S. Rept. 114-143 - COMPETITIVE SERVICE ACT OF 2015114th Congress (2015-2016)
Committee Report
| Report Type: | Senate Report |
|---|---|
| Accompanies: | S.1580 |
| Committees: |
Reports for S.1580
S. Rept. 114-143 - 114th Congress (2015-2016)
Report text available as:
- TXT
Formatting necessary for an accurate reading of this legislative text may be shown by tags (e.g., <DELETED> or <BOLD>) or may be missing from this TXT display. For complete and accurate display of this text, see the PDF.
Senate Report 114-143 - COMPETITIVE SERVICE ACT OF 2015
[Senate Report 114-143]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
114th Congress
1st Session SENATE Report
114-143
_______________________________________________________________________
Calendar No. 228
COMPETITIVE SERVICE ACT OF 2015
__________
R E P O R T
of the
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
to accompany
S. 1580
TO ALLOW ADDITIONAL APPOINTING AUTHORITIES TO SELECT INDIVIDUALS FROM
COMPETITIVE SERVICE CERTIFICATES
September 15, 2015.--Ordered to be printed
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin, Chairman
JOHN McCAIN, Arizona THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware
ROB PORTMAN, Ohio CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri
RAND PAUL, Kentucky JON TESTER, Montana
JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin
MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota
KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire CORY A. BOOKER, New Jersey
JONI ERNST, Iowa GARY C. PETERS, Michigan
BEN SASSE, Nebraska
Keith B. Ashdown, Staff Director
Christopher R. Hixon, Chief Counsel
Patrick J. Bailey, Chief Counsel for Governmental Affairs
Gabrielle D'Adamo Singer, Deputy Chief Counsel for Governmental Affairs
Gabrielle A. Batkin, Minority Staff Director
John P. Kilvington, Minority Deputy Staff Director
Mary Beth Schultz, Minority Chief Counsel
Katherine C. Sybenga, Minority Senior Counsel
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
Calendar No. 228
114th Congress
SENATE
Report
1st Session 114-143
======================================================================
COMPETITIVE SERVICE ACT OF 2015
_______
September 15, 2015.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Johnson, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 1580]
The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 1580), to allow
additional appointing authorities to select individuals from
competitive service certificates, having considered the same,
reports favorably thereon without amendment and recommends that
the bill do pass.
CONTENTS
Page
I. Purpose and Summary..............................................1
II. Background and Need for the Legislation..........................1
III. Legislative History..............................................3
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis......................................3
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................4
VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................4
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............5
I. Purpose and Summary
The purpose of S. 1580, the Competitive Service Act of
2015, is to allow federal agencies to share their vetted lists
of best-qualified candidates with other agencies who are
looking to hire for a similar position. Allowing agencies to
share these lists and use them to hire for similar positions
will help reduce the duplicative work that agencies are forced
to undertake by making a new job announcement and starting the
hiring process from scratch.
II. Background and the Need for Legislation
At the start of the 114th Congress, Chairman Ron Johnson
and Ranking Member Tom Carper announced a mission statement for
the Committee to ``identify/reduce/eliminate duplication . . .
within government'' and ``[i]dentify opportunities to modernize
and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of federal
agencies.''\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee
(HSGAC) Mission, Vision, Values & Priorities, copy on file with
Committee Staff.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
S. 1580 addresses one such inefficiency in the federal
hiring process. Under current law, agencies operate as separate
and distinct entities, including with regard to agency hiring.
For example, if an agency is hiring for a vacancy, it must
issue a job vacancy announcement and follow the hiring process
requirements set out in Chapter 33 of title 5, United States
Code. These requirements include creating a certified list of
the most qualified candidates from which the agency selects the
person it will hire.
If, shortly after the agency has hired an individual from
the certified list of eligibles, another agency is also hiring
for a similar position, the second agency may not use the
certificate of eligibles created for the first agency by OPM.
This is true despite the fact that there may be numerous
qualified individuals that were not chosen by the first hiring
agency, and thus are still available. Because agencies hiring
for similar positions may not share their assessments of
applicants with each other, the result is duplicative work, as
other hiring agencies must start the application process from
scratch.
