330.606—Order of selection for filling vacancies from within the agency.

(a) Except as provided in paragraph (d) of this section, when filling a vacancy as defined in § 330.604(j), an agency must select an employee eligible under § 330.605 of this subpart before selecting any other candidate from within or outside the agency, unless the agency can show that another employee would otherwise be separated by reduction in force. In addition, agencies may not procure temporary help services under 5 CFR part 300, subpart E, in lieu of appointing a surplus or displaced Federal employee as required by subparts F and G of this chapter.

(b) Once the agency has met its obligation to select employees eligible under its CTAP, it is free to select any other competitive service tenure group 1 or 2 candidate from within its workforce, under appropriate procedures. An agency may provide selection priority to surplus and displaced agency employees from another commuting area after it has discharged its obligation to eligible surplus and displaced agency employees from within the local commuting area.

(c) When an agency selects a candidate from outside of its workforce, the agency is subject to the order of selection prescribed in § 330.705.

(d) The following are not covered under this subpart:

(1) Actions taken under 5 CFR part 335, including reassignments, changes to lower grade, or promotions, when no employees eligible under this subpart apply;

(2) Reemployment of a former agency employee exercising regulatory or statutory reemployment rights, including the reemployment of injured workers who have either been restored to earning capacity by the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP), or who have received a notice that their compensation benefits will cease because of recovery from the disabling injury or illness;

(3) Position changes resulting from disciplinary actions;

(4) Temporary appointments of under 121 days (including all extensions);

(5) Exchange of positions between or among agency employees, when the actions involve no increase in grade or promotion potential, i.e., job swaps;

(6) Conversion of an employee of the same agency who is serving on an excepted appointment which confers eligibility for noncompetitive conversion into the competitive service, e.g., conversion of a veterans' recruitment appointee to a career conditional appointment under § 315.705 ;

(7) An action taken under part 351 of this chapter ;

(8) Non-competitive placement of an employee into a different position as a result of a formal reorganization, when the former position ceases to exist, and no actual vacancy results;

(9) Assignments made under the Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) as provided in part 334 of this chapter ;

(10) The filling of a position through an excepted appointment;

(11) Details;

(12) Time-limited promotions of under 121 days, including all extensions;

(13) Noncompetitive movement of surplus or displaced employees within the agency, and within the same local commuting area;

(14) Movement of excepted service employees within an agency;

(15) A placement under 5 U.S.C. 8337 or 8451 to allow continued employment of an employee who has become unable to provide useful and efficient service in his or her current position because of a medical condition;

(16) A placement that is a “reasonable offer” as defined in 5 U.S.C. 8336(d) and 8414(b) ;

(17) Career ladder promotions or position changes resulting from reclassification actions, e.g., accretion of duties, or application of new position classification standards;

(18) Recall of seasonal or intermittent employees from nonpay status;

(19) The internal placement of an injured or disabled worker whose agency has identified a position for which he or she can be reasonably accommodated;

(20) An action taken by the agency head or his designee pursuant to the settlement of a formal complaint, grievance, appeal, or other litigation;

(21) An action taken to return an employee to his or her original or similar position during a supervisory probationary period;

(22) The retention of individuals whose positions are brought into the competitive service under § 316.701 or § 316.702 of this chapter and subsequent conversion, when applicable, under § 315.701 of this chapter ;

(23) The retention of an employee for whom OPM has approved a rule 5.1 variation;

(24) At the agency's discretion, the selection of an employee from within a component of an agency within the local commuting area, after all eligible surplus and displaced applicants of that component who are eligible under CTAP within the local commuting area have been accorded selection priority;

(25) The reemployment of a former agency employee who retired under a formal trial retirement and reemployment program, and who seeks reemployment with that agency under the program's provisions, and within the program's applicable time limits;

(26) Extensions of temporary or term actions, up to the full period allowed, provided that the original action, upon which the extension is based, was made on or before February 29, 1996; or for actions initially made after February 29, 1996, the original vacancy announcement must have specified that the position was open to CTAP candidates and that if they were found well-qualified, would be afforded selection priority. The original announcement must have stated that an extension was possible without further announcement;

(27) Noncompetitive movement of employees between agencies as a result of interagency reorganization, interagency transfer of function, or interagency mass transfer; and

(28) The placement of a member of the Senior Executive Service under 5 U.S.C. 3594.

(29) The voluntary transfer of employees from one agency to another under a Memorandum of Understanding or similar type of agreement when both agencies and the affected employees agree to the transfer.

(30) The reassignment of an employee whose position description or other written mobility agreement provides for reassignments outside the commuting area as part of a planned rotational program within the agency.

Code of Federal Regulations

[62 FR 31320, June 9, 1997, as amended at 64 FR 40509, July 27, 1999]

Code of Federal Regulations

Effective Date Note: At 75 FR 67593, Nov. 3, 2010, part 330 was revised, effective Mar. 3, 2011. For the convenience of the user, the revised text is set forth as follows: PART 330—RECRUITMENT, SELECTION, AND PLACEMENT (GENERAL) § 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 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. Pt. 330, Nt.