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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 157 / Wednesday, August 18, 2021 / Rules and Regulations individual meets the qualification requirements for the higher grade position and time in grade requirements in 5 CFR part 300, subpart F, and the job announcement used to fill the original position mentioned the possibility of promotions to higher grade levels.
Students on initial appointments for less than 1 year are not eligible for promotion.
Interim 316.910 Conversion establishes that an agency may convert a post-secondary student to a permanent appointment in the competitive service, within that same agency, without further competition if the student has completed the course of study leading to a baccalaureate or graduate degree and meets the qualification standards for the position to which converted. We have added 315.201b1xvii to indicate that upon conversion, the time served by a post-secondary student under this authority is creditable toward career tenure and may count towards fulfillment of the probationary period in accordance with 315.802b.
Interim 316.911 Reduction in Force RIF, specifies the tenure groups that post-secondary students are placed in for purposes of 5 CFR part 351.
Individuals whose initial appointment is for a period not to exceed 1 year are placed in tenure group 0. Individuals whose initial appointment is for a period expected to last more than 1 year are placed in tenure group III for purposes of 5 CFR part 351.
Interim 316.912 Termination explains that any appointment made under this authority expires upon the not-to exceed date of that appointment, unless the agency extends the appointment prior to expiration, if not earlier. An agency must terminate the appointment of a student after completion of the individuals academic course of study, unless the student is noncompetitively converted to a permanent position in the competitive service as specified in interim 316.914.
Interim 316.913 Numerical limit on the number of appointments describes the restrictions on the number of appointments an agency may make using this authority in a fiscal year FY.
Section 1115 of the NDAA for FY2020
amended 5 U.S.C. 3116d, limiting the total number of students eligible to be appointed under the expedited hiring authority for post-secondary students.
This section specifies that the number of appointments in any FY may not exceed 15 percent of the number of students appointed during the previous fiscal year to positions at the GS11 level, or below or equivalent. An appointing agency may not count appointments made using direct hire authorities, non-

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competitive authorities, excepted service authorities except Pathways Internship Program appointments under 213.3402 a and 5 CFR part 362, subpart B, or selections under merit promotion authorities, when establishing the limit for a given fiscal year. An agency must count hires through programs that provide for conversion to the competitive service after a trial period, such as the Pathways Intern Program. In calculating this limitation agencies may round up or down to the nearest whole number, if necessary, to eliminate a decimal place.
Values ending in .5 or more may be rounded up to the nearest whole number in determining an agencys cap limitation. Values ending in less than .5 should be rounded down to the nearest whole number in determining an agencys limitation. For example, 15% of 217 is 32.55, which should be rounded up to 33 or 15% of 235 is 35.25, which should be rounded down to 35. This section also provides that OPM may establish a lower percentage limitation based on any factor OPM
deems appropriate. OPM shall notify agencies via the OPM website and other venues such as the Chief Human Capital Officers Council of any changes to the numerical limitation, applicable governmentwide. Changes to the numerical limit for an individual agency will be communicated directly to the agency.
Interim 316.914 Reporting Requirements, in paragraph a, describes the type of data and frequency at which agencies must provide information to the Congress and OPM
on their use of this authority. Agencies will be required to provide data on the total number of appointments; the grade levels and occupational series of the positions filled; the numerical limit established for the authority; the number of those appointed who have been separated; recruitment activities;
and any difficulties encountered in using the authority. OPM will provide written guidance, around the time this rule is published, describing the means by which agencies should collect this information, the timing of such collections, and the groups as to which information should be collected.
Interim 316.914b establishes that OPM may request from agencies any additional information it deems necessary to further evaluate the impact and effectiveness of this authority.
Interim 316.915 describes the special provisions on the use of the authority by Department of Defense DoD in relation to other DoD specific hiring authorities.

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Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking Section 3116 of title 5, U.S. Code, as enacted by section 1108 of Public Law 115232, the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act NDAA for Fiscal Year FY 2019, directs this rulemaking shall be through interim regulations, with an opportunity to comment. Therefore, the general notice of proposed rulemaking typically required under 5 U.S.C. 553b and 1103b is statutorily waived for this rule.
Expected Impact of This Interim Rule This statute provides Federal agencies with authority to hire interns under a new scheme designed to facilitate an effective pipeline of new prospects for potential permanent appointment to help sustain the Federal workforce.
OPM is issuing this rule to implement 5 U.S.C. 3116. This statute establishes a hiring authority for interns into positions at specified grade levels in the competitive service. This regulation allows agencies to make appointments of post-secondary students directly into the competitive service positions, without regard to rating, ranking, veterans preference, and public notice provisions in 5 U.S.C. 33093319 and 3330. The purpose of the authority is to provide a useful tool as part of an overall strategy to implement strategic workforce and recruitment plans.
Costs This interim final rule will affect the operations of over 80 Federal agencies ranging from cabinet-level departments to small independent agencies. We estimate that this rule will require individuals employed by these agencies to develop policies and procedures to implement the rule and perform outreach and recruitment activities when using the authority. For the purpose of this cost analysis, the assumed average salary rate of Federal employees performing this work will be the rate in 2021 for GS14, step 5, from the Washington, DC, locality pay table $138,866 annual locality rate and $66.54 hourly locality rate. We assume that the total dollar value of labor, which includes wages, benefits, and overhead, is equal to 200 percent of the wage rate, resulting in an assumed labor cost of $133.08 per hour.
In order to comply with the regulatory changes in this interim final rule, affected agencies will need to review the rule and update their policies and procedures. We estimate that, in the first year following publication of the final rule, this will require an average of 250
hours of work by employees with an
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