Frequently Asked Questions Policy on Political Appointees

There were two changes in OPM’s policy.  First, as noted above, OPM now conducts pre-hiring reviews on a continuing basis, not just during the year leading up to a Presidential election.   Second, we expanded the scope of our review for future hiring decisions.  In the past OPM only reviewed an agency’s proposed hiring of a current or former political appointee when the career Federal job was in the competitive service.  Under our revised policy, OPM reviews proposed hiring of current or former political appointees for jobs in the excepted service as well.  OPM's responsibility to ensure merit-based hiring for Federal jobs includes both the excepted and competitive service.