Areas of Consideration. Managers, in consultation with servicing personnel/human resources offices determine the area of consideration and the length of time a vacancy announcement will remain open (See 370 DM 335, 2-B). CTAP may affect the area of consideration and open period of the vacancy announcement.

Special Consideration. Supervisors should make every reasonable effort to ensure that employees under their direct supervision receive appropriate consideration for vacancies which occur under the supervisor's immediate jurisdiction while the employee is on an approved, extended absence. Additionally, each employee is responsible for informing his or her supervisor of those promotional opportunities for which he/she wishes to be considered during periods of legitimate absence and for providing his/her supervisor with an updated written application and other required forms for those vacancies.

Preparation of Vacancy Announcement. As a minimum, vacancy announcements should contain the following information: a number that identifies the vacancy; issuing office; opening and closing dates; address of office receiving applications; position title, series, and grade; entrance pay; number of positions; duty location; duties of the job; qualifications required, including selective placement and ranking factors; evaluation methods to be used; the full performance level of the job; area of consideration; instructions on how to apply; equal employment opportunity nondiscrimination statement; veterans preference information; and any other special requirements, such as CTAP language including the definition of well-qualified. Further, because it is against the law to use Government franked envelopes and mail services to submit applications (18 USC 1719), the vacancy announcement should indicate that applications submitted in violation of this requirement will not be considered.

Payment of Relocation Expenses. The decision to pay or not pay moving and related expenses must be made prior to issuing the vacancy announcement. A statement addressing the payment or nonpayment must be included in the vacancy announcement. (See Exhibit 4).

Distribution of Vacancy Announcement. An approved announcement system, as determined by the Department, will be used to advertise all competitive service vacancies with an area of consideration of Department wide or greater. For limited areas of consideration within a Bureau, local methods of announcing a vacancy may be employed.

Accepting Applications. Bureaus have the discretion to establish cutoff dates for receipt of applications based on either postmark or the closing date of the vacancy announcement. Bureaus also have the discretion to decide whether facsimiles or electronic mail transmissions of application materials are acceptable or not acceptable.