On May 6, 2014, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on the Efficiency and
Effectiveness of Federal Programs and the Federal Workforce
held a hearing entitled ``A More Efficient and Effective
Government: Cultivating the Federal Workforce.''\2\ Partnership
for Public Service President and Chief Executive Officer Max
Stier testified about the need for federal agencies to be
authorized to share their lists of best qualified candidates
with each other, which he referred to as a ``common-sense,
cost-effective reform to help agencies find top talent,
particularly for hard-to-fill positions.''\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\A More Efficient and Effective Government: Cultivating the
Federal Workforce: Hearing before the S. Comm. on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs, Sub. Comm. on the Efficiency and Effectiveness of
Federal Programs and the Federal Workforce, 113th Cong. (2014).
\3\Written testimony of Max Stier, President and CEO Partnership
for Public Service, id. at 7.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
S. 1580 would streamline the hiring process for federal
agencies by allowing agencies to share their certified list of
eligibles, in other words, their list of best qualified
applicants who have already undergone a competitive service
assessment process by the agency for a similar position. Under
S. 1580, the agency can hire an individual from the other
agency's certified list of eligibles if they meet the following
requirements: the original job vacancy announcement that
resulted in the list of certified eligibles provided notice
that the list could be used by another agency; the vacancy is
within 240-days of the issuance of the list of certified
eligibles; the position is in the same occupational series and
at a similar grade as the position for which the certification
of eligibles was issued; and the agency provides notice of the
available position to its employees, provides up to ten
business days for its employees to apply, and considers those
applications. If those requirements are met, the other
appointing authority need not make any additional posting, and
may simply hire an individual from the list of certified
eligibles.
The proposal is also supported by OPM. In 2010, then-OPM
Director John Berry sent a letter to then-House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi outlining proposed hiring reforms, including the
authority for agencies to share their lists of best qualified
talent with one another and hire from that list, without having
to post a new job announcement and start from scratch.\4\
Director Berry estimated that this change could result in a
reduction of 30-90 days' worth of duplicative work performed by
agencies that are hiring for similar positions.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\Letter from John Berry, Director of the Office of Personnel and
Management to Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives
(2010), copy on file with Committee Staff.
\5\Id. at 1.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
III. Legislative History
Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) introduced S. 1580 on June 16,
2015, with Senators Rob Portman (R-OH), Benjamin L. Cardin (D-
MD), Jerry Moran (R-KS), and Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) as original
cosponsors. Senators Michael B. Enzi (R-WY) and Ron Johnson (R-
WI) joined as cosponsors on June 17, 2015, and June 25, 2015,
respectively. The bill was referred to the Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-VA-11) introduced a companion to
S. 1580, H.R. 2827, on June 18, 2015, with Rep. Robert J.
Wittman (R-VA-1) as an original cosponsor. H.R. 2827 was
referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform.
The Committee considered S. 1580 at a business meeting on
June 24, 2015, and ordered the bill reported favorably en bloc
by voice vote. Senators present for the vote on the bill were
Johnson, McCain, Lankford, Ayotte, Ernst, Sasse, Carper,
Tester, Baldwin, and Heitkamp.
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis of the Bill, as Reported
Section 1. Short title
Section 1 designates the short title of the bill as the
``Competitive Service Act of 2015.''
Section 2. Additional appointing authorities for competitive service
Section 2 of the bill amends Section 3318 and 3319 of title
5, United States Code, to provide additional appointing
authorities for agencies selecting individuals for competitive
service positions.
First, this section amends Section 3318 to allow an
appointing authority other than the appointing authority
requesting a certificate of eligibles (the ``other appointing
authority'') to select an individual from that certificate
within 240 days of issuance of the certificate provided that:
the position within the other appointing authority is in the
same occupational series as the position for which the
certification of eligibles was issued and at a similar grade
level; the announcement of the original position provided
notice that the resulting list of eligible candidates could be
used by another appointing authority; and the other appointing
authority provides notice of the available position to its
employees, up to ten business days for its employees to apply,
and considers those applications. If those requirements are
met, the other appointing authority need not make any
additional posting under Section 3327.
