View Rule

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is proposing regulations to implement changes -- known as the "rule of many" -- authorized by the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2019 governing the selection of candidates from competitive lists of eligibles. The NDAA eliminates the requirement that an agency select only from the top three candidates at any given juncture (the "rule of three") in numerical rating and ranking and instead authorizes agencies to certify and consider a sufficient number of candidates, no fewer than three, to be considered, using a cut-off score or other mechanism established by the Office of Personnel Management by regulation. This change also affects how agencies may make selections under 5 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 302 Employment in the Excepted Service. These changes will provide expanded flexibility to agencies in the selection of candidates.