I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2721 

To provide for greater diversity within, and to improve policy direction and 

oversight of, the Senior Executive Service. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 4, 2009 

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois (for himself, Mr. CUMMINGS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, and Mr. CLAY) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government 

Reform 

A BILL 

To provide for greater diversity within, and to improve policy 

direction and oversight of, the Senior Executive Service. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Senior Executive Serv5 ice Diversity Assurance Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) according to the Government Accountability 

9 Office— 


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1 (A) minorities made up 22.5 percent of the 

2 individuals serving at the GS–15 and GS–14 

3 levels and 15.8 percent of the Senior Executive 

4 Service in 2007; 

5 (B) women made up 34.3 percent of the 

6 individuals serving at the GS–15 and GS–14 

7 levels and 29.1 percent of the Senior Executive 

8 Service in 2007; and 

9 (C) although the number of career Senior 

10 Executive Service members increased from 

11 6,110 in 2,000 to 6,555 in 2007, the represen12 tation of African-American men in the career 

13 Senior Executive Service declined during that 

14 same period from 5.5 percent to 5.0 percent; 

15 and 

16 (2) according to the Office of Personnel Man17 agement— 

18 (A) black employees represented 6.1 per19 cent of employees at the Senior Pay levels and 

20 17.8 percent of the permanent Federal work21 force compared to 10.1 percent in the civilian 

22 labor force in 2007; 

23 (B) Hispanic employees represented 4.0 

24 percent of employees at the Senior Pay levels 

25 and 7.8 percent of the permanent Federal 


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1 workforce compared to 13.3 percent of the civil2 ian labor force in 2007; and 

3 (C) women represented 28.2 percent of 

4 employees at the Senior Pay levels and 43.9 

5 percent of the permanent Federal workforce 

6 compared to 45.7 percent of the civilian labor 

7 force in 2007. 

8 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

9 For purposes of this Act— 

10 (1) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of 

11 the Office of Personnel Management; 

12 (2) the term ‘‘Senior Executive Service’’ has the 

13 meaning given such term by section 2101a of title 

14 5, United States Code; 

15 (3) the terms ‘‘agency’’, ‘‘career appointee’’, 

16 and ‘‘career reserved position’’ have the meanings 

17 given them by section 3132 of title 5, United States 

18 Code; and 

19 (4) the term ‘‘SES Resource Office’’ means the 

20 Senior Executive Service Resource Office, estab21 lished under section 4. 

22 SEC. 4. SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE RESOURCE OFFICE. 

23 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 

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

25 establish within the Office of Personnel Management an 


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1 office to be known as the Senior Executive Service Re2 source Office. The mission of the SES Resource Office 

3 shall be— 

4 (1) to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and 

5 productivity of the Senior Executive Service through 

6 policy formulation and oversight; 

7 (2) to advance the professionalism of the Senior 

8 Executive Service; and 

9 (3) to ensure that, in seeking to achieve a Sen10 ior Executive Service reflective of the Nation’s diver11 sity, recruitment is from qualified individuals from 

12 appropriate sources. 

13 (b) FUNCTIONS.—It shall be the function of the SES 

14 Resource Office to make recommendations to the Director 

15 with respect to regulations, and to provide guidance to 

16 agencies, concerning the structure, management, and di17 verse composition of the Senior Executive Service. In 

18 order to carry out the purposes of this section, the SES 

19 Resource Office shall— 

20 (1) take such actions as the SES Resource Of21 fice considers necessary to manage and promote an 

22 efficient, elite, and diverse corps of senior executives 

23 by— 


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1 (A) creating policies for the management 

2 and improvement of the Senior Executive Serv3 ice; 

4 (B) providing oversight of the perform5 ance, structure, and composition of the Senior 

6 Executive Service; and 

7 (C) providing guidance and oversight to 

8 agencies in the management of senior executives 

9 and candidates for the Senior Executive Serv10 ice; 

11 (2) be responsible for the policy development, 

12 management, and oversight of the Senior Executive 

13 Service pay system; 

14 (3) develop standards for certification of each 

15 agency’s Senior Executive Service performance man16 agement system and evaluate all agency applications 

17 for certification; 

18 (4) be responsible for developing and moni19 toring programs for the advancement and training of 

20 senior executives, including the Senior Executive 

21 Service Federal Candidate Development Program; 

22 (5) provide oversight of, and guidance to, agen23 cy executive resources boards; 

24 (6) be responsible for the administration of the 

25 qualifications review board; 


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1 (7) establish and maintain annual statistics (in 

2 a form that renders them useful to appointing au3 thorities and candidates) on— 

4 (A) the total number of career reserved po5 sitions at each agency; 

6 (B) the total number of vacant career re7 served positions at each agency; 

8 (C) of the positions under subparagraph 

9 (B), the number for which candidates are being 

10 sought; 

11 (D) the number of individuals who have 

12 been certified in accordance with section 

13 3393(c) of title 5, United States Code, and the 

14 composition of that group of individuals with 

15 regard to race, ethnicity, sex, age, and individ16 uals with disabilities; 

17 (E) the composition of the Senior Execu18 tive Service with regard to race, ethnicity, sex, 

19 age, and individuals with disabilities; 

20 (F) the composition of executive resources 

21 boards with regard to race, ethnicity, sex, and 

22 individuals with disabilities; and 

23 (G) the composition of qualifications re24 view boards with regard to race, ethnicity, sex, 

25 and individuals with disabilities; 


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1 (8) make available to the public through the of2 ficial public internet site of the Office of Personnel 

3 Management, the data collected under paragraph 

4 (7); 

