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September 18, 2026
Dear USA Staffing Advisory Board Members:
Today, OPM sent an email, “Merit Hiring Plan—Revised Essay Questions and Treatment of Prior Question Three Responses” detailing OPM’s guidance following the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts decision to stay the implementation and use of the third essay question (Executive Orders) in American Federation of Government Employees v. Kupor, No. 25-cv-13305 (D. Mass.).
Agencies cannot consider candidate responses to the prior Question 3 in their evaluation of candidates for any open vacancy. Agencies do not need to reopen previous hiring actions or repost current job announcements that close on or before September 25, 2026.
Agency Action for Currently Open Job Opportunity Announcements Closing September 26, 2026 or Later
If your agency has open job opportunity announcements closing September 26, 2026 or later, Question 3 must be updated to the revised Question 3.
Revised Question 3: “In this role, you will be expected to professionally and efficiently implement executive direction. Provide an example where you implemented leadership direction on a strategy or policy decision that differed from your own recommendation.”
Your account manager will provide you a report listing the announcements closing September 26, 2026 or later. By September 23, 2026, please respond confirming if:
- The agency approves USA Staffing to replace the current Question 3 with the revised Question 3 and re-release the announcement
- The agency takes the responsibility to reannounce the job opportunity announcement with the updated Question 3
Immediate USA Staffing Action for Future Job Opportunity Announcements
- USA Staffing will remove the current “Merit Hiring Plan Essay Question 3” from all job opportunity announcements opening September 19, 2026 or later. USA Staffing will also remove the previous “Merit Hiring Plan Essay Question 3” from the announcement item library and accompanying item bundle to prevent its use in future announcements.
- USA Staffing will add the revised “Merit Hiring Plan Essay Question 3” to all job opportunity announcements opening September 19, 2026 or later. USA Staffing will also add the new “Merit Hiring Plan Essay Question 3” to the announcement item library and accompanying item bundles for use in future announcements.
Agency Action for Future Job Opportunity Announcements
- Confirm you are not using custom versions of the Merit Hiring Plan (MHP) essay questions. This includes items with distinct item stems or headers. USA Staffing cannot guarantee that custom versions will be included in our automatic updates.
- Confirm that the item stem and item header have not been edited after copying an MHP essay question into a vacancy, and do not edit it going forward. Editing the item stem prevents USA Staffing’s updates from taking effect. All MHP items have a header in the format “Merit Hiring Plan Essay Question #X" and precise language mandated by OPM.
- Review each Office’s Announcement Default Settings and remove the prior Question 3 if it is included, then add the new Question 3. This will prevent the old question from being automatically added to new vacancies. USA Staffing cannot automatically remove or replace questions in these Office-level default settings; agencies must make this change.
- Continue adding the MHP essay questions through the item bundle published to your library by the program office. This ensures that the correct questions are used.
Additional Merit Hiring Plan Essay Question Updates
The memo also requires agencies and Offices of Inspector General to develop a single version of a new Question 5 for their respective job announcements and submit the wording to HX@opm.gov by September 30, 2026.
Question 5: “This position supports [agency]’s mission and current priorities, including [insert 1–3 current agency-wide priorities]. Describe how your skills and experience would help the agency advance those priorities in this role.”
(Note: Agencies should populate the bracketed text with important priorities drawn from the agency’s current strategic plan, annual performance plan, or other current agency priorities. The text must be the same for all announcements within the agency.)
USA Staffing will update the item bundle with the agency’s approved Question 5 language no later than Monday, November 2, 2026. Please continue using the item bundle published by our program office so these changes can be rolled out seamlessly.
Please contact your USA Staffing Account Manager if you have any questions.
Respectfully,
The USA Staffing Program Office
U.S. Office of Personnel Management
1900 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20415
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