[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3423 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 3423

  To implement merit-based reforms to the civil service hiring system 
  that replace degree-based hiring with skills- and competency-based 
                                hiring.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 16, 2021

Ms. Sinema (for herself, Mr. Hagerty, and Mr. Lankford) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
               Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To implement merit-based reforms to the civil service hiring system 
  that replace degree-based hiring with skills- and competency-based 
                                hiring.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Chance to Compete Act of 2021''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    (a) Terms Defined in Section 3308 of Title 5, United States Code.--
In this Act, the terms ``agency'', ``Director'', ``examining agency'', 
``Office'', ``subject matter expert'', and ``technical assessment'' 
have the meanings given those terms in subsection (a) of section 3308 
of title 5, United States Code, as added by section 3(a).
    (b) Other Terms.--In this Act, the term ``competitive service'' has 
the meaning given the term in section 2102 of title 5, United States 
Code.

SEC. 3. DEFINING THE TERM ``EXAMINATION'' FOR PURPOSES OF HIRING IN THE 
              COMPETITIVE SERVICE.

    (a) In General.--Section 3308 of title 5, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``The Office of Personnel Management'' and 
        inserting the following:
    ``(a) Definitions.--
            ``(1) Examination defined for purposes of chapter.--For 
        purposes of this chapter, the term `examination', with respect 
        to the competitive service--
                    ``(A) means an opportunity to directly demonstrate 
                knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies, through 
                a passing score assessment (unless the examining agency 
                determines that another method, not limited to the 
                outcomes of pass or fail, makes meaningful and 
                objective differentiations in rating candidates); and
                    ``(B) does not include a self-assessment from an 
                automated examination, a resume review (unless 
                conducted by a subject matter expert in a structured 
                manner), or any other method of determining the 
                experience or level of educational attainment of an 
                individual, alone.
            ``(2) Other terms.--In this section--
                    ``(A) the term `agency' means an agency described 
                in section 901(b) of title 31;
                    ``(B) the term `Director' means the Director of the 
                Office;
                    ``(C) the term `examining agency' means--
                            ``(i) the Office; or
                            ``(ii) an agency to which the Director has 
                        delegated examining authority under section 
                        1104(a)(2) of this title;
                    ``(D) the term `Office' means the Office of 
                Personnel Management;
                    ``(E) the term `passing score assessment' means an 
                assessment that an individual can pass or fail;
                    ``(F) the term `subject matter expert' means an 
                employee--
                            ``(i) who is determined by the employee's 
                        agency to be an expert in the subject and job 
                        field of a position in the competitive service; 
                        and
                            ``(ii) whom the employee's agency 
                        designates to develop and conduct technical 
                        assessments; and
                    ``(G) the term `technical assessment' means a 
                position-specific assessment developed under subsection 
                (b)(1)(A).
    ``(b) Technical Assessments.--
            ``(1) In general.--For the purpose of conducting an 
        examination for a position in the competitive service, a 
        subject matter expert who is determined by the subject matter 
        expert's agency to be an expert in the subject and job field of 
        the position, as affirmed and audited by the Chief Human 
        Capital Officer or Human Resources Director (as applicable) of 
        that agency, may--
                    ``(A) develop, in partnership with human resources 
                employees of the examining agency, a position-specific 
                assessment that is relevant to the position; and
                    ``(B) conduct the assessment developed under 
                subparagraph (A) to--
                            ``(i) determine whether an applicant for 
                        the position has a passing score to be 
                        qualified for the position; or
                            ``(ii) rank applicants for the position as 
                        `most qualified' or `qualified' for category 
                        rating purposes under section 3319.
            ``(2) Types of assessments.--A technical assessment 
        developed under paragraph (1) may include--
                    ``(A) a structured interview;
                    ``(B) a work-related sample;
                    ``(C) a custom or generic behavioral assessment 
                (which, if generic, may be customized as needed); or
                    ``(D) another assessment.
