3 FAH-1 H-2790
PROCEDURES FOR THE FUNCTIONAL SPECIALIZATION PROGRAM (FSp)
(CT:POH-238; 08-12-2020)
(Office of Origin: GTM/CDA)
3 FAH-1 H-2791 purpose
(CT:POH-169; 07-29-2015)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service Only)
a. The Functional Specialization program (FSP) is a career mobility program that provides tenured FP-06 to FP-03 Foreign Service Specialists the opportunity to change their primary skill code to one of four functional specialties: Financial Management, General Services, Human Resources, or Information Management.
b. Successful applicants participate in an 11-month Washington, DC based training program that includes classroom instruction, rotational assignments, and briefings in relevant offices. Participants then proceed to one directed overseas assignment in the new specialty. Following certification of successful performance in the new specialty, the employee receives a permanent primary skill code change.
3 FAH-1 H-2792 APPLICATION PROCESS
(CT:POH-238; 08-12-2020)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service Only)
a. Employees may apply for the Functional Specialization Program (FSP) in only one (1) specialty. The FSP application open season is announced annually early each calendar year by cable and Department Notice.
b. All applicants must submit the following application materials:
(1) Application for Employment: The applicant should indicate the desired specialty (Financial Management, General Services, Human Resources, or Information Management) in question 8;
(2) Most recent updated copy of U.S. Department of State Employee Profile;
(3) Autobiography (not to exceed two (2) pages, double-spaced). In narrative form, applicants should write about their life, emphasizing those events that contributed most to their personal and professional development;
(4) Essay (not to exceed one (1) page, double-spaced). Applicants should describe their motivation to become a financial management officer (FMO), general services officer (GSO), human resources officer (HRO), or information management specialist (IMS), as appropriate. Applicants must address the skills and talents that, in their opinion, qualify them for conversion to another skill code, and detail the actions they have taken to prepare for this skill code change; and
(5) A signed and dated acknowledgement as provided below:
I am applying to participate in the Functional Specialization Program (FSP). I hereby acknowledge that if I am selected and I do not successfully complete the program (both the 11-month training period and the directed tour of duty abroad), I will be returned to my prior skill code.
Signature: ____________________________ Date: _________________
c. Additional requirements for Financial Management Officer applicants: Higher education in the financial management field and/or specific experience in financial management or accounting. The education and experience required will be specified in the annual cable and Department Notice announcing the FSP open season.
d. Additional requirements for Information Management Specialist applicants: Higher education in an information technology-related field and/or specific experience in information technology. The education and/or experience required will be specified in the annual cable and Department Notice announcing the FSP open season. Applicants must submit certificates of completion with their application.
e. Application materials may be scanned and submitted electronically to GTM/CDA/EL – FSP Coordinator. The FSP Acknowledgement shown in subparagraph b(5) of this section must be submitted with a signature.
3 FAH-1 H-2793 APPLICATION procedures
(CT:POH-238; 08-12-2020)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service Only)
a. The Functional Specialization Program, the specific functional training, and the number of positions for training will be announced annually.
b. Applications should be forwarded to the Bureau of Global Talent Management, Office of Career Development and Assignments, Entry Level Division (GTM/CDA/EL) within the time frame with the information specified in the announcement.
3 FAH-1 H-2794 SELECTION PROCESS
(CT:POH-238; 08-12-2020)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service Only)
a. Qualifications Evaluation Panels (QEPs), composed of Foreign Service specialists and generalists who have experience in each specialty under review, evaluate applications and review applicants’ Official Personnel Folders (OPFs). A separate QEP convenes for each specialty. Applicants are notified of their QEP score in May/June of the same year.
b. Applicants who earn a QEP score of 75 or above are invited to schedule a Specialist Oral Assessment (OA) with the Foreign Service Board of Examiners (TAC/EXAM/BEX). The OA consists of a structured interview and a writing exercise. Applicants must take the OA by the September date specified in the annual announcement of the same year in which they qualify. All applicants are notified of their OA score after the assessment.
