Effective December 7, 2016, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced a moratorium on the processing of SES Qualifications Review Board (QRB) cases Government-wide, in order to ensure that incoming agency heads “have the full opportunity to exercise his or her prerogative to make or approve executive resources decisions” that will impact the agency’s performance during that agency head’s tenure.
In essence, this means that OPM’s QRB will not process candidates for career SES appointments.
There are exceptions to this moratorium; these include:
Despite the moratorium, agencies may still post and conduct SES merit staffing activities up to the point of submission of the selected candidate for QRB review and certification for SES appointment. This means that SES positions may be posted and interviews held.
Once a new Agency Head has been appointed, agencies may request that OPM resume processing QRB cases.