C.F.R. » Title 5 » CHAPTER I—OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT › SUBCHAPTER B—CIVIL SERVICE REGULATIONS › PART 351—REDUCTION IN FORCE › Subpart D—Scope of Competition

5 C.F.R. § 351.402

Competitive area

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(a) Each agency shall establish competitive areas in which employees compete for retention under this part.

(b)(1) Except as authorized in paragraph (b)(2) of this section, a competitive area must be defined in terms of the agency's organizational unit(s) and, except as provided in paragraph (e) of this section, it must include all employees within the competitive area so defined. A competitive area may consist of any organizational unit or combination of units established on the agency's official organizational chart. Organizational charts must be available on the agency's public facing web page or otherwise appropriately documented by the agency. An organizational unit for these purposes must be designated/approved by the head of the agency, or designee, and the designation or approval cannot be delegated to an official below the agency's headquarters level. In addition, an organizational unit for these purposes must be clearly distinguished from other organizational units with regard to its operation, work function, staff, and supervisory oversight.

(2) An agency may define a geographic location (e.g., a national park or county) as a separate competitive area.

(3) Notwithstanding paragraph (b)(2) of this section, for the purposes of defining a competitive area, an agency must assign employees working at an approved alternate location to the organizational unit to which they are officially assigned.

(c) If an agency establishes or materially modifies a competitive area within 90 days before issuing specific reduction in force notices for that competitive area, the agency shall submit a description of the competitive area, along with a written statement explaining the bona fide organizational basis for the competitive area, to OPM for approval in advance of the reduction in force. Descriptions of all competitive areas, and accompanying explanations submitted to OPM, must be made readily available for review consistent with national security considerations and applicable laws including the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552), and the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a).

(d) Each agency shall establish a separate competitive area for each Inspector General activity established under authority of the Inspector General Act of 1978, Public Law 95-452, as amended, in which only employees of that office shall compete for retention under this part.

(e) When an agency finds that a competitive area defined under paragraph (b) of this section includes pay band positions and positions not covered by a pay band, the agency may, at its discretion, define a separate (and additional) competitive area, otherwise consistent with paragraph (b) of this section, to include only pay band positions. The original competitive area would then include only the remaining positions (i.e., those positions not covered by a pay band).

[51 FR 319 Jan. 3, 1986, as amended at 56 FR 65416, Dec. 17, 1991; 62 FR 62500, Nov. 24, 1997; 73 FR 46532, Aug. 11, 2008; 91 FR 49219, Aug. 3, 2026; 91 FR 54795, Aug. 25, 2026]
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 38 cases (3 in the last 5 years), 1974–2025 · leading case: Sharon Andrade v. Charles A. Lauer, 729 F.2d 1475 (D.C. Cir. 1984).
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Sharon Andrade v. Charles A. Lauer, 729 F.2d 1475 (D.C. Cir. 1984). · cites it 5× “5 C.F.R. § 351.402 (a). 3 The “stan *1479 dard for a competitive area is that it include all or that part of an agency in which employees are assigned under a single administrative authority.”
Markland v. Off. of Pers. Mgmt., 140 F.3d 1031 (Fed. Cir. 1998). · cites it 5× “Background Following its redesign in January 1995, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) delineated fifteen departmental service competitive areas pursuant to 5 C.F.R. § 351.402 (b) (1997), each of which corresponded to a subdivision of the central office.”
Orin Thomas Grier v. Dep't of Health & Human Servs., 750 F.2d 944 (Fed. Cir. 1984). · cites it 3× “5 C.F.R. § 351.402 . Agencies, therefore, must accommodate two elements, administrative structure and geography, in determining competitive areas.”
Am. Fed'n of Gov't Employees, Local 32 v. Fed. Labor Relations Auth., 110 F.3d 810 (D.C. Cir. 1997). · cites it 6× “” 5 C.F.R. § 351.402 (b) (emphasis added); see also U.”
Nuclear Regulatory Comm'n v. Fed. Labor Relations Auth., 895 F.2d 152 (4th Cir. 1990). · cites it 3× “5 C.F.R. § 351.402 . *157 The employees in a particular competitive area compete with each other for remaining positions exclusively on the basis of their relative retention standing.”
Nat'l Treasury Employees Union v. Donald J. Devine, 733 F.2d 114 (D.C. Cir. 1984). “49,465 (1983) (to be codified at 5 C.F.R. § 351.402 (c)); id. at 49,480 (to be codified at 5 C.”
Howard D. Cowan v. United States, 710 F.2d 803 (Fed. Cir. 1983). “5 C.F.R. § 351.402 . 9 . See supra note 7.”
Am. Fed'n of Gov't Employees, Local 32, Afl-Cio v. Fed. Labor Relations Auth., 853 F.2d 986 (D.C. Cir. 1988). “See 5 C.F.R. § 351.402 (defining “competitive area").”
U.S. Merit Sys. Prot. Bd. v. Fed. Labor Relations Auth., 913 F.2d 976 (D.C. Cir. 1990). · cites it 2× “See 5 C.F.R. §§ 351.402 (a), .701(a); FPM Supplement 351-1 §§ S3-2(a), S5-3(a)(2).”
William L. Ginnodo v. Off. of Pers. Mgmt., 753 F.2d 1061 (Fed. Cir. 1985). · cites it 5× “Ginnodo argues that by denying him all opportunity to compete with other employees, OPM violated the provisions of 5 C.F.R. § 351.402 (1982) 1 and its own policies for the establishment of competitive areas as clarified by the amended text of that regulation.”
Kenneth M. Cooper v. Tennessee Valley Auth., 723 F.2d 1560 (Fed. Cir. 1983). “5 C.F.R. § 351.402 -.403 (1983). TVA established Raccoon Mountain as the petitioner’s competitive area and the supervising engineer level at which he was employed as his competitive level.”
Raymond E. Dodd v. Tennessee Valley Auth., 770 F.2d 1038 (Fed. Cir. 1985). “Competitive area, 5 C.F.R. § 351.402 , and competitive level, 5 C.”
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5 C.F.R. § 351.402(b): 1 case
Stover v. Chairman, Equal Emp. Opportunity Comm'n, 673 F. Supp. 522 (D.D.C. 1987).
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