[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 5, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 5CFR302.401]

[Page 140]
 
                    TITLE 5--ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL
 
                CHAPTER I--OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
 
PART 302--EMPLOYMENT IN THE EXCEPTED SERVICE--Table of Contents
 
Subpart D--Selection and Appointment; Reappointment; and Qualifications 
                              for Promotion
 
Sec. 302.401  Selection and appointment.


    (a) Selection. When making an appointment from a priority 
reemployment, reemployment, or regular list on which candidates have not 
received numerical scores, an agency must make its selection from the 
highest available preference category, as long as at least three 
candidates remain in that group. When fewer than three candidates remain 
in the highest category, consideration may be expanded to include the 
next category. When making an appointment from a list on which 
candidates have received numerical scores, the agency must make its 
selection for each vacancy from not more than the highest three names 
available for appointment in the order provided in Sec. 302.304. Under 
either method, an agency is not required to--
    (1) Accord an applicant on its priority reemployment or reemployment 
list the preference consideration required by Sec. 302.304 if the list 
on which the applicant's name appears does not contain the names of at 
least three preference eligibles; or
    (2) Consider an applicant who has previously been considered three 
times or a preference eligible if consideration of his/her name has been 
discontinued for the position as provided in paragraph (b) of this 
section.
    (b) Passing over a preference applicant. When an agency, in making 
an appointment as provided in paragraph (a) of this section, passes over 
the name of a preference eligible who is entitled to priority 
consideration under Sec. 302.304 and selects a nonpreference eligible, 
it shall record its reasons for so doing, and shall furnish a copy of 
those reasons to the preference eligible or his/her representative on 
request. An agency may discontinue consideration of the name of a 
preference eligible for a position if on three occasions the agency has 
considered him/her for the position and has passed over his/her name and 
recorded its reasons for so doing.