel Action, SF 50. 

(b) The ICTAP eligible may also 

submit a copy of the RIF notice with an 

offer of another position accompanied 

by the signed declination of that offer. 

The RIF notice must state that 

declination of the offer will result in 

separation under RIF procedures. 

§ 330.711 OPM’s role in ICTAP. 

OPM has oversight of ICTAP and may 

conduct reviews of agency compliance 

and require corrective action at any 

time. 

Subpart H—[Reserved] 

Subpart I—[Reserved] 

Subpart J—Prohibited Practices 

§ 330.1001 Withdrawal from competition. 

An applicant for competitive 

examination, an eligible on a register, 

and an officer or employee in the 

executive branch of the Government 

may not persuade, induce, or coerce, or 

attempt to persuade, induce, or coerce, 

directly or indirectly, a prospective 

applicant to withhold filing application, 

or an applicant or eligible to withdraw 

from competition or eligibility, for a 

position in the competitive service, for 

the purpose of improving or injuring the 

prospects of an applicant or eligible for 

appointment. OPM will cancel the 

application or eligibility of an applicant 

or eligible who violates this section, and 

will impose such other penalty as it 

considers appropriate. 

Subpart K—[Reserved] 

Subpart L—[Reserved] 

PART 335—PROMOTION AND 

INTERNAL PLACEMENT 

■ 4. The authority citation for part 335 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 3301, 3302, 3330; E.O. 

10577, 3 CFR 1954–1958 Comp., p. 218; 

5 U.S.C. 3304(f), and Pub. L. 106–117. 

■ 5. In § 335.105, remove ‘‘§ 330.707 of 

subpart G’’ and add, in its place, ‘‘part 

330, subpart A’’. 

PART 337—EXAMINING SYSTEM 

■ 6. The authority citation for part 337 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 1104(a), 1302, 2302, 

3301, 3302, 3304, 3319, 5364; E.O. 10577, 

3 CFR 1954–1958 Comp., p. 218; 33 FR 

12423, Sept. 4, 1968; and 45 FR 18365, Mar. 

21, 1980; 116 Stat. 2135, 2290; and 117 Stat. 

1392, 1665. 

§ 337.203 [Amended] 

■ 7. In § 337.203, remove ‘‘subpart G’’ 

and add, in its place, ‘‘subpart A’’. 

PART 410—TRAINING 

■ 8. The authority citation for part 410 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 4101, et seq.; E.O. 

11348, 3 CFR, 1967 Comp., p. 275. 

§ 410.307 [Amended] 

■ 9. In § 410.307: 

■ a. In paragraph (c)(3), remove the 

phrase ‘‘5 CFR 330.604(b) and (f)’’ and 

add in its place the phrase, ‘‘5 CFR 

330.602’’. 

■ b. In paragraph (c)(4), remove the 

phrase ‘‘5 CFR 330.602’’ and add in its 

place the phrase, ‘‘5 CFR part 330, 

subpart F’’. 

[FR Doc. 2010–27638 Filed 11–2–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6325–39–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Agricultural Marketing Service 

7 CFR Part 920 

[Doc. No. AMS–FV–08–0085; FV08–920–3 

FIR] 

Kiwifruit Grown in California; Changes 

to District Boundaries 

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Affirmation of interim rule as 

final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Department of 

Agriculture (USDA) is adopting, as a 

final rule, without change, an interim 

rule that removed the grower district 

boundaries contained in the 

administrative rules and regulations of 

the kiwifruit marketing order (order). 

The interim rule removed regulatory 

language referring to eight grower 

districts from the order’s administrative 

rules and regulations to make them 

consistent with the recently amended 

order provisions, which now provide for 

three grower districts. 

DATES: Effective Date: Effective 

November 4, 2010. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Laurel May or Kathleen M. Finn, 

Marketing Order Administration 

Branch, Fruit and Vegetable Programs, 

AMS, USDA; Telephone: (202) 720– 

2491, Fax: (202) 720–8938; or E-mail: 


emcdonald on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with RULES