Office of Personnel Management August 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Office of Personnel Management is issuing a proposed rule that would remove Adams County, CO, from the Adams-Denver, CO, Federal Wage System (FWS) nonappropriated fund (NAF) wage area and redefine Arapahoe County, CO, from the area of application to the survey area. In addition, we propose to change the name of the Adams-Denver FWS NAF wage area to Arapahoe-Denver. These changes are necessary because the closure of Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in Adams County left the Adams-Denver survey area without a host activity to conduct local NAF wage surveys.

This gives notice of OPM decisions granting authority to make appointments under Schedules A, B, and C in the excepted service as required by 5 CFR 6.6 and 213.103.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, May 22, 1995), this notice announces that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) submitted a request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for emergency clearance and review for a reinstatement, with change, of a previously approved collection for the OPM Form 1300, Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Program Online Application and Resume Builder. Approval of the PMF Online Application and Resume Builder is necessary to facilitate the timely registration, nomination, selection, and placement of PMF finalists in Federal agencies. This also serves as the 60 Day Notice for review for full clearance. As a result of Executive Order 13318, the OPM issued a final rule on May 19, 2005 (FR, Vol. 70, No. 96, Page 28775) implementing new program regulations effective June 20, 2005. Consistent with these new regulations, the following significant changes have been made to the application and nomination process: (1) The programmatic guidance in the Program and Application Overview, found under the PMF Web site's ``How to Apply'' section, was rewritten to reflect myriad changes resulting from the new regulations; (2) the nomination process was modified to clarify that eligible graduate students are to be nominated by their school's Dean, Chairperson, or Academic Program Director (i.e. a nominating official), and not by a designee or nomination coordinator; and (3) the dates and times were revised from last year to reflect the current academic year of 2005/2006. We estimate 3,500 to 4,000 applications will be received and processed in the 2005/2006 open season for PMF applications. During the 2004/2005 open season OPM received approximately 3,321 applications, leading to 3,073 nominations by colleges and universities. We estimate students will need 2 hours to complete the OPM Form 1300 and electronically submit it to their school's nominating official. In addition, we estimate school nominating officials will need one-half hour to receive, review, and render a decision on the student's application for nomination into the PMF Program. The annual estimated burden for nominees is 8,000 hours and 2,000 hours for school nominating officials, for a total of 10,000 hours. Comments are particularly invited on: whether this information is necessary for the proper performance of functions on the Office of Personnel Management, and whether it will have practical utility; whether our estimate of the public burden of this collection of information is accurate, and based on valid assumptions and methodology; and ways in which we can minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, through the use of appropriate technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology. For copies of this proposal, contact Mary Beth Smith-Toomey at (202) 606-8358, fax (202) 418-3251, or e-mail to mbtoomey@opm.gov. Please include your complete mailing address with your request.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing final regulations to implement provisions contained in the E-Government Act of 2002. This law authorizes the temporary detail of employees in the field of information technology (IT) management from the Federal Government to private sector organizations. It also authorizes Federal agencies to accept private sector employees detailed under this program. This program is envisioned to promote the interchange of Federal and private sector workers to enhance skills and competencies.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing an interim regulation to amend its direct-hire authority regulations to allow non- Department of Defense agencies to recruit and appoint highly qualified individuals for certain Federal acquisition positions deemed as a shortage category under the Services Acquisition Reform Act.