Second, this section amends Section 3319 to provide that an
appointing authority requesting a certificate of eligible may
share the certificate with another appointing authority,
provided that: the appointing authority provided notice that
the resulting list of eligible candidates may be used by
another appointing authority; and the other appointing
authority provided notice of the available position to its
employees, up to ten business days for its employees to apply,
and considered those applications.
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact
Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has
considered the regulatory impact of this bill and determined
that the bill will have no regulatory impact within the meaning
of the rules. The Committee agrees with the Congressional
Budget Office's statement that the bill contains no
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs
on state, local, or tribal governments.
VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate
July 13, 2015.
Hon. Ron Johnson, Chairman,
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 1580, the
Competitive Service Act of 2015.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Matthew
Pickford.
Sincerely,
Keith Hall.
Enclosure.
S. 1580--Competitive Service Act of 2015
S. 1580 would amend federal law with an aim to expediting
the federal hiring process by allowing agencies to share their
assessments of job applicants with one another. If an agency
has compiled a list of candidates based on a rating system to
fill a vacancy, under this legislation the agency could share
that information with other agencies.
Based on information from the Office of Personnel
Management about the number of job openings and agencies that
would most likely use this authority, CBO expects that agencies
would not share many assessments. CBO estimates that any
implementation cost, or savings would be insignificant.
Enacting S. 1580 could affect direct spending by some
agencies (such as the Tennessee Valley Authority) because they
are authorized to use receipts from the sale of goods, fees,
and other collections to cover their operating costs.
Therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. Because most of
those agencies can make adjustments to the amounts collected,
CBO estimates that any net changes in direct spending by those
agencies would not be significant. Enacting the bill would not
affect revenues.
S. 1580 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal
governments.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew
Pickford. The estimate was approved by H. Samuel Papenfuss,
Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported
In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by
S. 1580 as reported are shown as follows (existing law proposed
to be omitted is enclosed in brackets, new matter is printed in
italic, and existing law in which no change is proposed is
shown in roman):
TITLE 5--GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION AND EMPLOYEES
* * * * * * *
PART III--EMPLOYEES
* * * * * * *
Subpart B--Employment and Retention
* * * * * * *
CHAPTER 33--EXAMINATION, SELECTION, AND PLACEMENT
* * * * * * *
SEC. 3318. COMPETITIVE SERVICE; SELECTION FROM CERTIFICATES
(a) * * *
(b) Other Appointing Authorities.--
(1) In general.--During the 240-day period beginning
on the date of issuance of a certificate of eligible
under section 3317(a), an appointing authority other
than the appointing authority requesting the
certificate (in this subsection referred to as the
`other appointing authority') may select an individual
from that certificate in accordance with this
subsection for an appointment to a position that is--
(A) in the same occupational series as the
position for which the certification of
eligible was issued (in this subsection
referred to as the `original position'); and
(B) at a similar grade level as the original
position.
(2) Applicability.--An appointing authority
requesting a certificate of eligible may share the
certificate with another appointing authority only if
the announcement of the original position provided
notice that the resulting list of eligible candidates
may be used by another appointing authority.
(3) Requirements.--The selection of an individual
under paragraph (1)--
(A) shall be made in accordance with
subsection (a); and
(B) subject to paragraph (4), may be made
without any additional posting under section
3327.
(4) Internal notice.--Before selecting an individual
under paragraph (1), and subject to the requirements of
any collective bargaining obligation of the other
appointing authority, the other appointing authority
shall--
(A) provide notice of the available position
to employees of the other appointing authority;
(B) provide up to 10 business days for
employees of the other appointing authority to
apply for the position; and
(C) review the qualifications of employees
submitting an application.
(5) Collective bargaining obligations.--Nothing in
this subsection limits any collective bargaining
obligation of an agency under chapter 71.
