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The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) will be proposing modifications to its rules to better ensure that applicants from all segments of society, including those with prior criminal histories, receive a fair opportunity to compete for Federal employment.  The proposed changes would prohibit the collection of criminal background information until the best qualified candidates are referred to a hiring manager.  These regulations would better ensure that applicants are evaluated as to relevant competencies before criminal history information is collected.  OPM would be providing a mechanism for requesting exceptions when there are legitimate, specific job-related, reasons why agencies may need to disqualify candidates with certain types of adverse history from particular types of positions.