Number:       118-19
Date:             February 13, 2025

The President Signs S. 59,
the “Chance to Compete Act of 2024”

On December 23, 2024, the President signed into law S.59, the “Chance to Compete Act of 2024” (Public Law No: 118-188). The House previously passed this bill by voice vote under suspension of the rules on December 16, 2024, and the Senate passed it by amendment under unanimous consent on December 12, 2024.

The law amends 5 U.S.C. §3304 and includes the following provisions of interest to the Social Security Administration.

Section 3. Modernizing Federal Hiring

  • Requires an examining agency 1  to conduct an examination to test applicants for appointment for a position, or class of positions, in competitive service.

  • If practicable, requires an examining agency to preference the use of technical assessments 2  during the three-year period after enactment of this Act to assess the job-related skills, abilities, knowledge, and competencies of an applicant for a position in the competitive service

  • If an examining agency determines the use of technical assessments are not practicable, allows an examining agency to use an alternative assessment during the three-year period after enactment of this Act.

  • No later than 18 months after enactment of this Act, requires the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to submit to relevant committees 3  a transition plan for Federal hiring practices to adopt technical assessments.

  • Requires OPM to consult with, at minimum, the Office of Management and Budget, the Chief Human Capital Officers Council, employee representatives, and relevant stakeholders in developing the transition plan.

  • No later than 3 years after enactment, Requires OPM to implement the transition plan.

  • Requires an examining agency to use a technical assessment 3 years after enactment of this Act to examine applicants for positions in competitive service.

  • Allows the examining agency to waive use of a technical assessment if the agency determines such assessment is impracticable for the job series and the agency head submits such a certification 4  to the OPM director and relevant committees.

  • Allows an individual the examining agency determines is a subject matter expert in the subject and position, in partnership with the examining agency human resources employees, to develop and administer a position-specific assessment 5 .

  • Allows an agency to establish one or more agency talent teams which are required to provide hiring support to the agency, including improving examinations and facilitating writing job announcements.

  • Allows OPM to establish a federal talent team to support agency talent teams.

  • Requires OPM to promulgate regulations as necessary for the implementation and interpretation of this section.

Section 4. Competitive Service Candidate Hiring and Reform

  • No later than 1 year after enactment of this Act, requires OPM to submit to relevant committees recommendations to amend examining agencies’ hiring practices.

Section 5. Reports

  • No later than 180 days after enactment of this Act, requires OPM to issue guidance to federal agencies regarding the data need for those reports.

  • Requires federal agencies to provide the data outlined in the guidance to the OPM director on a quarterly basis.

Effective Date – Unless otherwise stated, these provisions are effective upon enactment.

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1 ‘Examining agency’ means the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) or agency to which OPM has delegated examining authority under 5 U.S.C. § 1104(a)(2).

2 ‘Technical Assessment, ‘examination’, ‘competitive service’ are defined in section 2 of this Act.

3 ‘Relevant Committees’ are the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the House Oversight and Accountability Committee as defined by section 2(a) of this Act.

4 The waiver is effective the day after the certification is submitted and ends three years after.

5 A structured interview, a work-related exercise, a custom or generic procedure used to measure an applicant’s employment or career-related qualification, interests, or another assessment that allows for demonstration of job-related skills, abilities, and knowledge and is relevant to the position for which the assessment is developed.