S. 3410 — A bill to establish Federal agency technology and artificial intelligence talent teams to improve competitive service hiring practices, and for other purposes.

This section authorizes federal agencies to establish technology and artificial intelligence (AI) talent teams—including at the component level—to provide hiring support for technology and AI positions in the competitive service, including by improving examinations, facilitating job announcements, sharing high-quality certificates of eligibles, and using subject matter experts. Agencies may also establish centralized guidance for other talent teams addressing high-need hiring areas, and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) may expand its hiring experience team to scale best practices for pooled hiring in AI roles. This section further authorizes the OPM Director to establish a governmentwide technology and AI talent team to support agency teams through best practices, cross-agency hiring efforts, technical assessments, and sharing of certificates of eligibles and résumés under 5 U.S.C. §§ 3318(b) and 3319(c); OPM may also create other talent teams and expand its hiring experience team for surge and pooled hiring focused initially on AI roles. This section permits subject matter experts to develop and administer position-specific technical assessments for technology and AI positions in the competitive service, including for qualification determinations or category rating under 5 U.S.C. § 3319; authorizes sharing and customization of such assessments among agencies (subject to regulations); and directs OPM to establish an online platform for sharing and customizing assessments, with user ratings of utility but no OPM validation responsibility. Agencies must use existing platforms, such as USA Hire, if practicable. This section defines "agency" as an agency under 31 U.S.C. § 901(b) and "examination" to include applicant demonstrations of knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies via assessments or subject matter expert-informed résumé reviews based on job analyses rationally related to position performance; on and after five years from enactment, examinations may not solely or principally rely on automated self-assessments, subject to waiver by an agency's Chief Human Capital Officer (with report to OPM). (Thus, the changes expand pooled hiring flexibilities under category rating systems—i.e., grouping applicants into quality categories rather than numerical scores, with veterans' preference—while limiting overreliance on automated tools to ensure merit-based evaluations.)