What is Non-Competitive Eligibility (NCE)?
Schedule A - Basics
Schedule A is the Excepted Service Appointing Authority that allows NSEP award recipients to be hired non-competitively for publicly-open positions; positions open to only those with non-competitive eligibility; and positions that are not advertised publicly or not advertised at all, with the support of the department or agency’s hiring official. Depending on department or agency needs, special positions can be created for Schedule A hires. NSEP award recipients may be appointed to Federal Government positions under the Schedule A Excepted Service Appointing Authority. NSEP award recipients’ eligibility under this authority is specified in the Code of Federal Regulations, (CFR), Title 5, Volume 1, Section 213.3102 (r).
Positions established in support of fellowship and similar programs that are filled from limited applicant pools and operate under specific criteria developed by the employing agency and/or a non-Federal organization. These programs may include: internship or fellowship programs that provide developmental or professional experiences to individuals who have completed their formal education; training and associateship programs designed to increase the pool of qualified candidates in a particular occupational specialty; professional/industry exchange programs that provide for a cross-fertilization between the agency and the private sector to foster mutual understanding, an exchange of ideas, or to bring experienced practitioners to the agency; residency programs through which participants gain experience in a Federal clinical environment; and programs that require a period of Government service in exchange for educational, financial or other assistance. Appointments under this authority may not exceed 4 years.
Note that OPM states that individuals may be hired non-competitively up to 4 years under this regulation.
This authority became effective on November 28, 1997.
Learn More About Schedule A for NSEP Alumni
What Is Schedule A?
The Schedule A hiring authorities are a group of excepted service authorities that describe special jobs and situations for which it is impractical to use standard qualification requirements and to rate applicants using traditional competitive procedures. For example, a hiring official may use a Schedule A exception to hire attorneys because, by law, OPM cannot develop qualification standards or examinations for attorney jobs. A hiring official can also use the exceptions for other special jobs, including chaplain, law clerk trainee, medical doctor, dentist, certain interpreters, experts for consultation purposes, and some others. Of relevance to NSEP award recipients is the fact that participants in programs that require a period of government service in exchange for educational or financial support are eligible for excepted service appointments under Schedule A Authority R.
Schedule A Authority R allows NSEP award recipients to be hired for certain federal positions without competition and for a period of up to four years. Additionally, Schedule A appointments allow for some flexibility regarding traditional OPM qualification standards and veteran’s preference. Under Schedule A, these aspects of traditional procedures must only apply to the extent that they are administratively feasible.
Schedule A Authority R is defined in the Code of Federal Regulations, (CFR) 213.3102(r).
The rest of this section explains some of the most common ways that NSEP award recipients use the Schedule A Authority R hiring benefit (from hereon referred to simply as “Schedule A”).
How to Use Schedule A
There are three primary ways that NSEP award recipients use Schedule A:
To apply to advertised positions that are only open to individuals with non-competitive eligibility.
To apply to jobs that are not publicly advertised or not advertised at all (as in when an award recipients creates his or her own position)
To apply to positions that are advertised but for which the award recipient is not eligible in the hopes of being hired for an identical Schedule A position.
Each of these methods of using Schedule A is described in more detail below.
Positions Open to Individuals with Non-competitive Eligibility
An NSEP award recipient can use Schedule A to apply for advertised positions that are open only to individuals with non-competitive eligibility. On USAJobs that generally means the NSEP award recipient can apply to any position—in addition to regular, publicly open positions—for which the announcement specifies that “non-competitive” or “excepted service” or “temporary” appointments are eligible. Note that some job announcements are open only to “certain non-competitive appointments”. In those cases, the announcement will usually list which appointments are eligible.
When applying for positions that require non-competitive eligibility, an NSEP award recipient will generally require a letter of certification proving that eligibility. NSEP can provide these letters. See the section entitled Letters of Certification at the end of this chapter for more information.
Unadvertised Positions
The second way to use Schedule A is in applying for jobs that are not publicly advertised or not advertised at all.
Jobs that are not publicly advertised include many of those advertised exclusively on NSEPnet. It is because NSEP award recipients can be hired under Schedule A that federal offices are able to provide exclusive job opportunities to NSEP award recipients. Otherwise, the positions advertised on NSEPnet would all also have to be advertised publicly, such as on USAJobs.
The ability to apply for unadvertised positions also means that NSEP award recipients can actually create their own positions within a federal organization, so long as they have a hiring official inside that organization who is willing to support them.
Schedule A Information for Federal Agencies
To contact the National Security Education Program (NSEP), please email nsep@nsep.gov.
The David L. Boren National Security Education Act of 1991 (P.L. 102-183), as amended, codified in U.S.C. 50 §1901 et seq., mandated that the Secretary of Defense create and sustain a program to award scholarships to U.S. undergraduate students; fellowships to U.S. graduate students; and grants to U.S. institutions of higher education. These awards are for study or program development in languages and regions critical to national security, which are under-represented in U.S. study.
NSEP award recipients may be hired under the Schedule A Excepted Service Appointing Authority. This authority is specified in the Code of Federal Regulations, (CFR), Title 5, Volume 1, Section 213.3102 (r). Appointments under this authority may not exceed four (4) years.
Schedule A enables NSEP recipients to be hired non-competitively for publicly-open positions; positions open to only those with non-competitive eligibility; and positions that are not advertised publicly or not advertised at all, with the support of the department or agency’s hiring official. Depending on department or agency needs, positions can be created for Schedule A hires.
Depending on the individual department or agency’s policies, differing funding sources may be used to hire Schedule A individuals.
Grade levels for Schedule A hires are determined by the academic credentials, skills and experience levels of the NSEP candidate.
Schedule A appointments enjoy all the privileges and benefits of agency employees, as long as they are appointed for a duration of 13 months or longer. Those hired for less than 12 months are considered “temporary” employees and thus, are not eligible for full benefits.
NSEP award recipients may additionally be appointed to the excepted service non-competitive eligibility to a career or career-conditional appointment upon completion of two years of substantially continuous service. This authority is specified in Section 802 of the David L. Boren National Security Education Act of 1991 (50 U.S.C. 1902) as amended by section 1101 of Public Law 111-84 National Defense Authorization Act Fiscal Year 10 (NDAA FY 10).