OPM expands shared certificates and pooled hiring across federal agencies

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has issued an interim rule to let federal agencies share competitive and excepted-service certificates and pool hiring actions, in a bid to make government hiring faster and more efficient. Published in the Federal Register of Tuesday, September 15, 2026 (Vol. 91, No. 177, Rules and Regulations section, p. 58348), the rule takes effect October 15, 2026, with comments due by November 16, 2026 (FR Doc. 2026–18828; Docket ID OPM–2017–0004; RIN 3206–AO24).

The rule implements the Competitive Service Act of 2015 (Public Law 114–137), which lets an appointing authority share a certificate of eligibles with one or more other appointing authorities for positions in the same occupational series, grade level, and duty location within 240 days of issuance. It reissues and modifies the interim regulations first published on January 18, 2017 (82 FR 5335), and aligns them with Executive Order 14170, “Reforming the Federal Hiring Process and Restoring Merit to Government Service,” and the joint OPM–Executive Office of the President “Merit Hiring Plan” of May 29, 2025.

Expanding shared certificates in the competitive service

OPM is revising 5 CFR part 332 to broaden how competitive-service certificates can be shared. The changes allow an original hiring agency to share a certificate with several agencies simultaneously, not just sequentially, and to share the assessment scores of certified applicants.

• The three-considerations rule in § 332.405 is expanded so a manager or selecting official in a receiving agency may apply a decision by hiring managers in other agencies to remove applicants from further consideration.
• Veterans’ pass-over procedures are extended so a veteran passed over by the original hiring agency (or by OPM, for veterans with a thirty percent or more service-connected disability) may be removed from consideration by a receiving agency.
• Receiving agencies may now leverage another agency’s pass-over or three-considerations decision instead of working a shared certificate independently.
• The rule clarifies that pass-overs of disabled veterans with a thirty percent or more compensable disability must be sent to OPM for adjudication.

New framework for the excepted service and pooled hiring

OPM is adding a new subpart E to 5 CFR part 302 to create a parallel certificate-sharing framework for the excepted service, limited to positions filled under Schedule D (Pathways Programs) and Schedule Policy/Career. It is also establishing regulatory frameworks for OPM-led pooled hiring actions in both services, under which OPM centrally recruits and assesses applicants and provides ready-made certificates or lists of qualified applicants to multiple agencies.

• OPM may recruit, screen, and certify applicants, and provide lists of qualified candidates or ready-made certificates for agencies to make selections.
• Agencies retain responsibility for technical assessments, selections, and clearing Reemployment Priority List (RPL), Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP), and Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) requirements.
• A new § 337.206 addresses OPM-issued direct hire certificates, clarifying that selecting officials may weigh relative qualifications without rating and ranking.

Costs and impact

OPM estimates the rule will affect more than 80 federal agencies, with first-year costs of approximately $4.8 million, including about $495,232 for training HR practitioners and hiring managers. The agency has set a governmentwide goal, via guidance, of at least 60% of new external competitive-service selections made from shared certificates (including OPM-led pooled hiring actions) measured during Fiscal Year 2027.

For applicants, the pooled model means applying once to a single announcement and being considered by multiple agencies, rather than applying to each separately. OPM declined to make certificate sharing mandatory or to impose quotas, keeping the statutory “may” framework permissive, and retained the opt-in structure that requires an applicant’s affirmative consent before personal information is shared.

Source: Federal Register, Vol. 91, No. 177, September 15, 2026, Rules and Regulations, p. 58348 (official reference: FR Doc. 2026–18828; Docket ID OPM–2017–0004; RIN 3206–AO24).