            ``(3) Sharing and customization of assessments.--
                    ``(A) Sharing.--An examining agency may share a 
                technical assessment developed under paragraph (1) with 
                another examining agency.
                    ``(B) Customization.--An examining agency with 
                which a technical assessment is shared under 
                subparagraph (A) may customize the assessment as 
                appropriate.
                    ``(C) Platform for sharing and customization.--The 
                Director shall establish and operate a platform on 
                which examining agencies can share and customize 
                technical assessments under this paragraph.
            ``(4) Adoption of determinations by other agencies.--For 
        purposes of sections 3318(b) and 3319(c), an appointing 
        authority, other than the appointing authority requesting a 
        certificate of eligibles, that selects an individual from that 
        certificate in accordance with such section 3318(b) or 3319(c) 
        may adopt the determination described in paragraph (1) of this 
        subsection of a subject matter expert employed by the 
        requesting appointing authority instead of conducting an 
        additional technical assessment of the individual.
    ``(c) Educational Requirements.--The Office''; and
            (2) in subsection (c), as so designated, in the second 
        sentence, by striking ``this section'' and inserting ``this 
        subsection''.
    (b) Implementation of Passing Score Assessment Requirement.--Not 
later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director 
and the head of any other examining agency shall eliminate the use of 
any examination for the competitive service that does not satisfy the 
definition of the term ``examination'' in subsection (a) of section 
3308 of title 5, United States Code, as added by subsection (a) of this 
section.
    (c) OPM Reporting.--
            (1) Public dashboard.--
                    (A) In general.--The Director shall maintain and 
                periodically update a publicly available dashboard 
                that, with respect to each position in the competitive 
                service for which an examining agency examined 
                applicants during the applicable period, includes--
                            (i) the type of assessment used, such as--
                                    (I) a behavioral off-the-shelf 
                                assessment;
                                    (II) a resume review conducted by a 
                                subject matter expert;
                                    (III) an interview conducted by a 
                                subject matter expert;
                                    (IV) a technical off-the-shelf 
                                assessment; or
                                    (V) a cognitive ability test;
                            (ii) whether or not the agency selected a 
                        candidate for the position; and
                            (iii) the hiring authority used to fill the 
                        position.
                    (B) Timing.--
                            (i) Initial data.--Not later than 180 days 
                        after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
                        Director shall update the dashboard described 
                        in subparagraph (A) with data for positions in 
                        the competitive service for which an examining 
                        agency examined applicants during the period 
                        beginning on the date of enactment of this Act 
                        and ending on the date of submission of the 
                        report.
                            (ii) Subsequent updates.--Not later than 
                        October 1 of each fiscal year beginning after 
                        the date on which the dashboard is initially 
                        updated under clause (i), the Director shall 
                        update the dashboard described in subparagraph 
                        (A) with data for positions in the competitive 
                        service for which an examining agency examined 
                        applicants during the preceding fiscal year.
            (2) Annual progress report.--Each year, the Director shall 
        make publicly available and submit to Congress an overall 
        progress report that includes summary data of the use of 
        examinations (as defined in subsection (a) of section 3308 of 
        title 5, United States Code, as added by subsection (a) of this 
        section) for the competitive service, including technical 
        assessments, broken down by applicant demographic indicator, 
        including veteran status, race, gender, disability, and any 
        other measure the Director determines appropriate, using the 
        data available as of October 1, 2020, as a baseline.
    (d) GAO Report.--Not later than 5 years after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit 
to Congress a report that--
            (1) assesses the implementation of this section and the 
        amendments made by this section;
            (2) assesses the impact and modifications to the hiring 
        process for the competitive service made by this section and 
        the amendments made by this section; and
            (3) makes recommendations for the improvement of the hiring 
        process for the competitive service.

SEC. 4. AMENDMENTS TO COMPETITIVE SERVICE ACT OF 2015.