[(b)] (c)
(1) If an appointing authority proposes to pass over
a preference eligible on a certificate in order to
select an individual who is not a preference eligible,
such authority shall file written reasons with the
Office for passing over the preference eligible. The
Office shall make the reasons presented by the
appointing authority part of the record of the
preference eligible and may require the submission of
more detailed information from the appointing authority
in support of the passing over of the preference
eligible. The Office shall determine the sufficiency or
insufficiency of the reasons submitted by the
appointing authority, taking into account any response
received from the preference eligible under paragraph
(2) of this subsection. When the Office has completed
its review of the proposed passover, it shall send its
findings to the appointing authority and to the
preference eligible. The appointing authority shall
comply with the findings of the Office.
(2) In the case of a preference eligible described in
section 2108(3)(C) of this title who has a compensable
service-connected disability of 30 percent or more, the
appointing authority shall at the same time it notifies
the Office under paragraph (1) of this subsection,
notify the preference eligible of the proposed
passover, of the reasons therefor, and of his right to
respond to such reasons to the Office within 15 days of
the date of such notification. The Office shall, before
completing its review under paragraph (1) of this
subsection, require a demonstration by the appointing
authority that the passover notification was timely
sent to the preference eligible's last known address.
(3) A preference eligible not described in paragraph
(2) of this subsection, or his representative, shall be
entitled, on request, to a copy of--
(A) the reasons submitted by the appointing
authority in support of the proposed passover,
and
(B) the findings of the Office.
(4) In the case of a preference eligible described in
paragraph (2) of this subsection, the functions of the
Office under this subsection may not be delegated.
[(c)] (d) When three or more names of preference eligibles
are on a reemployment list appropriate for the position to be
filled, a nominating or appointing authority may appoint from a
register of eligibles established after examination only an
individual who qualifies as a preference eligible under section
2108(3)(C)-(G) of this title.
SEC. 3319. ALTERNATIVE RANKING AND SELECTION PROCEDURES
(a) * * *
(b) * * *
[(c)
(1) An appointing official may select any applicant
in the highest quality category or, if fewer than 3
candidates have been assigned to the highest quality
category, in a merged category consisting of the
highest and the second highest quality categories.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the appointing
official may not pass over a preference-eligible in the
same category from which selection is made, unless the
requirements of section 3317(b) or 3318(b), as
applicable, are satisfied.]
(c) Selection.--
(1) In general.--An appointing official may select
any applicant in the highest quality category or, if
fewer than 3 candidates have been assigned to the
highest quality category, in a merged category
consisting of the highest and the second highest
quality categories.
(2) Use by other appointing officials.--Under
regulations prescribed by the Office of Personnel
Management, appointing officials other than the
appointing official described in paragraph (1) (in this
subsection referred to as the `other appointing
official') may select an applicant for an appointment
to a position that is
(A) in the same occupational series as the
position for which the certification of
eligible was issued (in this subsection
referred to as the `original position'); and
(B) at a similar grade level as the original
position.
(3) Applicability.--An appointing authority
requesting a certificate of eligible may share the
certificate with another appointing authority only if
the announcement of the original position provided
notice that the resulting list of eligible candidates
may be used by another appointing authority.
(4) Requirements.--The selection of an individual
under paragraph (2)--
(A) shall be made in accordance with this
subsection; and
(B) subject to paragraph (5), may be made
without any additional posting under section
3327.
(5) Internal notice.--Before selecting an individual
under paragraph (2), and subject to the requirements of
any collective bargaining obligation of the other
appointing authority (within the meaning given that
term in section 3318(b)(1), the other appointing
official shall--
(A) provide notice of the available position
to employees of the appointing authority
employing the other appointing official;
(B) provide up to 10 business days for
employees of the other appointing authority to
apply for the position; and
(C) review the qualifications of employees
submitting an application.
(6) Collective bargaining obligations.--Nothing in
this subsection limits any collective bargaining
obligation of an agency under chapter 71.
(7) Preference eligibles.--Notwithstanding paragraph
(1) and (2), an appointing official may not pass over a
preference eligible in the same category from which
selection is made, unless the requirements of section
3317(b) and 3318(c), as applicable, are satisfied.
* * * * * * *