(a) The circumstances under which the President may award the rank of Distinguished Executive and Meritorious Executive to a Senior Executive Service (SES) career appointee are set forth in 5 U.S.C. 4507.

(b) To be eligible for a rank award, a senior executive must:

(1) Hold a career appointment in the SES, as defined at 5 U.S.C. 3132(a)(4), on the nomination deadline set by OPM;

(2) Be an employee of the agency, as defined at 5 U.S.C. 3132(a)(1), on the nomination deadline set by OPM; and

(3) Have at least 3 years of career or career-type Federal civilian service at the SES level. Service need not be continuous.

(i) Qualifying service includes appointments in the SES, the Senior Foreign Service, the Defense Intelligence Senior Executive Service, and similar senior executive systems.

(ii) Qualifying service does not include noncareer, limited term, or limited emergency appointments in the SES or their equivalent, Scientific and Professional (ST) appointments, and Senior-Level (SL) appointments.

(c) Each agency may nominate up to 9 percent of its SES career appointees for rank awards.

(a) The circumstances under which the President may award the rank of Distinguished Senior Professional and Meritorious Senior Professional to a senior career employee are set forth in 5 U.S.C. 4507a.

(b) To be eligible for a rank award, a senior career employee must:

(1) Hold a career appointment in a Senior-Level (SL) or Scientific-Professional (ST) position that is subject to OPM position allocations under part 319 of this chapter and paid under 5 U.S.C. 5376 on the nomination deadline set by OPM;

(2) Be an employee of the agency on the nomination deadline set by OPM; and

(3) Have at least 3 years of career or career-type Federal civilian service above GS-15. Service need not be continuous. Qualifying service includes appointments that are not—

(i) Time-limited; or

(ii) To positions that are excepted from the competitive service because of their confidential or policy-determining character.

(c) Each agency may nominate up to 9 percent of its senior career employees for rank awards.

(a) Governmentwide limitations—SES. During any fiscal year—

(1) The number of career SES appointees awarded the rank of Meritorious Executive may not exceed 5 percent of the career SES; and

(2) The number of career SES appointees awarded the rank of Distinguished Executive may not exceed 1 percent of the career SES.

(b) Governmentwide limitations—Senior career employees. During any fiscal year—

(1) The number of senior career employees awarded the rank of Meritorious Senior Professional may not exceed 5 percent of the total number of career appointees to OPM-allocated Senior-Level (SL) and Scientific-Professional (ST) positions; and

(2) The number of senior career employees awarded the rank of Distinguished Senior Professional may not exceed 1 percent of the total number of career appointees to OPM-allocated Senior-Level (SL) and Scientific-Professional (ST) positions.

(c) Frequency of awards. Individuals awarded a Distinguished or Meritorious rank under this subpart shall not be entitled to be awarded that rank during the following 4 fiscal years.

(a) Receipt of the Distinguished rank by an SES career appointee or a senior career employee entitles the individual to a lump-sum payment of an amount equal to 35 percent of annual basic pay, which shall be in addition to the basic pay paid under 5 U.S.C. 5376 or 5382, or any award paid under 5 U.S.C. 5384.

(b) Receipt of the Meritorious rank by an SES career appointee or a senior career employee entitles such individual to a lump-sum payment of an amount equal to 20 percent of annual basic pay, which shall be in addition to the basic pay paid under 5 U.S.C. 5376 or 5382, or any award paid under 5 U.S.C. 5384.

(c) Payment of rank awards must comply with the restrictions on annual aggregate compensation at 5 U.S.C. 5307.

(a) Annually, OPM shall establish criteria, including terms, conditions, and evaluation factors, for rank award nominations, in consultation with agencies and other stakeholders. Agencies shall nominate individuals for rank awards in accordance with OPM criteria and any other instructions.

(b) Annually, OPM shall review agency recommendations for Presidential Rank Awards for SES career appointees and senior career employees under 5 U.S.C. 4507 and 4507a, and recommend to the President which of those individuals should receive rank awards.