OPM Senior Executive Service Desk Guide

1 DECEMBER 2020 OPM Senior Executive Service desk GuideUnited StateS Office Of PerSOnnel ManageMentSES desk Guide December 2020 2 Preface The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is pleased to announce the first official publication of the Senior Executive Service (SES) desk Guide . This desk Guide is a reference tool for career and non-career Senior executives, members of Executive Resources Boards, Performance Review Boards, and other agency Executive resources managers and staff who have the responsibility of managing and developing their Senior executives.

2 The desk Guide provides guidance on statutory and regulatory provisions that encompass the SES. The guidance is intended to serve as explanatory material and is not a substitute for the statutes and regulations that form the basis for the SES. References and links to relevant statutory and regulatory citations have been included in the text. The desk Guide also provides instructions and procedures that agencies must follow to comply with reporting and other informational requirements promulgated by OPM. This desk Guide is to be used as a reference for agency Executive resources personnel and is not a policy-making Guide . The desk Guide is a document intended to accommodate regulatory updates and policy changes regarding the SES.

3 Should you have any questions about the material in the desk Guide , please contact Executive Resources and Performance Management (ERPM) at the address below. Acting Director Michael J. Rigas and Associate Director of Employee services Dennis Dean Kirk conceived of the need for such a product in April 2020. The Senior Executive services and Performance Management (SESPM) team, led by Deputy Associate Director David LaCerte and Senior Advisor George Nesterczuk, completed the project in October 2020. Contributors include Corey D. Adams, William C. Collins, Karen S. English, Kristopher E. Goas, Thomas J. Hendershot, Chanel C. Jackson, Timothy A. Lehmann, Carol M.

4 Matheis, Zelma Moore, Danielle Opalka, Eric Schmidt, and Tiana Young. Benjamin Esposito, Oriet Hemenway, and Peter Hong provided valuable assistance. Send SES or Senior -level (SL) or scientific or professional (ST) policy-related questions, correspondence, and requests to ERPM at the following address, unless otherwise indicated in the desk Guide : U. S. Office of Personnel Management Employee services Division Senior Executive services and Performance Management Executive Resources and Performance Management 1900 E Street NW, Room 7412 Washington, DC 20415 (202) 606-8046; Fax (202) 606-4264 (Email: desk Guide December 2020 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION.)

5 4 TABLE OF STATUTES, REGULATIONS, AND desk Guide RESOURCES MANAGEMENT .. 1-1 STAFFING AND CAREER APPOINTMENTS .. STAFFING ACTIONS .. 3-1 MANAGEMENT .. 4-1 AND OTHER COMPSENATION .. 5-1 .. 6-1 DEVELOPMENT .. 7-1 AND SUSPENSIONS .. 8-1 IN FORCE (RIF), RIF PLACEMENT, AND PLACEMENT .. 10-1 PROVISIONS AFFECTING SES 11-1 POSITIONS OUTSIDE THE SES .. 12-1 SES desk Guide December 2020 4 INTRODUCTION The Senior Executive Service (SES) was established by Title IV of the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA) of 1978 [Pub. L. 95-454, October 13, 1978] and became effective on July 13, 1979. The CSRA envisioned a Senior Executive Service whose members shared values, a broad perspective of Government, and solid Executive skills.

6 Members of a corporate SES respected and embraced the dynamics of American democracy - an approach to governance that provided a continuing vehicle for change. The CSRA s stated purpose was to ensure that the Executive management of the Government of the United States is responsive to the needs, policies, and goals of the nation and otherwise is of the highest quality. To achieve this purpose, CSRA gave greater authority to agencies to manage their Executive resources and stated the SES was to be administered to attract and retain highly competent executives; assign executives where they will be most effective in accomplishing the agency s missionand where best use will be made of their talents; provide for the systematic development of managers and executives; hold executives accountable for individual and organizational performance; reward the outstanding performers and remove the poor performers.

7 And provide an Executive personnel system free of prohibited personnel practices and Coverage The SES covers positions in the Executive branch that are classified above GS-15 or are in level IV or V of the Executive Schedule, or equivalent positions, which are not required to be filled by Presidential appointment with Senate confirmation, and are responsible for Executive , managerial, supervisory, and/or policy functions characteristic of the SES. (See 5 3132(a)(2) and discussion on page 1-13, Other Factors.) Under CSRA, the SES was set up as a third Service , completely separate from the competitive and excepted services . Statutory Inclusions in the SES Occasionally, laws will establish positions in the SES.

8 Agencies should review their positions to ensure they comply with the law. For example, in 2013, the Small Business Act was amended to address placement of the Director of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization position into the SES if specific conditions were met (See 15 644(k)(2)). SES desk Guide December 2020 5 Statutory Exclusions from the SES The following agencies and agency components are excluded from the SES by law [generally 5 3132(a)(l)]: legislative and judicial branch agencies; independent Government corporations; Government Accountability Office; Federal Election Commission or Election Assistance Commission; Federal Aviation Administration; Central Intelligence Agency; Office of the Director of National Intelligence; Defense Intelligence Agency; National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; National Security Agency.

9 Department of Defense intelligence activities, the civilian employees of which are subject to section 1606 of title 10; Federal Bureau of Investigation; Drug Enforcement Administration; as determined by the President, an Executive agency or unit thereof whose principal function is the conduct of foreign intelligence or counterintelligence activities; certain financial management regulatory agencies, including the Comptroller of the Currency and Office of Thrift Supervision in the Department of the Treasury, the Resolution Trust Corporation, Farm Credit Administration, Federal Housing Finance Agency, National Credit Union Administration, Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, and the Office of Financial Research; the Securities and Exchange Commission; the Commodity Futures Trading Commission; and the Transportation Security Administration.

10 The following positions are excluded from the SES by law [generally 5 3132(a)(2)]: positions to which appointment is required to be by the President with Senate confirmation; Foreign Service positions; Administrative Law Judge positions; SES desk Guide December 2020 6 any position established as a qualified position in the excepted Service by the Secretary of Homeland Security under section 226 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002; any position established as a qualified position in the excepted Service by the Secretary of Defense under section 1599f of title 10; and agency boards of contract appeals positions.