Term extensions

Many TTS employees are hired on term appointments for a maximum of four or eight years. However, term appointments need to be renewed every two years or 3 years depending on the appointment.

If you don’t know when your term ends, you can find your Not To Exceed (NTE) date by looking in HR Links. Click on the navigator icon, choose Navigator, then Workforce Administration, then Job Information, then Employee Request USF.

What's the process?

Term renewals are not automatic. They require a lot of thought and deliberation – and a fair bit of bureaucratic process, too.

1. 6-7 months before an employee's term ends, TTS PeopleOps will reach out to the Supervisor of the employee and the Director of that office with a list of staff whose terms are about to end.

2. Supervisors and Directors will consider the individual's performance, organizational priorities, position needs, and other factors to determine their recommendation. They will also confirm that the employee would like to be renewed. Renewals require mutual consent between the individual and the organization to continue.

3. Directors will provide their recommendation to TTS PeopleOps, along with the following info:

   • How long will the employee's term be renewed for? (6 months, 1 year, 2 years, or 3 years)
   • Justification
     • Type of work employee does, how billable they are, are they currently on a project, and will they remain billable?
     • If not billable, what work are they doing and why is it necessary?

PLEASE NOTE: The standard term length breakdown for an 8 year appointment is 3+3+2.

4. TTS PeopleOps will send the list of renewal requests to the TTS Front Office for approval.

5. If the decision is to extend, TTS PeopleOps will process a Personnel Action Request (PAR) to extend the employee's term. Employment status and benefits will remain the same and no additional action is needed from the employee or their supervisor.

   • At this point, the extension process is completed by TTS PeopleOps and GSA HR.
   • If the decision is not to extend, TTS PeopleOps will submit a PAR to GSA HR near the end of the employee's term to initiate offboarding. See Leaving TTS for more details.

6. Employees should reach out to their supervisor for the status of these requests.

   GSA and internal systems do not process extensions ahead of time, so you won't see an updated NTE date in HR Links until after your first term concludes.

7. After the end of your first term, TTS PeopleOps checks to make sure that the extension has been processed. You should also check your HR Links account to confirm that your NTE date is accurate.

   • Your new term will begin the day after your previous term end date, excluding weekends. If your term ended on a weekend, the new term will begin the following Monday. So, if your current NTE date is 6/15/21, you would be able to view your new NTE date of 6/15/23 starting on 6/16/21.
   • Your updated NTE (Not To Exceed date) will show up in your HR Links account the day after your current term ends, along with your updated SF50 under the “Personnel Actions (SF-50s)” tab.

   If your NTE date was not updated on the first day of your new term, email TTS PeopleOps at , external,tts-peopleops@gsa.gov immediately.

What happens between the decision and the end of term?

• Approved extensions are added to the TTS PeopleOps internal Operations Trello board.
• PeopleOps sends extension PARs in batches at the beginning of each month for all extensions happening the following month. PARs are submitted and processed through HR Links.
• GSA HR reviews and confirms the PAR, checking that all information is accurate (employee has another term left, correct extension dates, etc.). HR is not "approving" the extension request at this step of the process. The extension has already been approved; this is just a matter of processing.
• HR sends the approved PAR to CPC (GSA's Consolidated Processing Center in Kansas City, MO) to have it processed.
• CPC processes the PAR. They process all approved personnel actions in GSA systems and complete the SF50, which is attached to your personnel record and can be viewed in HR Links. They process PARs based on action date, which is why you will not see the updates in HR Links or our internal systems until the extension date.