For Immediate Release
November 21, 2003

Executive Order
Executive Order: Presidential Management Fellows Program

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including sections 3301 and 3302 of title 5, United States Code, and in order to provide for the recruitment and selection of outstanding employees for service in public sector management, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. There is hereby constituted the Presidential Management Fellows Program. The purpose of the Program is to attract to the Federal service outstanding men and women from a variety of academic disciplines and career paths who have a clear interest in, and commitment to, excellence in the leadership and management of public policies and programs. Individuals selected for the Program shall be known as Presidential Management Fellows (PMFs) or Senior Presidential Management Fellows (Senior PMFs).

Sec. 2. (a) Individuals eligible for appointment as a PMF under this order are those who, in pursuing a course of study at the graduate level, have demonstrated both exceptional ability and the commitment to which section 1 refers. Such individuals at the time of application must have received, or must expect to receive soon thereafter, an appropriate advanced degree as defined by the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

(b) Individuals eligible for appointment as a Senior PMF under this order are those who have, through extensive work experience, demonstrated both exceptional leadership or analytical ability and the commitment to which section 1 refers.

Sec. 3. The Director of OPM shall prescribe appropriate merit-based rules for the recruitment, nomination, assessment, selection, appointment, placement, and continuing career development of fellows, including rules that:

(a) reserve to the head of a department or agency or component within the Executive Office of the President (EOP) the authority to appoint a fellow who is to be employed in that department, agency, or component;

(b) provide for nomination by universities and colleges, through competitive selection processes, of eligible individuals for consideration for appointment as PMFs;

(c) carry out the policy of the United States to ensure equal employment opportunities for employees without discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; and

(d) ensure the application of appropriate veterans' preference criteria.

Sec. 4. (a) Fellows shall be appointed to positions in either:

(1) Schedule A of the excepted service; or

(2) an agency or component within the EOP excepted from the competitive service.

(b) Appointments under subsection (a) shall not exceed 2 years in duration unless extended by the head of the department or agency or component within the EOP, with the concurrence of the Director of OPM, for a period not to exceed 1 additional year.

(c) The following principles and policies shall govern service and tenure by fellows:

(1) responsibilities assigned to a PMF shall be consistent with the PMF's educational background and career interests, and the purposes of the Program; and responsibilities assigned to a Senior PMF shall be consistent with the Senior PMF's experience and career interests, and the purposes of the Program;

(2) continuation of a fellow's appointment shall be contingent upon satisfactory performance by the fellow throughout the fellowship appointment;

(3) except as provided in paragraph (4) of this subsection, service as a fellow shall confer no right to further Federal employment in either the competitive or excepted service upon the expiration of the fellow's appointment; and

(4) competitive civil service status may be granted to a fellow who satisfactorily completes the Program and meets such other requirements as the Director of OPM may prescribe. A fellow appointed by an agency excepted from the competitive service may also be appointed to a permanent position in an excepted service agency without further competition.

Sec. 5. The Director of OPM shall provide for an orderly transition, including with respect to nominations, selection processes, and appointments, from the Presidential Management Intern Program established by Executive Order 12364 of May 24, 1982, to the Presidential Management Fellows Program established by this order. Until that transition is provided for, indi-viduals who were selected or appointed under the provisions of Executive Order 12364 and who have not completed their scheduled periods of excepted service are hereby redesignated as Presidential Management Fellows, and continue their internships under the terms of Executive Order 12364.

Sec. 6. The Director of OPM shall prescribe such regulations as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this order.

Sec. 7. Executive Order 12364 is superseded, except as provided in section 5 of this order.

Sec. 8. This order 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, instrumentalities or entities, its officers or employees, or any other person.

GEORGE W. BUSH

THE WHITE HOUSE,

November 21, 2003.

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