ExecutiveOrdersEO
EO 13749Executive OrderObama · D

Executive Order 13749

Providing for the Appointment in the Competitive Service of Certain Employees of the Foreign Service

This executive order creates a noncompetitive hiring pathway into the federal civil service for Foreign Service Limited Non-Career Appointment employees who complete at least 48 months of continuous service, allowing them to be appointed to competitive service positions across executive branch agencies without going through standard competitive examinations.

Federal Register Open PDF 81 FR 87391

Impact dates

  1. Eligibility for noncompetitive appointment must be exercised within 1 year after completion of qualifying Limited Non-Career Appointment

  2. Maximum extension of eligibility period for military service, higher education, or other approved activities

Key directives

  • Agency heads may noncompetitively appoint individuals with 48+ months of continuous Limited Non-Career Foreign Service service who pass OPM-prescribed examination
  • Eligible individuals must have satisfactory performance rating and exercise eligibility within 1 year of completing qualifying appointment (extendable to 3 years for military service, higher education, or other approved activities)
  • Eligibility period may also be extended to permit background investigation adjudication
  • Appointees become career conditional employees
  • Standard disqualifying criteria for competitive service apply
  • OPM authorized to issue implementing regulations

Who is ordered

Timeline

Immediate

  • EO takes effect upon signing; eligible individuals may seek noncompetitive appointment
  • OPM authorized to prescribe examination requirements

Near term (90d)

  • OPM may issue implementing regulations
  • agencies may begin processing appointments under new authority

Long term

  • Addresses projected consular staffing shortfalls through 2023
  • Creates persistent federal workforce pipeline from Foreign Service experience

Risks & tensions

  • EO references staffing shortfalls 'through 2023' but provides no sunset clause for the hiring authority itself, creating potential open-ended exception to competitive hiring rules
  • Vague standard for extension ('other activities that, in the view of the appointing authority, warrant an extension') delegates significant discretionary power without clear boundaries
  • Noncompetitive pathway may create tension with merit-based hiring principles despite EO's merit-based framing
  • Dependent on appropriations per Section 7(b), potentially limiting actual implementation regardless of eligibility
Executive Order 13749: Providing for the Appointment in the Competitive Service of Certain Employees of the Foreign Service · Executive Orders