EMS TRANSMISSION 07/25/2007

Instruction Memorandum No. 2007-156

Expires: 09/30/2008

 

To:                   ADs, SDs, and CDs

                        Attention: Human Resource Officers

 

From:               Assistant Director, Human Capital Management

 

Subject:            Implementation of the Job Family Standard, Technical Work in the Engineering and Architecture Group, 0800 DD: 07/27/2007

 

Program Area: Human Resources (HR)

 

Purpose: This Instruction Memorandum (IM) transmits the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) plan for implementing a new Job Family Standard (JFS) issued by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in May 2007.

 

Policy/Action: All current positions affected by the issuance of the GS-0800T, JFS, must be reviewed for classification impact.  The OPM requires that new standards be implemented within 1 year of issuance, or in this case, not later than May 2008. The JFS and OPM’s policy on implementation are located at the following website: http://www.opm.gov/fedclass/html/whatsnew.asp.

Our approach to implementing this standard involves a combination of standard position descriptions (PDs) and servicing HR office review. The Washington Office (WO) will be publishing standard PDs for non-supervisory technician positions performing petroleum engineering, civil engineering, and surveying work. These occupations at various grades account for 352 of the 434 current positions affected by this JFS. 

 

Establishing a mixed interval grade pattern for petroleum engineering technician positions will be pursued during the preparation of the standard PDs in this type work. This follows the recommendation of an earlier review of petroleum engineering technician positions. Servicing HR offices are encouraged to submit comments and recommended grade patterns on this subject.

 

Because the standard descriptions will not cover all affected positions, servicing HR offices are directed to begin implementing the new standard for occupations not affected by the standard descriptions. The known occupations in this category are any positions in the GS-809 or GS-856 series. The review must be documented with the preparation of the Position Classification Amendment, DI-625 (attached). The sample provided - minimum requirement - shows how to document a classification review. In cases where an impact on title, series, or grade is suspected, we recommended the supervisor recertify the accuracy of the duties. The recertification may be accomplished on the same DI-625.

 

Even though not all types of positions in the GS-802 series will be covered with a standard PD, the WO recommends that servicing HR offices not begin implementing the new JFS for any position in the GS-802 series until further instruction or the standard descriptions are published. This is primarily to prevent duplication of effort. 

 

All servicing HR offices are asked to review their non-supervisory technician PDs in civil engineering, petroleum engineering, and surveying occupations for potential standard descriptions. Please nominate descriptions and provide comments to Todd Ryan, email todd_ryan@blm.gov, fax number (303) 236-6685 not later than July 27, 2007. A teleconference call will occur in August 2007 to report on nominated standard descriptions and comments.

 

Timeframe: This review must be completed not later than May 2008.

 

Budget Impact: The impact on budget is minimal.

 

Background: The OPM published this new JFS in May 2007. The OPM’s policy on the implementation of a new classification standard requires the completion of a review on all affected positions within 12 months of the date issued. Our review identified 434 positions covered by the new JFS. The initial review of the new JFS revealed that as a minimum many positions will require title changes.

 

Manual/Handbook Sections Affected: None.

 

Coordination: This IM was prepared following discussion at a classifiers teleconference call with participation from the Alaska, California, New Mexico, and Utah servicing HR offices. a copy of the JFS and a summary of the positions requiring review were previously provided to the BLM classifiers mailing list.

 

Contact: Todd Ryan, Human Capital Management, at 303-236-6669, todd_ryan@blm.gov. 

 

 

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