Office of Personnel Management – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) offers the general public and other Federal agencies the opportunity to comment on revisions to a currently approved information collection request (ICR): OMB Control No. 3206-0219, USAJOBS Resume Builder, Application Profile, and Career Explorer.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing this final rule to align the Pathways Programs with the Federal Government's needs for recruiting and hiring interns and recent graduates. Robust Pathways Programs, with appropriate safeguards to promote their use as a supplement to, and not a substitute for, the competitive hiring process, are essential to boosting the Federal Government's ability to recruit and retain early career talent.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing final regulations to reinforce and clarify longstanding civil service protections and merit system principles, codified in law, as they relate to the involuntary movement of Federal employees and positions from the competitive service to the excepted service, or from one excepted service schedule to another. In this final rule, OPM adopts many of the provisions from the proposed rule with some modifications and clarifications based on comments received from the public. The final regulations will better align OPM regulations with relevant statutory text, congressional intent, legislative history, legal precedent, and OPM's longstanding practice.

According to the provisions of section 10 of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, notice is hereby given that a virtual meeting of the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee will be held on Thursday, April 18, 2024. There will be no in-person gathering for this meeting.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) offers the general public and other Federal agencies the opportunity to comment on an existing information collection request (ICR): 3206-0036, Establishment Information Form (DD 1918), Wage Data Collection Form (DD 1919), and Wage Data Collection Continuation Form (DD 1919C).

Pursuant to the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended by the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988 and the Computer Matching Privacy Protections Amendment of 1990 (Privacy Act), and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance on the conduct of matching programs, notice is hereby given of the reestablishment of a matching program between the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) (Computer Matching Agreement 1071), the purpose of which is to assist OPM in meeting its legal obligation to offset its payments to disability annuitants, child survivor annuitants, and spousal survivor annuitants who receive benefits from OPM.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is proposing an extension to a currently approved information collection: OMB Control Number 3206- 0237, RI 38-47, Information and Instructions on Your Reconsideration Rights.

According to the provisions of section 10 of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, notice is hereby given that a virtual meeting of the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee will be held on Thursday, March 21, 2024. There will be no in-person gathering for this meeting.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is proposing an extension to a currently approved information collection, OMB Control Number, 3206- 0143: Request to Disability Annuitant for Information on Physical Condition and Employment, RI 30-1.

This notice corrects a word in the SUMMARY section of an information collection notice that was published in the Federal Register on January 31, 2024, regarding the renewal of the Questionnaire for Public Trust Positions (SF 85P) and Supplemental Questionnaire for Selected Positions (SF 85P-S).

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is proposing an extension to a currently approved information collection: OMB Control Number 3206- 0162, Report of Medical Examination of Person Electing Survivor Benefits, OPM 1530.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) proposes to modify the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) regulations to allow for coverage to take effect as soon as an employee becomes eligible for coverage under the FEHB Program. This rulemaking is also applicable to the Postal Service Health Benefits (PSHB) Program within the FEHB Program. The proposed changes would allow FEHB and PSHB coverage to become effective at the beginning of the pay period that the employee in pay status has an initial opportunity to enroll. This change would occur when the employee becomes eligible for FEHB or PSHB coverage, provided an appropriate request to enroll is received by the employing office within the initial pay period that the employee becomes eligible.

The Office of Personnel Management is issuing final regulations governing the criteria for making salary determinations based on salary history to advance pay equity in the General Schedule, prevailing rate, Administrative Appeals Judge, Administrative Law Judge, Senior Executive Service, and senior-level and scientific or professional pay systems. For individuals receiving their first appointment as a civilian employee of the Federal Government (or a reappointment after a break in service) in one of these pay systems, agencies will not be able to set pay based on a job candidate's non- Federal salary or pay history, which could vary between equally qualified candidates, or based on a competing job offer. Agencies will also be required to have policies regarding setting pay based on a previous Federal salary for employees who have previous civilian service in the Federal Government.

According to the provisions of section 10 of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, notice is hereby given that a virtual meeting of the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee will be held on Thursday, February 15, 2024. There will be no in-person gathering for this meeting.

This document reopens the comment period for the proposed rules entitled ``Federal Independent Dispute Resolution Operations'' that appeared in the November 3, 2023, issue of the Federal Register. The comment period for the proposed rules, which closed on January 2, 2024, is reopened from January 22, 2024 to February 5, 2024.

Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Healthcare and Insurance, Federal Employee Insurance Operations offers the general public and other Federal agencies the opportunity to comment on the reinstatement of an expired information collection request (ICR) without change, Designation of Beneficiary: Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance, Standard Form 2823. OPM is requesting approval that this form be designated as a ``Common Form''.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing a proposed regulation to clarify that bargaining-unit employees, who are detailed or temporarily promoted to higher grade duties of a higher-graded position, should be paid accordingly for the entire time performing these duties of a higher-graded position, when this action is pursuant to a final order by an arbitrator, adjudicative body, or court, under a collective bargaining agreement that provides for this action and the employees were assigned these duties outside of competitive hiring procedures. In addition, the proposed change clarifies that non- bargaining unit employees who are temporarily promoted to higher grade duties of a higher-graded position should be paid accordingly for the entire time performing these duties of a higher-graded position, as found pursuant to a final order by an adjudicative body or court. At present, non-competitive temporary promotions, and non-competitive details to duties of higher-graded positions are limited to no more than 120 days under OPM regulations regardless of the bargaining-unit status of the employee. Competitive procedures apply for any temporary promotion or detail to duties of a higher-graded position that exceeds 120-days, again, regardless of the bargaining-unit status of the employee.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Retirement Services, offers the general public and other Federal agencies the opportunity to comment on the following expiring information collection (ICR), without change: Initial Certification of Full-Time School Attendance, RI 25-41. OPM uses RI 25-41 to determine if a child is eligible to receive survivor benefits.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing a final rule to redefine the geographic boundaries of the Northeastern Arizona and Utah appropriated fund Federal Wage System (FWS) wage areas for pay-setting purposes. The final rule will redefine Washington County, UT, and several National Parks portions of Garfield, Grand, Iron, San Juan, and Wayne Counties, UT, to the Northeastern Arizona wage area.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing a proposed rule to expand the authority to approve waivers of the normal payment limitations on recruitment and relocation incentives. An expansion of the waiver approval authority would provide agencies with access to higher payment limitations for these flexibilities without requesting approval from OPM. Under this proposed rule, agencies would have the authority to approve a recruitment or relocation incentive of up to 50 percent of an employee's annual rate of basic pay multiplied by the number of years in a service agreement (not to exceed 100 percent of annual basic pay) based on a critical agency need. In addition, this proposed rule would give agencies flexibility to set the length of the required service period for recruitment incentives to a period less than 6 months but not more than 4 years, which would align the service requirements for recruitment incentives with those for relocation incentives and provide agencies with additional flexibility in taking advantage of this incentive as a recruitment tool.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Retirement Services, offers the general public and other Federal agencies the opportunity to comment on an expiring information collection request (ICR), with change: 3206-0201, Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Open Season Express Interactive Voice Response (IVR) System and the Open Season website, Open Season Online.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Human Resources Solutions, offers the general public and other Federal agencies the opportunity to comment on the extension with change of a currently approved information collection request (ICR): 3206-0246, CyberCorps[supreg]: Scholarship for Service (SFS) Registration system.

This document sets forth proposed rules related to certain provisions of the No Surprises Act regarding the Federal independent dispute resolution (IDR) process, which was established as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA). These proposed rules would set forth new requirements relating to the disclosure of information that group health plans and health insurance issuers offering group or individual health insurance coverage must include along with the initial payment or notice of denial of payment for certain items and services subject to the surprise billing protections in the No Surprises Act. These proposed rules would also require plans and issuers to communicate information by using claim adjustment reason codes (CARCs) and remittance advice remark codes (RARCs), as specified in guidance, when providing any paper or electronic remittance advice to an entity that does not have a contractual relationship with the plan or issuer. This document also proposes to amend certain requirements related to the open negotiation period preceding the Federal IDR process, the initiation of the Federal IDR process, the Federal IDR dispute eligibility review, and the payment and collection of administrative fees and certified IDR entity fees. This document also proposes to define bundled payment arrangements, amend requirements related to batched items and services, and amend the rules for extensions of timeframes due to extenuating circumstances. Additionally, this document proposes to require plans and issuers to register in the Federal IDR portal. In accordance with Federal law, a summary of these rules may be found at https://www.regulations.gov/.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) offers the general public and other Federal agencies the opportunity to comment on a previously approved information collection request (ICR) 3206-0276, (Generic Clearance for Improving Customer Experience).