3 FAM 2290
LIMITED NONCAREER APPOINTMENTS UNDER SECTION 303 OF THE
FOREIGN SERVICE ACT
(CT:PER-726; 04-18-2014)
(Office of Origin: HR/CDA)
3 FAM 2291 Authority
(CT:PER-726; 04-18-2014)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service and Civil Service employees)
Consistent with Section 303
of the Foreign Service Act (22 U.S.C. 3943), the Secretary is authorized to
appoint Civil Service employees and other individuals to the Foreign Service
and consistent with Section 309 of the
Foreign Service Act (22 U.S.C. 3949), such appointments may include limited
noncareer appointments (LNAs). Pursuant to applicable delegations of
authority, these authorities are exercised by the Director General.
3 FAM 2292 Eligibility Requirements
(CT:PER-726; 04-18-2014)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service and Civil Service employees)
Limited noncareer appointment (LNA) appointees must meet
the following eligibility requirements:
(1) A candidate must be a citizen of the United States
of America;
(2) A candidate for a LNA will be subject to any
medical examination, suitability check, and security background investigation
otherwise appropriate to the particular assignment;
(3) A candidate must meet the experience/education
requirements of the position for which appointment is considered; and
(4) A candidate must provide financial disclosure if
applicable to the position to which appointed.
3 FAM 2293 Types of Limited NonCareer
Appointments Under Section 303 of the Foreign Service Act
(CT:PER-726; 04-18-2014)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service and Civil Service employees)
a. Consistent with Section 502 of the Foreign Service
Act (22 U.S.C. 3982), the Departments goal is to ensure that positions designated
as Foreign Service positions are filled by assignment of career and
career-conditional members of the Foreign Service.
b. Pursuant to Sections 303 and 309 of the Foreign
Service Act, the Department appoints Civil Service employees and other individuals
from outside the Foreign Service to LNAs as:
(1) Hard-to-Fill (HTF) Candidates: Positions
that have not attracted sufficient bidders through the Foreign Service
assignments process and thus may be filled by Department Civil Service
employees. The procedures and eligibility requirements applicable to HTF
positions as well as the scope and frequency of available positions may vary
from year to year. Each HTF program will be announced by an ALDAC after consultation with the Foreign
Services exclusive representative;
(2) Expert Candidates: For
these positions, bureaus are to request temporary FTE from the Office of
Resource Management (HR/RMA) before presenting an Action Memorandum to the
Director, HR/CDA. For example, expert LNAs include, but are not limited to, positions that cannot normally be filled with Foreign
Service personnel, such as certain attorney positions at embassies and
missions that are filled by lawyers from the Office of the Legal Adviser, and a nuclear physicist position that was temporarily
required in Japan.
(3) Developmental Assignment
Candidates: These assignments provide experience and exposure to
Foreign Service operations for Civil Service personnel through two methods--bureau candidate only advertised
positions, for example, A Bureau positions at ELSO and Overseas Development
Program positions advertised via CS merit promotion announcements.
(4) Volunteer Cable Candidates:
Volunteer cables are sent, as agreed annually with the exclusive representative
in the Bidding Instructions, when there are no qualified bidders for a vacancy
that has been advertised. The regional bureaus initiate the volunteer cable
exercise as a request to HR/CDA to send such a cable based on Foreign Service
need. If a Civil Service candidate is selected, the Director General must
prepare a Certificate of Need in accordance with 3 FAM 2295 (see
also 3 FAM
Exhibit 2295 for an example of this certificate);
(5) Schedule C and Other Outside-Hire
Candidates: These appointments include, but are not limited to,
chief-of-mission office management specialists, eligible family members, and
other outside hires;
(6) Exceptional Circumstance
Candidates: The Departments Director General of the Foreign Service
and Director of Human Resources (Director General) may designate certain
positions to be filled under an exceptional
circumstance category (see 3 FAM 2294 below).
(7) Urgent, Limited Need: These limited non-career appointments support specific
or exceptional mission-critical needs that existing Foreign Service personnel
cannot meet. These needs are considered to be of limited duration, not
justifying the creation of a new category of a career Foreign Service
employee. HR/RMA will authorize the FTE for these positions. Every two years,
the Director General or designee will review each category of LNA falling under
this paragraph in consultation with the Foreign Services exclusive
representative, to determine whether the specific need still exists and
existing Foreign Service personnel cannot meet the need.
NOTE: The seven categories in 3 FAM 2293,
subparagraphs b(1) through b(7), are the
only categories by which a Civil Service employee or other individual from
outside the Foreign Service may be appointed to the Foreign Service pursuant to
an LNA under Section 303 of the Foreign Service Act. The Departments
procedures for appointing Civil Service employees and other individuals from
outside the Foreign Service as LNAs outside these categories are subject to
negotiations between the Department and the Foreign Services exclusive
representative, prior to institution of further categories.
