[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 736 Referred in House (RFH)]
111th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 736
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 19, 2010
Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To provide for improvements in the Federal hiring process, and for
other purposes.
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 ``Federal Hiring Process Improvement
Act of 2010''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITION.
In this Act, the term ``agency''--
(1) means an Executive agency as defined under section 105
of title 5, United States Code; and
(2) shall not include the Government Accountability Office.
SEC. 3. STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLAN.
(a) In General.--
(1) Development of plan.--Not later than 180 days after the
date of enactment of this Act and in every subsequent year, the
head of each agency, in consultation with the Office of
Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget,
shall develop a strategic workforce plan as part of the agency
performance plan required under section 1115 of title 31,
United States Code, to include--
(A) hiring projections, including occupation and
grade level;
(B) long-term and short-term strategic human
capital planning to address critical skills
deficiencies;
(C) recruitment strategies to attract highly
qualified candidates from diverse backgrounds;
(D) streamlining the hiring process to conform with
the provisions in this Act; and
(E) a specific analysis of the contractor
workforce, whether the balance between work being
performed by the Federal workforce and the contractor
workforce should be adjusted, and the capacity of the
agency to manage employees who are not Federal
employees and are doing the work of the Government.
(2) Inclusion in performance plan.--Section 1115(a) of
title 31, United States Code, is amended--
(A) in paragraph (5), by striking ``and'' after the
semicolon;
(B) in paragraph (6), by striking the period and
inserting ``; and''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(7) include the strategic workforce plan developed under
section 3 of the Federal Hiring Process Improvement Act of
2010.''.
(b) Hiring Projections.--Agencies shall make hiring projections
made under strategic workforce plans available to the public, including
on agency websites.
(c) Submission to the Office of Personnel Management.--Each agency
strategic workforce plan shall be submitted to the Office of Personnel
Management.
(d) Governmentwide Strategic Workforce Plan.--Based on the agency
plans submitted under subsection (a), the Office of Personnel
Management shall--
(1) develop a governmentwide strategic workforce plan
updated at least annually to include the contents described
under subsection (a)(1) on a governmentwide basis; and
(2) make such plan available to the President, Congress,
and the public.
SEC. 4. FEDERAL JOB ANNOUNCEMENTS.
(a) Targeted Announcements.--In consultation with the Chief Human
Capital Officers Council, the head of each agency shall--
(1) take steps necessary to target highly qualified
applicant pools with diverse backgrounds before posting job
announcements;
(2) clearly and prominently post job announcements in
strategic locations convenient to, and accessible by, such
targeted applicant pools;
(3) seek to develop relationships with targeted and diverse
applicant pools to develop regular pipelines for high-quality
applicants; and
(4) post job announcements for a reasonable period of time.
(b) Public Notice Requirements.--The requirements of subsection (a)
shall not supersede public notice requirements.
(c) Plain Writing Requirement.--
(1) Definition.--In this subsection, the term ``plain
writing'' means writing that the intended audience can readily
understand and use because that writing is clear, concise,
well-organized, and follows other best practices of plain
writing.
(2) Requirement.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, all job announcements for Federal
positions shall be in plain writing in accordance with guidance
provided by the Office of Management and Budget.
(d) Contact Information.--Job announcements shall include contact
information for applicants to seek further information.
SEC. 5. APPLICATION PROCESS AND NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.
(a) Application Process.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of this Act and in consultation with the Office of Personnel
Management and the Office of Management and Budget, the head of each
agency shall develop processes to--
(1) ensure that job announcements are open for a reasonable
period of time as determined by the head of the agency to allow
applicants from diverse backgrounds time to submit an
application;
(2) review and revise the hiring process of the agency to
create a streamlined and timely system for hiring decisions;
(3) allow applicants to submit a cover letter, resume, and
answers to brief questions, such as questions relating to
United States citizenship and veterans status, to complete an
application;
(4) allow applicants to submit application materials in a
variety of formats, including word processing documents and
portable document format;
(5) not require any applicant to provide a Social Security
number or any other personal identifying information
unnecessary for the initial review of an applicant for a
position;
(6) not require lengthy writing requirements such as
knowledge, skills, and ability essays as part of an initial
application;
(7) not require the submission of additional material in
support of an application, such as educational transcript,
proof of veterans status, and professional certifications,
unless necessary to complete the hiring process;
(8) provide for a valid, job-related assessment process to
help identify the best candidates for the position to be filled
and which does not place an unreasonable burden upon
applicants;
(9) ensure that applicants are given a reasonable amount of
time after the closing date of the job announcement to provide
additional necessary information; and
(10) include the hiring manager in all parts of the hiring
process, including--
(A) targeted recruitment;
(B) drafting the job announcement;
(C) review of the initial applications;
(D) interviewing the applicants; and
(E) the final decisionmaking process.
(b) Notification Requirements.--
(1) In general.--In consultation with the Chief Human
Capital Officers Council, the head of each agency shall develop
mechanisms under which each applicant for a Federal job vacancy
shall receive timely notification of the status of each
application or provide the applicant the ability to check on
the status of each application.
(2) Contents of notification.--A notification to an
applicant under this subsection shall include--
(A) notice of receipt of an application not later
than 5 business days after the application was received
by the employing agency;
(B) an explanation of the hiring process and an
estimated timeline of the next actions in the process;
(C) notice of the qualification and status of an
applicant after all applications for the applicable
position have been initially reviewed and ranked;
(D) notice of the qualifications and status of the
applicant after all interviews for the applicable
position are completed;
(E) for all applicants selected for an interview,
notice of the ongoing process if selected, including
the process for any needed security clearance or
suitability review, not later than the date of the
interview; and
(F) notice to nonaccepted applicants that the
applicable position is not open not later than 10
business days after the date on which--
(i) the selected candidate has accepted an
offer of employment; or
(ii) the job announcement has been
cancelled.
