petencies necessary to satisfy that qualification and per-
form the duties of the position. 
(d) POSITION LISTING.—Position descriptions and 
job postings published by agencies for positions within the 
competitive service should be based on the specific skills 
and competencies required to perform those jobs. 
SEC. 3. IMPROVING THE USE OF ASSESSMENTS IN THE FED-
ERAL HIRING PROCESS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of Per-
sonnel Management shall work with the heads of all agen-
cies to ensure that, not later than 180 days after the date 
of enactment of this Act, for positions within the competi-
tive service, agencies assess candidates in a manner that 
does not rely solely on educational attainment to deter-
mine the extent to which candidates possess relevant 
knowledge, skills, competencies, and abilities. The heads 
of all agencies shall develop or identify such assessment 
practices. 
(b) CONSIDERATION OF SELF-EVALUATION.—In as-
sessing candidates, agencies may not rely solely on can-
didates’ self-evaluations of their stated abilities. Appli-
cants must clear other assessment hurdles in order to be 
certified for consideration. 
(c) EVALUATION.—Agencies shall continually evalu-
ate the effectiveness of different assessment strategies to 
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promote and protect the quality and integrity of their hir-
ing processes. 
SEC. 4. APPLICATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act shall be con-
strued to impair or otherwise affect— 
(1) the authority granted by law to an executive 
department or agency, or the head thereof; or 
(2) the functions of the Director of the Office 
of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, 
administrative, or legislative proposals. 
(b) RIGHTS OR BENEFITS.—This Act is not intended 
to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive 
or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party 
against the United States, its departments, agencies, or 
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other 
person. 
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act— 
(1) the term ‘‘assessment’’ means any valid and 
reliable method of collecting information on an indi-
vidual for the purposes of making a decision about 
qualification, hiring, placement, promotion, referral, 
or entry into programs leading to advancement; 
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(2) the term ‘‘competitive service’’ has the 
meaning given that term in section 2102 of title 5, 
United States Code; 
(3) the term ‘‘education’’ refers to Post High- 
School Education as that term is defined in the Of-
fice of Personnel Management General Schedule 
Qualification Policies; and 
(4) the term ‘‘qualification’’ means the min-
imum requirements necessary to perform work of a 
particular position or occupation successfully and 
safely. 
Æ 
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