    (a) Platforms for Sharing Certificates of Eligibles.--Section 
3318(b) of title 5, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``240-day'' and inserting 
        ``1-year'';
            (2) by redesignating paragraph (5) as paragraph (6); and
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (4) the following:
            ``(5) Platform for sharing resumes of individuals on 
        certificates of eligibles.--The Director of the Office shall 
        establish and operate a platform on which an appointing 
        authority can share, with other appointing authorities and the 
        Chief Human Capital Officers Council established under section 
        1303 of the Chief Human Capital Officers Act of 2002 (5 U.S.C. 
        1401 note; Public Law 107-296), the resumes of individuals who 
        are on a certificate of eligibles requested by the appointing 
        authority.''.
    (b) Maximizing Sharing of Applicant Information.--Section 2 of the 
Competitive Service Act of 2015 (Public Law 114-137; 130 Stat. 310) is 
amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as subsections 
        (d) and (e), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the following:
    ``(c) Maximizing Sharing of Applicant Information.--
            ``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection--
                    ``(A) the terms `agency', `Director', and `Office' 
                have the meanings given those terms in section 3308(a) 
                of title 5, United States Code; and
                    ``(B) the term `competitive service' has the 
                meaning given the term in section 2102 of title 5, 
                United States Code.
            ``(2) Maximizing sharing.--The Director shall maximize the 
        sharing of information among agencies regarding qualified 
        applicants for positions in the competitive service, including 
        by--
                    ``(A) providing for the delegation to other 
                agencies of the authority of the Office to host multi-
                agency hiring actions to increase the return on 
                investment on high-quality pooled announcements; and
                    ``(B) sharing certificates of eligibles for 
                appointment.''.
    (c) Amendment of Implementing Regulations.--Not later than 180 days 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall promulgate 
regulations to carry out the amendments made by this section.

SEC. 5. MODERNIZING AND REFORMING THE ASSESSMENT AND HIRING OF FEDERAL 
              JOB CANDIDATES.

    (a) In General.--Subsection (c) of section 3308 of title 5, United 
States Code, as so designated by section 3(a), is amended--
            (1) by striking ``scientific, technical, or professional'';
            (2) by inserting ``legally'' before ``performed''; and
            (3) by inserting ``in a jurisdiction in which the duties of 
        the position are to be performed'' after ``a prescribed minimum 
        education''.
    (b) Implementation.--
            (1) Regulations and guidance documents.--Not later than 1 
        year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director 
        shall amend all regulations and guidance documents as necessary 
        to implement the amendments made by subsection (a).
            (2) Hiring practices.--Not later than 1 year after the date 
        of enactment of this Act, the Director and the head of any 
        other examining agency shall amend the hiring practices of the 
        Office or the other examining agency, respectively, in 
        accordance with the amendments made by subsection (a).

SEC. 6. TALENT TEAMS.

    (a) Federal Agency Talent Teams.--
            (1) In general.--An agency may establish 1 or more talent 
        teams (referred to in this section as ``agency talent teams''), 
        including at the component level.
            (2) Duties.--An agency talent team shall provide hiring 
        support to the agency and other agencies, including by--
                    (A) improving examinations (as defined in 
                subsection (a) of section 3308 of title 5, United 
                States Code, as added by section 3(a));
                    (B) facilitating writing job announcements for the 
                competitive service;
                    (C) sharing high-quality certificates of eligibles; 
                and
                    (D) facilitating hiring for the competitive service 
                using examinations (as defined in such subsection (a)) 
                and subject matter experts.
    (b) Office of Personnel Management.--The Director may establish a 
Federal talent team to support agency talent teams in facilitating 
pooled hiring actions across the Federal Government, providing 
training, and creating technology platforms to facilitate hiring for 
the competitive service, including--
            (1) the development of technical assessments; and
            (2) the sharing of certificates of eligibles under sections 
        3318(b) and 3319(c) of title 5, United States Code.
                                 <all>