This notice publishes revised shelter (rent) analyses relating to the ``2002 Nonforeign Area Cost-of-Living Allowance Survey Report: Caribbean and Washington, DC, Areas'' and the ``2003 Nonforeign Area Cost-of-Living Allowance Survey Report: Alaska and Washington, DC, Areas.'' The Federal Government uses the results of surveys such as these to set cost-of-living allowance (COLA) rates for General Schedule, U.S. Postal Service, and certain other Federal employees in Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. This notice explains the revised shelter analyses adopted by the Office of Personnel Management based on additional research undertaken after the publication of these two reports.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, May 22, 1995), this notice announces that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for the elimination of the optional form (OF) called Applying for a Federal Job (OF 510), the revision of the optional form called Optional Application for Federal Employment (OF 612), the specifications of the improved resume builder in the USAJOBS Web site (https://www.USAJOBS.gov), and screen shots of the web pages within the USAJOBS Web site. OPM proposes eliminating the OF 510. The OF 510 is a brochure that has been used to provide guidance to the general public on how to apply for Federal jobs and how to construct a Federal resume (i.e., what necessary work, education, and other information applicants should include in their resumes or other applications). However, the same instructions contained in the OF 510 have been incorporated into the revised OF 612 and the USAJOBS resume builder. The instructions are also available through numerous other sources, including the USAJOBS Web site, that were not available at the time this brochure was originally created. This proposed action will eliminate the need to print, maintain, and distribute an instructional guide in hard copy format now that the information can be readily updated and delivered by leveraging current web and other automated technology. The OF 612 is a form used to collect applicant qualifications information associated with vacancy announcements. The form provides necessary guidance to applicants so that they can be considered for employment when applying for Federal jobs. Presently the OF 612 is downloadable from OPM's electronic forms page on the USAJOBS Web site (https://www.opm.gov/forms) in fillable pdf format. The data collected are necessary for Federal agencies to evaluate applicants for Federal jobs under the authority of sections 1104, 1302, 3301, 3304, 3320, 3361, 3393, and 3394 of title 5, United States Code. OPM has reconstructed the resume builder in the USAJOBS Web site to be in line with the data elements collected in the revised OF 612. The resume builder contains the critical elements applied across the Federal government to assess an applicant's qualifications as required under the aforementioned sections of 5 United States Code. The OF 612 and the resume builder in the USAJOBS Web site contain questions regarding the applicant's education history, including dates of attendance, name, type and place of institution, and degrees earned. Due to the increasing number of claimed degrees earned from non- accredited or bogus institutions, commonly referred to as ``diploma mills,'' the revised OF 612 and the USAJOBS resume ask applicants to list only degrees from schools that were accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education or other education that meets the provisions of OPM's Operating Manual at www.opm.gov/qualifications/SEC-II/s2-e4.htm. The revised OF 612 and resume builder also advise applicants not to list education from degrees based solely on life experiences, or obtained from schools with little or no academic standards. The USAJOBS Web site is the Federal Government's official one-stop source for Federal jobs and employment information. USAJOBS is operated by OPM and provides job vacancy information, employment fact sheets, job applications/forms, and on-line resume development. Job seekers may create a ``My USAJOBS'' account where they can create up to five resumes. These resumes are stored in one location where they can be updated, saved, or sent at any time. The public reporting burden for the collection of the data will vary from 20 to 240 minutes, with an average of 90 minutes for both, the OF 612 and the online resume builder. This time estimate includes time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering data, and completing and reviewing the information. OF 612burden hours calculation: Estimated number of respondents: 245,000. Average time to complete the OF 612: 90 min. (1.5 hours). 245,000 x 1.5 = 367,500 burden hours. Federal Resumeburden hours calculation: Estimated number of respondents: 3,510,600. Average time to complete the on-line resume builder: 90 min. (1.5 hours). 3,510,600 x 1.5 = 5,265,900 burden hours. The dramatic upsurge in responses is due to expansion and acceptance of resumes in the Federal application process and the advancement of technology to provide for online application, as well as increased interest by job seekers in Federal employment as evidenced by an eightfold growth in visits to the USAJOBS Federal employment information system in FY 2004 over FY 2003. The increase in time is based on new requirements that job applicants provide accreditation information for institutions of higher education from which they have received a degree. As job applicants will need to verify their education against this new requirement, the OF-612 or Federal resume will take longer to complete than it has in the past. As a result of the 60-day notice, OPM received one comment expressing concern about the additional burden for applicants. The reason for this extra burden was the requirement that applicants provide accreditation information for institutions of higher education from which they have received degrees. OPM has determined that this was a valid concern. Therefore, the OF 612 and the resume builder will contain specific instructions to the applicant to list only degrees from facilities that have been duly accredited by the U.S. Department of Education or other education that meets the provisions of OPM's Operating Manual at https://www.opm.gov/qualifications/SEC-II/s2-e4.htm, and not from non-accredited or bogus institutions. For copies of this proposal, contact Mary Beth Smith-Toomey by phone at (202) 606-8358, by FAX at (202) 418-3251, or via e-mail at MaryBeth.Smith-Toomey@opm.gov. Please include a mailing address with your request.