From RPA to EOD -- The ABCs of filling an AF civilian job

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RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Most civilian jobs in the Air Force begin with a request for personnel action, or RPA. They end with an entry on duty date, or EOD. During the past 12 months, the entire process has taken an average of 136 days from the initial completion of the RPA to a person arriving for duty. Control of the process changes throughout between the selecting official, civilian personnel flight and employee candidate, but 86 (or 62 percent) of those days happen here at the Air Force Personnel Center.

The 2007 historical averages plays out something like this: the base-level manager takes four days to complete the original RPA. The installation civilian personnel office takes 20 days to route the RPA through classification and other checks and balances.

By the time the RPA arrives at AFPC, the manager has had a vacancy for nearly 30 days. The RPA hits an AFPC Management Advisory Clearing House or MACH "inbox" and a personnelist opens the request immediately, which starts the AFPC clock ticking. This piece of the AFPC staffing process historically takes 40 days.

During that time a number of actions are taking place, such as the requisition of the Priority Placement Program database, management advisory, the announcement being built and an assessment tool being selected.

"Department of Defense standards suggest that a personnel action be processed in 45 days, meaning a listing of candidates is provided to the manager within that time," said Col. James Sturch, director of Civilian Force Integration at AFPC. "So AFPC is actually exceeding the DoD metric with an average 40 day turn time."

The statistics show the manager takes an average of 28 days to select an individual from the list of candidates and notify AFPC of that selection.

This timeline to 'fill the seat' can be reduced, according to Robbie Brown, technical advisor to the deputy director of Civilian Force Integration at AFPC. "We give managers up to 90 duty days to get back to us with a selection, but the earlier they respond with a selection, the faster we can process it," said Ms. Brown.

When management has selected their top three candidates and gets that selection into the system, AFPC goes into action to do the final determination whether those individuals can be appointed to civil service and make the job offer.

"The average time between selection and entry on duty is 44 days, but that time includes the individual's relocation time, if needed," said Ms. Brown. "Depending on the individual and manager's needs, an EOD can be weeks or months. Those details are established during the job offer."

Other contributing factors on the road to getting a person in the seat are government programs mandated by the Department of Defense, Air Force and now, the National Security Personnel System. A listing of job candidates, referred to as a certificate, must be reviewed based on the mandated programs.

"Some of our candidate certificates have hundreds of names and we must ensure that those candidates are qualified so we can provide a quality product to the selecting official," said Ms. Brown.

One program that can potentially add time onto the hiring process is DoD's Priority Placement Program. PPP promotes the rights and stability of civilian employees affected by changing manpower requirements, such as unit closure, mission change and Reduction in Force, and provides maximum opportunity for placement in other DoD positions. The list of "PPP" candidates must be checked/reviewed every time an RPA is opened for a fill action and follows a unique set of rules established by DoD .

"An individual 'matches' on a job if he or she is registered in a particular career field occupational series and matches the knowledge, skills or abilities identified in the job description for the particular vacancy," said Ms. Brown, "and a name can match at any time during the vacancy announcement process until a candidate certificate is issued to the selecting official."

While the PPP adds time to the overall fill action, AFPC works expeditiously to ensure managers get the right candidate listing for their vacancy. A program incorporated into AFPC's process to that effect is the Management Advisory Clearing House or MACH.

The MACH makes initial contact with the selecting official to ensure the RPA is annotated with everything management wants. Their goal is to provide selecting officials a personal contact and serve as AFPC's face to the customer.

"Many selecting officials will select every 'box' on the RPA's recruitment source, not realizing the additional time added to the staffing process to review the candidates," said Ms. Brown. "The MACH team walks through those items with management to help them narrow their recruitment choices, which saves time during the overall process."

The National Security Personnel System offers some staffing flexibilities that can significantly reduce the hiring process time. Management can name request an employee who currently or previously performed work comparable to the vacant position. Also, management can do an NSPS 'alternate certification' request for a current Air Force civilian employee.

"We encourage selecting officials and managers to consider using the NSPS staffing flexibilities in lieu of standard competitive recruitment methods," said Ms. Brown. "If a selecting official is unsure of all the options, our staffing personnel can discuss them during the management advisory portion of the hiring process."

AFPC also has 22 career field management teams that are integrated with the personnel staffers to manage force development programs and ensure centrally managed positions are used for force development purposes to the maximum extent possible

"The entire civilian fill process is very complicated," said Ms. Brown. "It's a progression of steps, and constant transfer of control, to make sure the best and most qualified person is hired. It takes all of us working together to ensure we place the right person, at the right time in the right place to serve our Air Force."