c. No official funds are available for applicants’ travel to Washington, DC, for the Oral Assessment.
d. Applicants who pass the OA are placed in rank order on functional specialty specific registers based on their OA scores. GTM/TAC/REG maintains the registers.
e. The maximum number of Functional Specialization Program (FSP) participants per year is nine total. The number of participants for each specialty will be announced annually.
f. Applicants selected for participation in the FSP are notified in October of each year.
g. Qualified applicants who are not selected from the registers may opt to retain their name and score on the register for consideration the following year. Candidates may have two scores on a register in a given year, one retained from the previous year and one obtained from testing in that year. The higher of the two scores will be considered when selecting applicants. A score from an oral assessment may be carried over for one year only.
h. FSP offers cannot be deferred to the following year. If an applicant declines an FSP offer, that applicant may elect to carry over his or her score to the following year, if he or she has not yet done so, and compete for another slot. A deferred score from an oral assessment may be carried over for one year only.
i. Applicants may apply for participation in the FSP a maximum of four (4) times. Retaining a score from a previous year as described above does not count against this limit. If a candidate withdraws an active application before taking the oral assessment, then that application will not count against the maximum limit.
3 FAH-1 H-2795 FSP TRAINING PROGRAM
3 FAH-1 H-2795.1 General Information
(CT:POH-238; 08-12-2020)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service Only)
a. The Functional Specialization Program (FSP) Training Program begins in late August or early September of the year following selection. It consists of functional training, rotational assignments, and briefings for a maximum of 11 months.
b. If necessary, GTM/CDA/EL adjusts FSP participants’ current tours of duty to ensure that the employees will be available for the full training program.
c. A tandem employee will not be curtailed solely for the purpose of accompanying an FSP participant to Washington, DC, for the training period.
d. While in FSP training, program participants may opt to be assigned to Washington, DC, or to their onward assignment. The latter option puts participants in a temporary duty (TDY) status while they are in training. A participant who is currently assigned to Washington does not have the option of choosing TDY status. When both members of a tandem couple are returning to Washington for long-term training, both members of the couple must be in the same status: TDY status or assignment to Washington. If one member of the tandem is assigned to Washington, the other member does not have the option of choosing TDY status.
3 FAH-1 H-2795.2 Functional Training
(CT:POH-169; 07-29-2015)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service Only)
The FSP Coordinator enrolls Functional Specialization Program (FSP) participants in training courses in their new functional specialty, as well as leadership and management courses and language instruction, as appropriate.
3 FAH-1 H-2795.3 Rotational Assignments
(CT:POH-169; 07-29-2015)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service Only)
a. Functional Specialization Program (FSP) participants serve in a number of rotational assignments within the Department in order to gain practical experience in their new functional specialty.
b. For rotational assignments longer than two weeks, the hosting supervisor will prepare a Work Requirements Statement and a Memorandum of Performance for the FSP participants. This information is incorporated into a final training evaluation report the FSP Coordinator prepares at the conclusion of the training period.
3 FAH-1 H-2795.4 Annual Leave during Training
(CT:POH-169; 07-29-2015)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service Only)
Approximately two (2) weeks in late December are available for annual leave during the training year. Consideration of additional requests for annual leave will be dependent on Functional Specialization Program (FSP) participants’ specific training schedules.
3 FAH-1 H-2795.5 Training Evaluation
(CT:POH-169; 07-29-2015)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service Only)
The Functional Specialization Program (FSP) Coordinator prepares a Form DS-1106, Training Evaluation Report, (comprehensive) on each FSP participant at the conclusion of the training period. This report is placed in the FSP participant’s Official Personnel Folder (OPF).
3 FAH-1 H-2795.6 Unsatisfactory Performance
(CT:POH-169; 07-29-2015)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service Only)
Functional Specialization Program (FSP) participants may be removed from the program at any time prior to the skill code change if issues of performance, poor judgment, or improper behavior arise, which, in the judgment of the Director General (DG), can reasonably be expected to interfere with or prevent effective performance in the new specialty.
