Presidential Management Fellows Program

Executive Order 13318 of November 21, 2003

Presidential Management Fellows Program

By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, including sections 3301 and 3302 of title 5,
United States Code, and in order to provide for the
recruitment and selection of outstanding employees for
service in public sector management, it is hereby
ordered as follows:

Section 1. There is hereby constituted the Presidential
Management Fellows Program. The purpose of the Program
is to attract to the Federal service outstanding men
and women from a variety of academic disciplines and
career paths who have a clear interest in, and
commitment to, excellence in the leadership and
management of public policies and programs. Individuals
selected for the Program shall be known as Presidential
Management Fellows (PMFs) or Senior Presidential
Management Fellows (Senior PMFs).

Sec. 2. (a) Individuals eligible for appointment as a
PMF under this order are those who, in pursuing a
course of study at the graduate level, have
demonstrated both exceptional ability and the
commitment to which section 1 refers. Such individuals
at the time of application must have received, or must
expect to receive soon thereafter, an appropriate
advanced degree as defined by the Director of the
Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

    (b) Individuals eligible for appointment as a
Senior PMF under this order are those who have, through
extensive work experience, demonstrated both
exceptional leadership or analytical ability and the
commitment to which section 1 refers.

Sec. 3. The Director of OPM shall prescribe appropriate
merit-based rules for the recruitment, nomination,
assessment, selection, appointment, placement, and
continuing career development of fellows, including
rules that:

    (a) reserve to the head of a department or agency
or component within the Executive Office of the
President (EOP) the authority to appoint a fellow who
is to be employed in that department, agency, or
component;
    (b) provide for nomination by universities and
colleges, through competitive selection processes, of
eligible individuals for consideration for appointment
as PMFs;
    (c) carry out the policy of the United States to
ensure equal employment opportunities for employees
without discrimination because of race, color,
religion, sex, or national origin; and
    (d) ensure the application of appropriate veterans'
preference criteria.

Sec. 4. (a) Fellows shall be appointed to positions in
either:

    (1) Schedule A of the excepted service; or
    (2) an agency or component within the EOP excepted
from the competitive service.
    (b) Appointments under subsection (a) shall not
exceed 2 years in duration unless extended by the head
of the department or agency or component within the
EOP, with the concurrence of the Director of OPM, for a
period not to exceed 1 additional year.
    (c) The following principles and policies shall
govern service and tenure by fellows:
    (1) responsibilities assigned to a PMF shall be
consistent with the PMF's educational background and
career interests, and the purposes of the Program;

and responsibilities assigned to a Senior PMF shall be
consistent with the Senior PMF's experience and career
interests, and the purposes of the Program;
    (2) continuation of a fellow's appointment shall be
contingent upon satisfactory performance by the fellow
throughout the fellowship appointment;
    (3) except as provided in paragraph (4) of this
subsection, service as a fellow shall confer no right
to further Federal employment in either the competitive
or excepted service upon the expiration of the fellow's
appointment; and
    (4) competitive civil service status may be granted
to a fellow who satisfactorily completes the Program
and meets such other requirements as the Director of
OPM may prescribe. A fellow appointed by an agency
excepted from the competitive service may also be
appointed to a permanent position in an excepted
service agency without further competition.

Sec. 5. The Director of OPM shall provide for an
orderly transition, including with respect to
nominations, selection processes, and appointments,
from the Presidential Management Intern Program
established by Executive Order 12364 of May 24, 1982,
to the Presidential Management Fellows Program
established by this order. Until that transition is
provided for, individuals who were selected or
appointed under the provisions of Executive Order 12364
and who have not completed their scheduled periods of
excepted service are hereby redesignated as
Presidential Management Fellows, and continue their
internships under the terms of Executive Order 12364.

Sec. 6. The Director of OPM shall prescribe such
regulations as may be necessary to carry out the
purposes of this order.

Sec. 7. Executive Order 12364 is superseded, except as
provided in section 5 of this order.

Sec. 8. This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies,
instrumentalities or entities, its officers or
employees, or any other person.

    (Presidential Sig.)B

THE WHITE HOUSE,

    November 21, 2003.