5 U.S.C. § 9806 — Term appointments

(a) The Administrator^* may authorize term appointments within the Administration^* under subchapter I of chapter 33. Each appointment must last at least 1 year and no more than 6 years. (b) Despite chapter 33 or any other law about examining, certifying, and appointing people in the competitive service, the Administrator may convert a term employee^* to a permanent competitive-service appointment within the Administration without another competition if—(1) the person was appointed to the term position through an open, competitive examination under subchapter I of chapter 33; (2) the announcement for the term appointment said that it might later be converted to a career-conditional or career appointment; (3) the employee has completed at least 2 years of current, continuous service under a competitive-service term appointment; (4) the employee’s performance under that appointment was at least fully successful or equivalent; and (5) the new position is in the same occupational series, the same geographic location, and has no greater promotion potential than the term position for which the competitive examination was held. (c) Despite chapter 33 or any other law about examining, certifying, and appointing people in the competitive service, the Administrator may convert a term employee to a permanent competitive-service appointment through internal competitive promotion procedures if the conditions in paragraphs (1) through (4) of subsection (b) are met. (d) An employee converted under this section becomes a career-conditional employee unless the employee has already completed the service requirements for career tenure. (e) An employee converted to career or career-conditional employment under this section obtains competitive status when converted.