H.R. 10960: Keep Federal Tech Talent Act

This bill would let federal agencies turn certain temporary employees who work on technology and science-related jobs into permanent civil service employees, if the agency chooses to do so and the worker meets the normal qualification and suitability rules.

What kinds of workers would be covered

The bill applies to people serving in time-limited federal jobs, either in the excepted service or under a term appointment in the competitive service, if they are doing work such as:

• information technology, software engineering, artificial intelligence, machine learning, cybersecurity, data science, or data analytics;
• scientific, engineering, mathematical, statistical, modeling, or simulation work;
• research, testing, evaluation, monitoring, development, or applied work in areas like health, environment, agriculture, space, materials, or chemistry;
• technical work supporting laboratories, research, or scientific data;
• design, maintenance, testing, or operation of scientific or technical equipment or systems; or
• technology development, testing, deployment, transfer, commercialization, or related project and program management.

What agencies could do

If an agency head chooses to use this authority, the agency could convert a covered worker into one of several types of longer-term positions, including:

• a career or career-conditional job in the competitive service;
• a highly qualified expert appointment;
• a senior-level or scientific/professional position; or
• a position in the Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel System or a similar intelligence-community hiring system.

Additional benefits and conditions

When recruiting someone for conversion under this authority, the agency would have to offer the person a choice between two types of post-conversion benefits:

• student loan repayment assistance; or
• job-related training, including non-academic technical or skills-based training.

Agencies would still have to follow their own qualification standards and suitability checks before making a conversion.

Reporting requirement

Starting January 1, 2028, and every year after that, each federal agency would have to report to the Office of Personnel Management on how it used this authority, including how many people were converted and how many positions were filled.

When it would take effect

The bill would take effect on January 1, 2027.

Relevant Companies

None found