NASA Procedural Requirements

NPR 3730.1A Effective Date: June 13, 2018 Expiration Date: December 13, 2028

Subject: NASA Suitability Program (Updated with Change 2)

Responsible Office: Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer

Appendix A. Definitions

Appointee. A person who has entered on duty and is in the first year of a subject-to-investigation appointment.

Covered position. A position in the competitive service, a position in the excepted service where the incumbent can be noncompetitively converted to the competitive service, and a career appointment to a position in the Senior Executive Service.

Critical-Sensitive Position. A position's designation for national security risk for positions which have the potential to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security.

Debarment. The denial of a person to apply or be appointed to an Agency position due to an unfavorable suitability determination.

Employee. For the purposes of this directive, employee means a person who has completed the first year of their appointment in a position that is subject to an investigation.

Fitness. For the purposes of this directive, fitness concerns an individual's character or conduct that may have an impact on the integrity or efficiency of the service for positions not covered by suitability regulations.

High-Risk Positions. Positions that have the potential for exceptionally serious impact involving duties especially critical to the Agency or a program mission with broad scope of policy or program authority.

Low-Risk Positions. Positions that involve duties and responsibilities of limited relation to program missions, with the potential for limited impact on the integrity or efficiency of the service. Positions designated at the Low-Risk level are not considered Public Trust positions.

Moderate-Risk Positions. Positions that have the potential for moderate-to-serious impact involving duties of considerable importance to the Agency or a program mission with significant program responsibilities and delivery of customer services to the public.

Noncritical-Sensitive Position. A position's designation for national security risk for positions which have the potential to cause significant or serious damage to national security.

Position Risk Designation. A determination of a particular position's potential for adverse impact to the efficiency or integrity of the service. A position may be determined to be Low, Moderate, or High Risk.

Position Sensitivity Designation. A determination based on the need of the incumbent to access National Security Information. A position may be designated at the non-critical sensitive, critical-sensitive, or special-sensitive level.

Pre-Employment Checks. Also referred to as reference checks, used for the purposes of making an objective evaluation of an applicant's past job performance, based on information collected from individuals, such as past or current supervisors, peers, and subordinates who have known and worked with the applicant. Pre-employment checks are primarily used to verify the accuracy of information provided by the job applicant; predict the success of a job applicant by comparing their experience to the competencies required by the job; and to uncover background information that may have not been identified by the selection process.

Suitability. Suitability concerns an individual's character or conduct that may have an impact on the integrity or efficiency of the service for covered positions, which consist of competitive service positions, excepted service positions that can be non-competitively converted to the competitive service, and career appointments in the Senior Executive Service (SES).

Unclassified Set of Duties. A set of duties and responsibilities that have not been officially classified for the purposes of assigning a title, series, and grade level.

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