SEC. 6. APPLICANT INVENTORY.
(a) In General.--Section 3330 of title 5, United States Code, is
amended--
(1) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as subsections
(f) and (g), respectively; and
(2) by inserting after subsection (d) the following:
``(e)(1) The Office of Personnel Management shall establish and
keep current a comprehensive inventory of individuals seeking
employment in the Federal Government.
``(2) The inventory under this subsection shall--
``(A) be made available to agencies for use in filling
vacancies;
``(B) contain information voluntarily provided by
applicants for employment, including--
``(i) the resume and contact information provided
by the applicant; and
``(ii) any other information which the Office
considers appropriate;
``(C) retain information for no longer than 1 calendar
year;
``(D) not include information relating to--
``(i) the application of the applicant for a
specific vacancy announcement; or
``(ii) any other information relating to vacancy
announcements; and
``(E) shall provide for a mechanism to allow--
``(i) applicants to update resume, qualifications,
and contact information; and
``(ii) agency officials to search information in
the inventory by agency and job classification.''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall
take effect 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
SEC. 7. TRAINING.
Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act--
(1) in consultation with the Chief Human Capital Officers
Council, the Office of Personnel Management shall develop and
notify agencies of a training program for human resources
professionals to implement the requirements of this Act; and
(2) each agency shall develop and submit to the Office of
Personnel Management a plan to implement the training program.
SEC. 8. REDUCTION IN THE LENGTH OF THE HIRING PROCESS.
(a) Agency Plans.--In consultation with the Office of Management
and Budget, the head of each agency shall develop a plan to reduce the
length of the hiring process, which shall include an analysis of the
current hiring process performed in accordance with standards
established by the Office of Personnel Management.
(b) Requirements.--To the extent practical, the plan shall require
that each agency fill identified vacancies not later than an average of
80 calendar days after the date of identification of the vacancy.
(c) Reports.--Each agency shall submit an annual report to Congress
on the average period of time required to fill each job, and whether
such jobs are cancelled or reopened.
SEC. 9. MEASURES OF FEDERAL HIRING EFFECTIVENESS.
(a) In General.--Each agency shall measure and collect information
on indicators of hiring effectiveness with respect to the following :
(1) Recruiting and hiring.--
(A) Ability to reach and recruit highly qualified
talent from diverse talent pools.
(B) Use and impact of each hiring authority and
flexibility to recruit most qualified applicants,
including the use of student internships and
scholarship programs as a talent pool for permanent
hires.
(C) Use and impact of special hiring authorities
and flexibilities to recruit diverse candidates,
including veteran, minority, and disabled candidates.
(D) The age, educational level, and source of
applicants.
(E) Length of time between the time a position is
advertised and the time a first offer of employment is
made.
(F) Length of time between the time a first offer
of employment for a position is made and the time a new
hire starts in that position.
(G) Number of internal and external applicants for
Federal positions.
(H) Number of positions filled compared to the
specific number in the annual workforce plan of the
agency, with specific reference to mission-critical
occupations or areas of critical shortage deficiencies.
(I) Number of offers accepted compared to the
number of offers made for permanent positions.
(2) Hiring manager assessment.--
(A) Manager satisfaction with the quality of the
applicants interviewed and new hires.
(B) Manager satisfaction with the match between the
skills of newly hired individuals and the needs of the
agency.
(C) Manager satisfaction with the hiring process
and hiring outcomes.
(D) Mission-critical deficiencies closed by new
hires and the connection between mission-critical
deficiencies and annual agency performance.
(E) Manager satisfaction with the length of time to
fill a position.
(3) Applicant assessment.--Applicant satisfaction with the
hiring process (including clarity of job announcement, reasons
for withdrawal of any application, user-friendliness of the
application process, communication regarding status of
application, and timeliness of hiring decision).
(4) New hire assessment.--
(A) New hire satisfaction with the hiring process
(including clarity of job announcement, user-
friendliness of the application process, communication
regarding status of application, and timeliness of
hiring decision).
(B) Satisfaction with the onboarding experience
(including timeliness of onboarding after the hiring
decision, welcoming and orientation processes, and
being provided with timely and useful new employee
information and assistance).
(C) New hire attrition.
(D) Investment in training and development for
employees during their first year of employment.
(E) Other indicators and measures as required by
the Office of Personnel Management.
(b) Reports.--
(1) In general.--Each agency shall submit on an annual
basis and in accordance with regulations prescribed under
subsection (c) the information collected under subsection (a)
to the Office of Personnel Management.
(2) Availability of recruiting and hiring information.--
Each year the Office of Personnel Management shall provide the
information submitted under paragraph (1) in a consistent
format to allow for a comparison of hiring effectiveness and
experience across demographic groups and agencies to--
(A) Congress before that information is made
publicly available; and
(B) the public on the website of the Office not
later than 90 days after the submission of the
information under paragraph (1).
(c) Regulations.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Personnel
Management shall prescribe regulations directing the methodology,
timing, and reporting of the data described in subsection (a).
SEC. 10. REGULATIONS.
(a) In General.--Except as provided under section 9(c), not later
than 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of
the Office of Personnel Management shall prescribe regulations as
necessary to carry out this Act.
(b) Consultation.--The Director of the Office of Personnel
Management shall consult the Chief Human Capital Officers Council in
the development of regulations under this section.
Passed the Senate May 18, 2010.
Attest:
NANCY ERICKSON,
Secretary.