OPM Seeks 2017 Presidential Rank Award Nominations

The Office of Personnel Management is seeking nominations of outstanding senior executives for the federal government’s most prestigious civil service awards program.

The Presidential Rank Awards help to build and sustain a “first class federal workforce,” said acting OPM Director Beth Cobert in a memo to chief human capital officers and human resources directors calling for potential honorees. Nominations are due by Jan. 6, 2017.

“This is an excellent opportunity to identify the individuals who have made significant and lasting contributions to your agency’s effectiveness on a sustained basis,” the memo stated. “I encourage you to draw on all segments of your executive workforce to identify this select group.”

As in recent years, OPM reminded agencies that they should be judicious about the number of nominations they submit, given “current challenging fiscal conditions.” The awards program was cancelled in 2013 for the first time since it was established in 1978 due to budget cuts and furloughs caused by sequestration, but it resumed again in 2014 and the number of Senior Executive Service members receiving top honors is on the rise.

Only 1 percent of the SES is eligible to receive the rank of Distinguished Executive and 5 percent of the corps is eligible to receive the rank of Meritorious Executive. Winners of either the Distinguished or Meritorious award cannot receive the same rank award more than once in five years.

Distinguished Rank honorees receive a monetary award equivalent to 35 percent of their annual basic pay, and Meritorious Rank recipients receive 20 percent of their rate of annual basic pay. Review boards composed of current and former public- and private-sector officials choose finalists, who are then vetted. OPM reminded agencies they must ensure that nominees’ records are free of misconduct, disciplinary actions, or tax delinquencies.