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Careers

Career Transition Assistance Plan/Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP/ICTAP)

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About the FDIC:

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is an independent agency created by the Congress to maintain stability and public confidence in the nation's financial system. The FDIC insures deposits; examines and supervises financial institutions for safety, soundness, and consumer protection; makes large and complex financial institutions resolvable; and manages receiverships.

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Help for surplus and displaced FDIC employees.

Priority for displaced FDIC employees for jobs in other Federal agencies.

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP)

What It Is CTAP?

The FDIC Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provides services to help surplus and displaced FDIC employees take charge of their own careers and find other job offers, either within the Federal Government or in the private sector.

Special selection priority provides that eligible, well-qualified FDIC surplus and displaced employees who apply for FDIC vacancies in their primary area of (CTAP) eligibility (i.e., the local commuting area where CTAP eligibility was established) must be selected for CTAP vacancies covered by the U.S. OPM CTAP regulations, before any other candidates from either within or outside the FDIC are selected.

Eligible employees under the FDIC Career Transition Assistance Plan for whom the local commuting area of the vacancy is their primary area of CTAP eligibility will be referred before other applicants. Candidates from within or outside the agency cannot be selected for a CTAP vacancy if eligible, well-qualified surplus or displaced FDIC employees with primary selection priority are available.

  • CTAP vacancies may not be filled through reassignments within the local commuting area, if there is a well-qualified CTAP eligible with primary selection priority available for selection within the local commuting area.
  • CTAP vacancies may not be filled in any other manner, if there is a well-qualified CTAP eligible from beyond the local commuting area of primary CTAP eligibility available nationwide.

A vacancy is a competitive or excepted service position lasting 121 days or more, including extensions, which the agency is filling, regardless of whether a specific vacancy announcement is issued. Specific personnel actions which are not covered by the U.S. OPM CTAP regulations and are exempt from special selection priority are listed in the FDIC CTAP directive as exceptions.

A surplus employee is one who has received:

  1. an informational RIF (reduction in force) notice,
  2. a Corporate announcement that the employee occupies a position within an office or an organizational component of an office scheduled for closing, OR
  3. an official Corporate certification indicating that the position the employee occupies is surplus, e.g., a notice of position abolishment, a notice stating the employee is eligible for discontinued service retirement , or a notice of directed reassignment to another local commuting area

A displaced employee is one who has received:

  1. a specific RIF (reduction in force) separation notice, OR
  2. a notice of proposed removal for declining a directed reassignment or transfer of function outside the local commuting area.

Eligibility begins on the date FDIC issues one of these notices or announcements to employees, whichever is earliest.

Eligibility

To be eligible for CTAP special selection priority, an individual must be a current, permanent (tenure group I or II), (see Note below) competitive or excepted (Schedule A or B, not C) service, surplus or displaced FDIC employee at CG-15 and below who:

  1. has a current performance rating of at least fully successful,
  2. applies for a vacancy at or below the grade level from which the employee may be or is being separated, that does not have greater promotion potential than the position from which the employee may be or is being separated,
  3. occupies a position in the same type of service, either competitive or excepted, as the vacancy. Competitive service tenure group I & II employees will be considered for competitive service vacancies; excepted service tenure group I & II employees will be considered for excepted service vacancies. An excepted service Schedule A or B employee will be considered for excepted service vacancies filled under the same appointing authority, either Schedule A or B, as the position from which the employee maybe or is being separated,
  4. files an application for a specific vacancy within the timeframes established by the FDIC, indicates that he/she is applying as a CTAP eligible, provides proof of eligibility, AND
  5. is determined by the FDIC to be well-qualified for the specific vacancy.

Note:

Since acceptance of a time-limited position does not terminate CTAP eligibility, a term employee may have continuing eligibility for CTAP special selection priority if he/she established CTAP eligibility based on his/her former permanent position and has accepted a term position in order to remain with the Corporation.

In the cases of such employees, their CTAP eligibility continues to be governed by the particulars of their former permanent position, e.g., the local commuting area of their former permanent position is their primary area of CTAP eligibility for referrals and the grade of their former permanent position is their CTAP eligibility grade.

Well-qualified means an eligible employee who possesses the knowledge, skills, and abilities which clearly exceed the minimum requirements of the position. A well-qualified employee must:

  1. meet the qualification and eligibility requirements of the position, including any medical qualifications, suitability, and minimum education and experience requirements,
  2. meet all selective factors (where applicable);
  3. meet quality ranking factors above the minimum level, which equates to a score of 85 or higher in the online assessment;
  4. be physically qualified with reasonable accommodation to perform the essential duties of the position;
  5. meet any special qualifying U.S. OPM-approved conditions; AND
  6. be able to satisfactorily perform the duties of the position upon entry without additional training.

A well-qualified candidate will not necessarily meet the definition of highly or best qualified when evaluated against other candidates who apply for a particular position. In the absence of selective and quality ranking factors, selecting officials will document the job-related reason(s) for qualification determinations.

