5 CFR Part 2 — Appointment Through the Competitive Service; Related Matters (Rule II)

PART 2—APPOINTMENT THROUGH THE COMPETITIVE SERVICE; RELATED MATTERS (RULE II) Authority: 5 U.S.C. 1103(b)(4), 3301, 3302; E.O. 14410, 91 FR 34893. Source: 28 FR 10023, Sept. 14, 1963, unless otherwise noted. § 2.1 Competitive examinations and eligible registers; suitability and fitness for civil service employment. (a) OPM shall be responsible for: (i) Open competitive examinations for admission to the competitive service that will fairly test the relative capacity and fitness of the persons examined for the position to be filled. (ii) Standards with respect to citizenship, age, education, training and experience, physical and mental fitness, and for residence or other requirements that applicants must meet to be admitted to or rated in examinations. (iii) Standards of suitability based on character and conduct for appointment to a position in the competitive service, for appointment to a position in the excepted service where the incumbent can be noncompetitively converted to the competitive service, and for career appointment to a position in the Senior Executive Service. (iv) Minimum standards of fitness based on character and conduct for appointment in any other position in the excepted service of the executive branch, except for (A) positions in any element of the intelligence community as defined in the National Security Act of 1947, as amended, to the extent they are not otherwise subject to OPM appointing authorities, and (B) positions where OPM is statutorily precluded from prescribing such standards.” (b) In addition to the names of persons who qualify in competitive examinations, the names of persons who have lost eligibility on a career or career-conditional register because of service in the armed forces, and the names of persons who lost opportunity for certification or who have served under career or career-conditional appointment when OPM determines that they should be given certification, may also be entered at such places on appropriate registers and under such conditions as OPM may prescribe. [28 FR 10023, Sept. 14, 1963, as amended by E.O. 13764, 82 FR 8115, Jan. 23, 2017; 91 FR 52478, Aug. 14, 2026] § 2.2 Appointments. (a) OPM shall establish and administer a career-conditional appointment system for positions subject to competitive examinations which will permit adjustment of the career service to necessary fluctuations in Federal employment, and provide an equitable and orderly system for stabilizing the Federal work force. A competitive status shall be acquired by a career-conditional appointee upon satisfactory completion of a probationary period, but the appointee shall have career-conditional tenure for a period of service to be prescribed by regulation of OPM. When an employee has completed the required period of service his appointment shall be converted to a career appointment without time limitation: Provided, Provided, (1) Persons whose appointments are required by statute to be made on a permanent basis; (2) Employees serving under career appointments at the time of selection from such registers; and (3) Former employees who have eligibility for career appointments upon reinstatement. (b) Under the career-conditional appointment system there shall be a limit on the number of permanent employees in the Federal civil service which shall be the ceiling established by section 1310 of the Supplemental Appropriation Act, 1952 (65 Stat. 757), as amended. In the event section 1310, supra, is repealed, OPM is authorized to fix such limitation on the number of permanent employees in the Federal civil service as it finds necessary to meet the needs of the service. (c) OPM may determine the types, duration, and conditions of indefinite and temporary appointments, and may prescribe the method for replacing persons holding such appointments. [28 FR 10023, Sept. 14, 1963, as amended at 91 FR 52478, Aug. 14, 2026]

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