3 FAH-1 H-2796 ONWARD ASSIGNMENTS
(CT:POH-238; 08-12-2020)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service Only)
a. The Bureau of Global Talent Management, Office of Career Development and Assignments, Entry Level Division directs Functional Specialization Program (FSP) participants to their first assignment abroad. This assignment is for two years; an extension is not allowed.
b. FSP participants are notified of their initial assignment abroad prior to reporting to Washington, DC, for training.
c. GTM/CDA/EL attempts to coordinate same-post assignments for FSP participants who are part of a tandem couple. Joint assignments may not be possible in all cases.
3 FAH-1 H-2797 SKILL CODE CHANGE
(CT:POH-238; 08-12-2020)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service Only)
a. After one year of satisfactory performance abroad in the new skill code assignment certified by the employee’s supervisor at post to the Functional Specialization Program (FSP) Coordinator, the employee receives a permanent primary skill code change. Tenure in the new skill code is not required.
b. The FSP Coordinator initiates required administrative action to facilitate a skill-code change.
c. Following skill-code change, FSP participants are subject to selection out for relative performance and time-in-class (TIC) provisions of the Foreign Service Act of 1980, as amended in their new specialty (see 3 FAM 6213).
d. If a skill-code change is not granted after one year in accordance with paragraph a of this section, the Director of the Entry-Level Division in the Office of Career Development and Assignments (GTM/CDA/EL) reviews the FSP participant’s file, conducts a counseling session with the FSP participant, and determines whether an additional year of participation in the program may be granted. If an additional year in the program is granted, the FSP participant is evaluated at the end of the additional year using the same procedure as noted in paragraph a of this section.
e. FSP participants who are not granted a skill-code change retain their original skill code and revert back to their functional position (FP) class in that skill code plus any otherwise applicable within-class step increases they would have received if they had not been participating in the FSP. They are reassigned expeditiously to a position in their original skill code.
3 FAH-1 H-2798 EVALUATION AND PROMOTION
(CT:POH-238; 08-12-2020)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service Only)
a. During their directed assignment abroad, Functional Specialization Program (FSP) participants are evaluated using the Foreign Service Employee Evaluation Report on the regular Department schedule (see 3 FAH-1 H-2814.1). FSP participants also receive two interim evaluations during their first six months at post.
b. FSP participants who enter the program at the class of FP-06 are promoted administratively to FP-05 following the satisfactory completion of 12 months in the program. The program begins the day participants report for duty in GTM/CDA/EL for FSP orientation. Program participants are promoted administratively to FP-04 after an additional 18 months of satisfactory performance (see 3 FAM 2329.3-2, subparagraph (3).
c. FSP participants who enter the program at the class of FP-05 are promoted administratively to FP-04 following the satisfactory completion of 18 months in the program (see 3 FAM 2329.3-2, subparagraph (4). The program begins the day participants report for duty in GTM/CDA/EL for FSP orientation.
d. FP-04 and FP-03 FSP participants are not promoted administratively (see 3 FAM 2329.3-2).
e. FSP participants receive credit in calculating required time-in-class for periods of service in their current class while assigned to a position with the primary skill code of the new occupational category (see 3 FAM 2329.3-2, subparagraph (5).
f. Promotions to FP-03 and beyond are competitive. Once FSP participants have received a skill code change and have met the necessary time in class requirements of the Procedural Precepts, they are eligible for promotion consideration by their new functional specialty board.
g. FSP participants continue to be considered for competitive promotion in their original skill code between the time they enter the FSP program and the time their skill code is changed.
h. Successful FSP participants are no longer eligible for promotion consideration by their former functional specialty selection board after their skill code is changed.
i. FSP participants whose skill codes are changed retain all administrative promotions they may have received during the FSP program.
3 FAH-1 H-2799 Unassigned