Note:

To receive CTAP special selection priority an eligible employee must:

  1. submit an application for a specific agency vacancy within the prescribed timeframes, indicating that he/she is applying as a CTAP eligible,
  2. attach proof of eligibility (a Corporate notice or announcement, as specified in the definition of surplus or displaced employee, which identifies the employee as surplus or displaced, e.g., a reduction in force or directed reassignment notice), AND
  3. be determined to be well-qualified for the vacancy.

Qualification Reviews

When a referral list is going to be issued and an eligible employee is determined not to be well-qualified based upon the specific position criteria, a review of this determination will be made by a Supervisory or Senior Personnel Management Specialist or a subject-matter-expert at or above the grade level of the vacancy, who was not involved in the original qualification determination.

Referrals

Well-qualified CTAP eligibles for whom the local commuting area of the vacancy is their primary area of CTAP eligibility will be referred first and exclusively.

If there are none, the vacancy may be filled through the reassignment of a permanent employee within the local commuting area.

If the vacancy is not filled through such a reassignment, then, well-qualified CTAP eligibles nationwide from beyond the local commuting area of primary CTAP eligibility who applied in a timely manner under the vacancy announcement, will be referred for selection.

Selection

On referral lists displaced FDIC employees will be selected prior to surplus FDIC employees.

If two or more eligible and well-qualified employees are referred and management determines they are equally qualified, the employee with the highest adjusted creditable service -- adjusted SCD (service computation date) for RIF (reduction in force) -- will be selected.

Results

FDIC surplus and displaced employees who apply for specific vacancies will be advised in writing of the results of their applications.

If they are found not well-qualified and those applicants rated well-qualified are referred, the notices will include information on the results of the required, independent, second review that was conducted.

If an applicant is found well-qualified, but another well-qualified surplus or displaced candidate was selected, the applicant will be so advised.

If CTAP eligibles from beyond the local commuting area of primary CTAP eligibility were not rated and referred, they will be advised that selection was made from among those in the primary area of CTAP eligibility.

Termination of Eligibility

Eligibility ends on the earliest of:

  1. the RIF (reduction in force) separation date,
  2. the date the employee resigns,
  3. the date of acceptance of a directed reassignment to another local commuting area,
  4. the date of separation under adverse action procedures for declining a directed reassignment or transfer of function to another local commuting area,
  5. cancellation of the Corporate notice or announcement identifying the employee as surplus or displaced,
  6. when an eligible employee receives a career, career-conditional, or excepted appointment without time limit, in any federal agency, at any grade level,
  7. declination by a well-qualified CTAP applicant of an offer of a position without time limit at his/her CTAP eligibility grade in the local commuting area of his/her primary CTAP eligibility, or
  8. declination by a well-qualified CTAP applicant of two offers of positions without time limit at his/her CTAP eligibility grade which are beyond the local commuting area of his/her primary CTAP eligibility.

Note as an exception to (7) and (8) above, for term employees with continuing CTAP eligibility: declination of two offers of positions without time limit at his/ her CTAP eligibility grade regardless of the locations of the positions.

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Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP)

What is ICTAP?

  1. This program offers displaced employees priority for jobs in Federal agencies other than the agency from which they separated. The Reemployment Priority List provides assistance to an agency’s own former employees. When an Executive Branch agency recruits to fill a competitive service position from outside its workforce, it must post the vacancy in OPM's federal job database and give displaced employees the opportunity to apply. Before selecting most outside candidates, the agency must give selection priority to eligible, well-qualified applicants displaced from other Federal agencies in the same local commuting area.
  2. ICTAP would be limited to current or former career or career-conditional (tenure group I or II) competitive service employee who:
    1. Received a specific RIF (reduction in force) separation notice or a notice of proposed removal for declining a directed reassignment or transfer of function outside the local commuting area; or
    2. Separated because of a compensable injury, whose compensation has been terminated, and whose former agency certifies that it is unable to place; or
    3. Retired with a disability and whose disability annuity has been or is being terminated; or
    4. Upon receipt of a RIF (reduction in force) separation notice retired on the effective date of RIF and submits a Standard Form 50 that indicates "Retirement in lieu of RIF"; or
    5. Was separated through RIF (reduction in force) or because he/she declined a transfer of function or directed reassignment to another commuting area.
  3. To receive this priority consideration, the ICTAP eligible must:
    1. Apply for a position at or below the grade level of the position from which he/she has been separated. The position must not have greater promotion potential than the position from which he/she was separated.
    2. Have a current (or last) performance rating of record of at least fully successful or equivalent. (This requirement does not apply to candidates who are eligible due to compensable injury or disability retirement.)
    3. Occupy or be displaced from a position in the same local commuting area of the position for which he/she is requesting priority consideration.
    4. File an application by the vacancy announcement closing date and meet all the application criteria stated in the vacancy announcement, including the submission of all required documentation of ICTAP eligibility.
    5. Be rated well-qualified for the position, which equates to a score of 85 or higher in the online assessment. A second review of a determination that an otherwise eligible ICTAP applicant is not well-qualified will be made by a Supervisory or Senior Human Resources Specialist or subject-matter expert at or above the grade of the vacancy, who was not involved in the original qualification determination. Documentation of the determination will be provided in writing to the applicant.

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Last Updated: May 21, 2020