SENIOR FOREIGN SERVICE PERFORMANCE PAY
(CT:POH-257; 07-01-2022)
(Office of Origin: GTM/PE)
3 FAH-1 H-2871 UNASSIGNED
(CT:POH-252; 02-22-2022)
3 FAH-1 H-2872 UNASSIGNED
(CT:POH-252; 02-22-2022)
3 FAH-1 H-2873 UNASSIGNED
(CT:POH-252; 02-22-2022)
3 FAH-1 H-2874 UNASSIGNED
(CT:POH-252; 02-22-2022)
3 FAH-1 H-2875 UNASSIGNED
(CT:POH-252; 02-22-2022)
3 FAH-1 H-2876 INTERAGENCY PROCESS FOR PRESIDENTIAL RANK AWARDS
(CT:POH-252; 02-22-2022)
(Uniformed State/Agriculture/USAGM/Commerce/USAID)
(Applies to Foreign Service Only)
a. A special Interagency Selection Board (IASB) established by the Director General on behalf of the Secretary of State shall review and evaluate the recommendations for Presidential Rank Awards from the agencies with members of the Senior Foreign Service (SFS) and make recommendations to the Secretary of State. Such recommendations shall be made from among members of the SFS who are recommended by their agencies as having performed especially meritorious or distinguished service.
b. Not later than March 1 of each year, each agency shall submit its recomendations to the Secretary of State. The number of nominations which each agency may submit shall be in accordance with 3 FAH-1 H-2872.2.
c. Agency nominations will be submitted under the signature of the agency head who will certify:
(1) All recomendations have been made in accordance with procedures negotiated with the exclusive representative, if any;
(2) All those recommended meet the eligibility requirements; and
(3) Those nominated have been vetted by the appropriate offices of each agency to assure that the record and character of each member of the SFS recommended merit a high degree of public confidence and trust and warrant recognition by the President should the member of the SFS be selected for an award.
d. Recommendations shall indicate the award for which the officer is recommended. If an agency recommends more than one officer for an award, the agency’s recommendations will be listed in accordance with procedures negotiated with the exclusive representative, if any. Recommendations shall consist of a justification statement of not more than two pages in length, consistent with the criteria described in 3 FAM 2872.3-2. A brief summary of the officer’s Federal employment history, provided by the appropriate agency, shall also be appended.
e. A member of the SFS is eligible to receive only one Presidential Rank Award within a three-year period.
f. The IASB will base its recommendations solely on the justification statements and summaries of Federal employment history submitted.
3 FAH-1 H-2876.1 Responsibilities of the Interagency Selection Board (IASB)
(CT:POH-252; 02-22-2022)
(Uniformed State/Agriculture/USAGM/Commerce/USAID)
(Applies to Foreign Service Only)
a. The IASB has the following responsibilities:
(1) To evaluate the agencies’ recommendations for the Presidential Rank Award and determine whether they meet the criteria for the awards. The IASB may concur with an agency recommendation, may decide to recommend for a Meritorious Service Award a candidate who has been recommended for the Distinguished Service Award, may decide to recommend for a Distinguished Service Award a candidate who has been recommended for a Meritorious Service Award with appropriate adjustments to the rank order to stay within the percentage limits of the Foreign Service Act of 1980, or may determine that a nomination does not merit recommendation to the President;
(2) To make recommendations to the Secretary of State for each category of award ranked in recommended order of merit; and
(3) To make recommendations, as appropriate, to the Secretary of State regarding the award procedure and the functions of the IASB. The Director General shall provide the exclusive representative of the participating agencies, if any, copies of such recommendations.
3 FAH-1 H-2876.2 Composition of the Interagency Selection Board (IASB)
(CT:POH-252; 02-22-2022)
(Uniformed State/Agriculture/USAGM/Commerce/USAID)
(Applies to Foreign Service Only
a. The IASB shall be composed of seven members. Four members shall be career members of the SFS from the participating agencies (one each from State, USAID, FCS, and FAS); one shall be a public member. The “participating agencies” are those agencies with career members of the SFS. The participating agencies shall be represented even if they do not recommend awardees that year. The remaining two members of the IASB shall be designated at the discretion of the Director General; one may be a retired career member of the SFS. No member may serve on two consecutive Boards. In their designation of agency representatives and recommendations for public members, the agency heads will bear in mind the requirement of section 602(b) of the Foreign Service Act concerning selection board membership of women and minorities. No individual recommended to receive an award may serve on the Board. The public members of the IASB will be named by the Director General from the nominees of the agencies. The chairperson of the IASB, selected by the Director General of the Foreign Service, will be a career SFS officer on active duty, and the position will rotate among the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, State, and USAID.
b. As soon as practicable but not less than 10 days prior to the convening of the IASB, each participating agency will transmit to its exclusive representative, if any, a list of the agency’s nominees (agency-specific and public) for membership on the IASB. This information will be held in confidence. The exclusive representative will furnish the agency any comments it might have concerning the nominees. These comments will be held in confidence.