3 FAM 2294 Filling positions under
Exceptional Circumstance
(CT:PER-726; 04-18-2014)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service and Civil Service employees)
a. In filling exceptional circumstance positions, the
Department will advertise each such position via ALDAC and Department notice,
either individually or with other open positions, to all Foreign Service
employees available in the then-current Open Assignments Cycle, including those
already paneled into an onward assignment. In addition, for positions not yet
on FS Bid, the Department will place the position on FS Bid. The ALDAC and
notice will advise that all eligible bidders in the current Open Assignments
Cycle are eligible to bid, including those Foreign Service employees already paneled
into an onward assignment. Fifteen working days after the transmission date of
the ALDAC, the Department may review all bids received for the position. If
the position was included in FS Bid prior to becoming an exceptional circumstance position, the
Departments review may include bids received prior to transmission of the
ALDAC.
b. In the event that no bids for exceptional circumstance positions are received
from members of the Foreign Service after the positions have been advertised
for the required 15 working days, or the Director General determines that the
member(s) of the Foreign Service whose bid is (are) not suited to the
assignment, the Department may select a Department Civil Service employee or
other candidate for appointment to an LNA for assignment to this position,
based on a Certificate of Need signed by the Director General in accordance
with 3 FAM 2295.
3 FAM 2295 Certificate of Need
(CT:PER-726; 04-18-2014)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service and Civil Service employees)
a. A Certificate of Need is required when the
Department fills a position with an exceptional
circumstance candidate or fills a volunteer
cable position with a Civil Service employee.
b. The Certificate of Need must:
(1) Describe the measures taken to find Foreign
Service candidates to fill the position;
(2) Acknowledge that no bids were received from
members of the Foreign Service when the position was advertised for 15 days or,
alternatively, provide an explanation by the Director General as to why he or
she determined the Foreign Service bids received were not from suitable
bidders; and
(3) Explain why the Director General found that the
selected candidate was best suited to fill the position.
c. The Department will provide the signed Certificate
of Need to the Foreign Services exclusive representative two working days in
advance of the selected candidates being paneled into the position.
3 FAM 2296 Duration of Limited
NonCareer Appointments
(CT:PER-726; 04-18-2014)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service and Civil Service employees)
a. An appointment to a LNA is normally limited to the
duration of the specific assignment for which the candidate is hired and
normally may not exceed five years in duration. In the event that the Director
General proposes to extend a limited appointment beyond five years, as
permitted by Section 309(b) of the Foreign
Service Act (22 U.S.C. 3949(b)), HR will advise the Foreign Services exclusive
representative of such proposed extension, typically two weeks in advance, so
as to allow the exclusive representative an opportunity to comment on the
proposed extension.
b. Ordinarily, no LNA appointee will be given a new LNA appointment until at least one
year has elapsed since the expiration of the previous appointment. However, in
the event the Director General proposes a new LNA
appointment earlier than one year for the same individual, HR will
advise the Foreign Services exclusive representative, typically two weeks in
advance, so as to allow the exclusive representative an opportunity to comment.
3 FAM 2297 through 2299 unassigned
3 FAM Exhibit 2295
Example of a Certificate of Need
(CT:PER-726; 04-18-2014)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service and Civil Service employees)
In accordance with the Departments agreement with the
American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) regarding the use of certain
limited non-career appointment authority, I hereby certify that there is a need
for [name], a career GS-[___] in the Department of State, to be appointed on a
limited, non-career appointment to the Foreign Service so that she or he can
serve in the position as [position] officer in [post]. This is based upon her
or his knowledge, skills and abilities, the need to fill the position
immediately and the lack of similarly qualified career Foreign Service
employees expected to be available in the immediate future for this position.
Justification: This section should include all
information relevant to the appointment of the employee on a limited non-career
appointment. This could include such information as the sample below.
The [________] section in [post] is comprised of four
officers: [class and positions of incumbents]. The previous incumbent in the
position of [title] curtailed to take a position in [post or office]. The
position was advertised in FSBid on [date], but we received no Foreign Service
bidders. [State here whether CDA issued a volunteer
cable to fill this position and the results of the responses to that
request.]
The [bureau/office] has struggled to fill positions in
[post] over the past two years to include this position. Prior to the arrival
of the last incumbent, the position had been vacant for close to [_____]
months. The bureau feels the situation in [post] will stabilize upon filling
this vacancy.
After a careful review of information on all the bidders,
the [bureau/office] turned to [name], a Civil Service bidder. The bureau did
not offer this position to the other bidder(s) due to the lack of [_________]
experience as compared to that noted below.
[Name] is currently serving as a [position] in
[bureau/office]. Prior to the current position, she or he served as [position]
in [bureau/office]. Before joining the State Department, she or he held the
position of ________ at __________. [Name] obtained a Masters Degree from the
University of __________________ in __________________. [Provide information
regarding applicable skills and experience in previous positions as well as any
relevant education and training.]
As [position] officer, [name] will be responsible for
directing and managing [duties] in the embassy. Due to the scope and
responsibility of this particular assignment, the overall difficulty in filling
positions in [post], the bureaus need for an experienced and seasoned
candidate to fill this urgent vacancy, and the lack of qualified Foreign
Service officers for this position, there is a need for [names] LNA
appointment.
In accordance with the agreement with AFSA, AFSA will
receive a copy of this signed Certificate of Need two days in advance of being
paneled into the position.
____________________________________
__________
[Name and
Signature] [Date]
Director General of the Foreign Service and
Director of Human Resources
U.S. Department of State