5 (9) establish mentoring programs for potential 

6 candidates for the Senior Executive Service, includ7 ing candidates who have been certified as having the 

8 executive qualifications necessary for initial appoint9 ment as a career appointee under a program estab10 lished pursuant to section 3396(a) of title 5, United 

11 States Code; 

12 (10) conduct a continuing program for the re13 cruitment of women, members of racial and ethnic 

14 minority groups, and individuals with disabilities for 

15 Senior Executive Service positions, with special ef16 forts directed at recruiting from educational institu17 tions, professional associations, and other sources; 

18 (11) advise agencies on the best practices for 

19 an agency in utilizing or consulting with an agency’s 

20 equal employment or diversity office or official (if 

21 the agency has such an office or official) with regard 

22 to the agency’s Senior Executive Service appoint23 ments process; and 

24 (12) evaluate and implement strategies to en25 sure that agencies conduct appropriate outreach to 


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1 other agencies to identify candidates for Senior Ex2 ecutive Service positions. 

3 (c) PROTECTION OF INDIVIDUALLY IDENTIFIABLE

4 INFORMATION.—For purposes of subsection (b)(8), the 

5 SES Resource Office may combine data for any agency 

6 that is not named in section 901(b) of chapter 31, United 

7 States Code, to protect individually identifiable informa8 tion. 

9 (d) COOPERATION OF AGENCIES.—The head of each 

10 agency shall provide the Office of Personnel Management 

11 with such information as the SES Resource Office may 

12 require in order to carry out subsection (b)(7). 

13 SEC. 5. CAREER APPOINTMENTS. 

14 (a) PROMOTING DIVERSITY IN THE CAREER AP15 POINTMENTS PROCESS.—Section 3393 of title 5, United 

16 States Code, is amended— 

17 (1) in subsection (b), by inserting after the first 

18 sentence the following: ‘‘In establishing an executive 

19 resources board, the head of the agency shall, to the 

20 extent practicable, ensure diversity of the board and 

21 of any subgroup thereof or other evaluation panel re22 lated to the merit staffing process for career ap23 pointees, by including members of racial and ethnic 

24 minority groups, women, and individuals with dis25 abilities.’’; and 


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1 (2) in subsection (c)(1), by adding after the last 

2 sentence the following: ‘‘Notwithstanding the pre3 ceding sentence, consideration should also be given 

4 to improving diversity by including members of ra5 cial and ethnic minority groups, women, and individ6 uals with disabilities on such boards.’’. 

7 (b) REGULATIONS.—Within 1 year after the date of 

8 the enactment of this Act, the Director shall promulgate 

9 regulations to implement the amendments made by sub10 section (a) and to improve diversity in executive resources 

11 boards and qualifications review boards. 

12 (c) REPORT.—Within 1 year after the date of the en13 actment of this Act, the Director shall submit to the Com14 mittee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House 

15 of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Secu16 rity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a report eval17 uating agency efforts to improve diversity in executive re18 sources boards and of the members designated by agencies 

19 to serve on qualifications review boards, based on the in20 formation collected by the SES Resource Office under sub21 paragraphs (F) and (G) of section 4(b)(7). 

22 SEC. 6. ENCOURAGING A MORE DIVERSE SENIOR EXECU23 TIVE SERVICE. 

24 (a) SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE DIVERSITY

25 PLANS.—Within 1 year after the date of the enactment 


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1 of this Act, each agency, in consultation with the Office 

2 of Personnel Management, shall submit to the Office of 

3 Personnel Management a plan to enhance and maximize 

4 opportunities for the advancement and appointment of mi5 norities, women, and individuals with disabilities in the 

6 agency to the Senior Executive Service. Agency plans shall 

7 address how the agency is identifying and eliminating bar8 riers that impair the ability of minorities, women, and in9 dividuals with disabilities to obtain appointments to the 

10 Senior Executive Service and any actions the agency is 

11 taking to provide advancement opportunities, including— 

12 (1) conducting outreach to minorities, women, 

13 and individuals within the agency and outside the 

14 agency; 

15 (2) establishing and maintaining training and 

16 education programs to foster leadership develop17 ment; 

18 (3) identifying career enhancing opportunities 

19 for agency employees; 

20 (4) assessing internal availability of candidates 

21 for Senior Executive Service positions; and 

22 (5) conducting an inventory of employee skills 

23 and addressing current and potential gaps in skills 

24 and the distribution of skills. 


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1 Agency plans shall be updated at least every 2 years dur2 ing the 10 years following enactment of this Act. An agen3 cy plan shall be reviewed by the Office of Personnel Man4 agement and, if determined to provide sufficient assur5 ances, procedures, and commitments to provide adequate 

6 opportunities for the advancement and appointment of mi7 norities, women, and individuals with disabilities to the 

8 Senior Executive Service, shall be approved by such Office. 

9 An agency may, in updating its plan, submit to the Office 

10 of Personnel Management an assessment of the impacts 

11 of the plan. 

12 (b) SUMMARY AND EVALUATION.—Within 180 days 

13 after the deadline for the submission of any report or up14 date under subsection (a), the Director shall transmit to 

15 the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of 

16 the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

17 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen18 ate a report summarizing and evaluating the agency plans 

19 or updates (as the case may be) so submitted. 

20 (c) COORDINATION.—The Office of Personnel Man21 agement shall, in carrying out subsection (a), evaluate ex22 isting requirements under section 717 of the Civil Rights 

23 Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e–16) and section 501 of the 

24 Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 791) and determine 

25 how agency reporting can be performed so as to be conVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:33 Jun 06, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2721.IH H2721

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1 sistent with, but not duplicative of, such sections and any 

2 other similar requirements. 

Æ 


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