3 FAH-1 H-2876.3 Recommendations by the Secretary
(CT:POH-252; 02-22-2022)
(Uniformed State/Agriculture/USAGM/Commerce/USAID)
(Applies to Foreign Service Only)
a. The Secretary of State must be satisfied that each nominee recommended for a Presidential Rank Award by the IASB has consistently maintained a record of performance warranting a high degree of public confidence and trust. Should the Secretary determine that an IASB nominee does not warrant recommendation to the President based on issues of security, misconduct, suitability, or malfeasance, the Secretary may remove the member’s name from the list. The Director of the Office of Performance Evaluation of the Department of State shall notify each of the exclusive representatives (if any) of all of the participating agencies of the number of such removals (without specifying the names removed or the agency which nominated the member) and shall certify that the deletions were made only for reasons of security, misconduct, suitability, or malfeasance.
b. Subject to Section 405 (e) of the Foreign Service Act of 1980, as amended, the Secretary of State shall recommend to the President those officers nominated by the IASB for Presidential awards whom the Secretary has determined satisfy the requirements of 3 FAH-1 H-2876.3, paragraph a.
3 FAH-1 H-2876.4 Presidential Rank Awards Limits
(CT:POH-252; 02-22-2022)
(Uniformed State/Agriculture/USAGM/Commerce/USAID)
(Applies to Foreign Service Only)
a. The Foreign Service Act of 1980, as amended, provides that, in any fiscal year, not more than six percent of the members of the Senior Foreign Service (SFS) may receive the Presidential Rank Award (a form of performance pay). This is an aggregate limit based on the total number of members of the SFS from all agencies.
b. To comply with this statutory limit, the Office of Performance Evaluation (GTM/PE) is responsible for determining the total number of members of the Senior Foreign Service from all agencies. Prior to convening the IASB, GTM/PE shall determine the total number of members of the Senior Foreign Service by adding together the number of SFS members in each agency who were serving in the appointment categories specified in 3 FAM 2872.2-1 as of the last day of the competition year, which is the last day of the appraisal period for that agency. GTM/PE shall notify the IASB of these percentage limits on an aggregate and per agency basis. The IASB is responsible for ensuring that the aggregate limit is not exceeded.
c. Except as noted in 3 FAH-1 H-2876.4, paragraph d, the number of Presidential Rank Awards granted to the members of the SFS, in any agency, may not exceed six percent of the total number of career SFS members who were serving as of the last day of the annual performance appraisal period of that agency. The number of Distinguished Service Awards granted to the SFS members of an agency may not exceed one percent of that total. However, where the number of SFS members in an agency’s total is too few to permit at least one Distinguished and one Meritorious Service Award within the percentage limits established, the SFS members of that agency may be granted one Distinguished Service Award and one Meritorious Service Award. Agencies may forward to the IASB up to the maximum number of nominees permitted by this paragraph, except as authorized in 3 FAH-1 H-2876.4, paragraphd.
d. Notwithstanding the limits of 3 FAH-1 H-2876.4, paragraph c, an agency may exceed its pro rata share of Presidential Rank Awards if the IASB selects the member(s) of the SFS recommended from that agency’s supplemental rank order lists to utilize unused award opportunities. Unused opportunities can occur when an agency chooses not to utilize its full pro rata share of the awards or when the IASB determines that fewer than an agency’s pro rata share of the members of the SFS recommended merit a Presidential Rank Award. The agency must agree to free its unused opportunities to be utilized by any of the participating agencies for members of the SFS included on a supplemental list.
e. Each agency may recommend an additional 10 percent of its pro rata share of candidates to constitute its supplemental list. Such recommendations will be for the Meritorious Service Award. However, where the number of SFS members in an agency’s pro rata share is too few to permit at least two members of the SFS on the agency’s supplemental list, the agency may include two members of its SFS on its supplemental list.
f. When the IASB determines that there are unused opportunities for Presidential Rank Awards, and that it will consider recommendations from supplemental lists, GTM/PE will make available to the IASB the supplemental lists from all the agencies.
g. The IASB will consider members of the SFS recommended to it on supplemental rank order lists as candidates for any unused opportunities for awards. These members of the SFS recommended will be evaluated by the IASB on the basis of the criteria specified in 3 FAM 2872.3 and will be considered on an SFS-wide basis based on the relative merits of the members recommended without reference to the pro-rata distribution of awards specified in 3 FAH-1 H-2876.4.
h. In its final rank order of members of the SFS recommended for the PRA, the IASB must stay within the aggregate limits specified by the Foreign Service Act of 1980, based on the calculations provided to the IASB by GTM/PE.
3 FAH-1 H-2876.5 Payment of Presidential Rank Awards
(CT:POH-257; 07-01-2022)
(Uniformed State/Agriculture/USAGM/Commerce/USAID)
(Applies to Foreign Service Only)
a. Subject to section 405 (e) of the Foreign Service Act of 1980, as amended, Presidential Rank Awards shall be paid in lump sum and shall be in addition to basic salary and any other award. As a result of payment of the award, a member of the SFS may receive compensation exceeding the compensation of any other member of the Service. That fact shall not preclude the award or its payment.
b. Each agency shall pay the amounts due to recipients of Presidential Rank Awards in its employ. Awardees shall be informed as soon as possible, and payment shall be made as soon thereafter as practicable.
c. The total amount of basic salary plus performance pay (including a Presidential Rank Award) received in any calendar year by a member of the SFS may not exceed the salary payable in Level 1 of the Executive Schedule under 5 U.S.C. 5312 in effect at the end of the calendar year. Any amount which is not paid to an employee in a calendar year because of this statutory limitation shall be paid in a lump sum to the employee at the beginning of the following calendar year, in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 5307.
3 FAH-1 H-2876.6 Interagency Review
(CT:POH-252; 02-22-2022)
(Uniformed State/Agriculture/USAGM/Commerce/USAID)
(Applies to Foreign Service Only)
Representatives of each of the foreign affairs agencies may periodically review the operation of the IASB.
3 FAH-1 H-2877 THROUGH H-2879 unassigned