[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 47 (Monday, November 24, 2003)]
[Pages 1669-1671]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Executive Order 13318--Presidential Management Fellows Program

November 21, 2003

    By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and 
the laws of the United States of America, including sections 3301 and 
3302 of title 5, United States Code, and in order to provide for the 
recruitment and selection of outstanding employees for service in public 
sector management, it is hereby ordered as follows:
    Section 1. There is hereby constituted the Presidential Management 
Fellows Program. The purpose of the Program is to attract to the Federal 
service outstanding men and women from a variety of academic disciplines 
and career paths who have a clear interest in, and commitment to, 
excellence in the leadership and management of public policies and 
programs. Individuals selected for the Program shall be known as 
Presidential Management Fellows (PMFs) or Senior Presidential Management 
Fellows (Senior PMFs).
    Sec. 2. (a) Individuals eligible for appointment as a PMF under this 
order are those who, in pursuing a course of study at the graduate 
level, have demonstrated both exceptional ability and the commitment to 
which section 1 refers. Such individuals at the time of application must 
have received, or must expect to receive soon thereafter, an appropriate 
advanced degree as defined by the Director of the Office of Personnel 
Management (OPM).
    (b) Individuals eligible for appointment as a Senior PMF under this 
order are those who have, through extensive work experience, 
demonstrated both exceptional leadership or analytical ability and the 
commitment to which section 1 refers.
    Sec. 3. The Director of OPM shall prescribe appropriate merit-based 
rules for the recruitment, nomination, assessment, selection, 
appointment, placement, and continuing career development of fellows, 
including rules that:
    (a) reserve to the head of a department or agency or component 
within the Executive Office of the President (EOP) the authority

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to appoint a fellow who is to be employed in that department, agency, or 
component;
    (b) provide for nomination by universities and colleges, through 
competitive selection processes, of eligible individuals for 
consideration for appointment as PMFs;
    (c) carry out the policy of the United States to ensure equal 
employment opportunities for employees without discrimination because of 
race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; and
    (d) ensure the application of appropriate veterans' preference 
criteria.
    Sec. 4. (a) Fellows shall be appointed to positions in either:
    (1) Schedule A of the excepted service; or
    (2) an agency or component within the EOP excepted from the 
competitive service.
    (b) Appointments under subsection (a) shall not exceed 2 years in 
duration unless extended by the head of the department or agency or 
component within the EOP, with the concurrence of the Director of OPM, 
for a period not to exceed 1 additional year.
    (c) The following principles and policies shall govern service and 
tenure by fellows:
    (1) responsibilities assigned to a PMF shall be consistent with the 
PMF's educational background and career interests, and the purposes of 
the Program; and responsibilities assigned to a Senior PMF shall be 
consistent with the Senior PMF's experience and career interests, and 
the purposes of the Program;
    (2) continuation of a fellow's appointment shall be contingent upon 
satisfactory performance by the fellow throughout the fellowship 
appointment;
    (3) except as provided in paragraph (4) of this subsection, service 
as a fellow shall confer no right to further Federal employment in 
either the competitive or excepted service upon the expiration of the 
fellow's appointment; and
    (4) competitive civil service status may be granted to a fellow who 
satisfactorily completes the Program and meets such other requirements 
as the Director of OPM may prescribe. A fellow appointed by an agency 
excepted from the competitive service may also be appointed to a 
permanent position in an excepted service agency without further 
competition.
    Sec. 5. The Director of OPM shall provide for an orderly transition, 
including with respect to nominations, selection processes, and 
appointments, from the Presidential Management Intern Program 
established by Executive Order 12364 of May 24, 1982, to the 
Presidential Management Fellows Program established by this order. Until 
that transition is provided for, individuals who were selected or 
appointed under the provisions of Executive Order 12364 and who have not 
completed their scheduled periods of excepted service are hereby 
redesignated as Presidential Management Fellows, and continue their 
internships under the terms of Executive Order 12364.
    Sec. 6. The Director of OPM shall prescribe such regulations as may 
be necessary to carry out the purposes of this order.
    Sec. 7. Executive Order 12364 is superseded, except as provided in 
section 5 of this order.
    Sec. 8. This order is not intended to, and does not, create any 
right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in 
equity by any party against the United States, its departments, 
agencies, instrumentalities or entities, its officers or employees, or 
any other person.
                                                George W. Bush
The White House,
November 21, 2003.

 [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:46 a.m., November 
24, 2003]

Note: This Executive order will be published in the Federal Register on 
November 25.

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