5, United States Code, and in order to provide for the recruitment and selection of exceptional employees for careers in the public sector, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. There is hereby constituted the Federal Career Intern Program (Program). The purpose of the Program is to attract exceptional men and women to the Federal workforce who have diverse professional experiences, academic training, and competencies, and to prepare them for careers in analyzing and implementing public programs. "Career Intern" is a generic term, and agencies may use occupational titles as appropriate.
Sec. 2. The Program is another step in the Administration's effort to recruit the highest caliber people to the Federal Government, develop their professional abilities, and retain them in Federal departments and agencies. Cabinet secretaries and agency administrators should view the Program as complementary to existing programs that provide career enhancement opportunities for Federal employees, and departments and agencies are encouraged to identify and make use of those programs, as well as the new Program, to meet department and agency needs.
Sec. 3. (a) The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) shall develop appropriate merit-based procedures for the recruitment, screening, placement, and continuing career development of Career Interns.
(b) In developing those procedures, the OPM shall provide for such actions as deemed appropriate to assure equal employment opportunity and the application of appropriate veterans' preference criteria.
Sec. 4. (a) A successful candidate shall be appointed to a position in Schedule B of the excepted service at the GS-5, 7, or 9 (and equivalent) or other trainee level appropriate for the Program, unless otherwise approved by the OPM. The appointment shall not exceed 2 years unless extended by the Federal department or agency, with the concurrence of the OPM, for up to 1 additional year.
(b) Tenure for a Career Intern shall be governed by the following principles and policies:
(1) Assigned responsibilities shall be consistent with a Career Intern's competencies and career interests, and the purposes of the Program.
(2) Continuation in the Program shall be contingent upon satisfactory performance by the Career Intern throughout the internship period.
(3) Except as provided in subsections (4) and (5) of this section, service as a Career Intern confers no rights to further Federal employment in either the competitive or excepted service upon the expiration of the internship period.
(4) Competitive civil service status may be granted to a Career Intern who satisfactorily completes the internship and meets all other requirements prescribed by the OPM.
(5) Within an agency, an employee who formerly held a career or career-conditional appointment immediately before entering the Career Intern Program, and who fails to complete the Career Intern Program for reasons unrelated to misconduct or suitability, shall be placed in a career or career-conditional position in the current agency at no lower grade or pay than the one the employee left to accept the position in the Career Intern Program.
Sec. 5. A Career Intern shall participate in a formal program of training and job assignments to develop competencies that the OPM identifies as core
