The Office of Personnel Management has implemented a governmentwide suspension on the processing of an agency’s Qualifications Review Board cases for Senior Executive Service appointments once the agency chief resigns.
Beth Cobert, acting OPM director, wrote in a memorandum issued Friday the moratorium is scheduled to take effect on Dec. 7 and seeks to provide incoming agency heads an opportunity to decide on executive appointments.
Cobert noted that President Barack Obama asked “all non-termed presidential appointees†to submit letters of resignation by Dec. 7 in an effort to provide the president-elect “maximum flexibility†to form his administration.
OPM will put off the 90-day deadline for QRB case submissions, decline new QRB case submissions and continue to process cases that agencies filed with OPM prior to the implementation of the moratorium, according to the memo.
The moratorium will not apply to agency chiefs whose departures were not called by the U.S. president as well as personnel who have completed an OPM-approved Candidate Development Program for SES.
Agencies may request a moratorium exception for a particular post “based upon critical need,†Cobert added.
