The long-awaited change to allow more flexible hiring selections and decisions is now fully in effect. Authorized by the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, OPM’s new “Rule of Many” is replacing the “Rule of Three.” Federal agencies began using this rule on November 7, 2025, and had until March 9, 2026, to be in full compliance. This new process enables more control over how many applicants are referred, more visibility on which applicants scored higher than others, more flexibility for removing applicants, and ultimately, an expanded candidate pool for Hiring Managers.
According to OPM’s Scott Kupor, “the [Rule of Many] allows a hiring manager to effectively stack rank the full slate of candidates – without regard to the Rule of Three and the categorization buckets that previously governed federal hiring. Coupled with the use of functional skills assessments…the ROM gives hiring managers the much-needed flexibility to distinguish candidates based on their demonstrated functional merit-based qualifications for the role in question.”
FedHire agencies already have all the tools needed for Rule of Many.
Sufficient Number of Applicants
- FedHire supports setting cut-off values for assessment scores to identify qualified applicants
- HR can define a specific number of top applicants to be referred when creating a certificate
- HR can create a tag for the ‘top percent ranked’ to mark those candidates or create a custom “Best Qualified” status to group them
Visibility on Applicant Scores
- FedHire displays applicant scores in the Applicant Listing when Category Ranking is not used and the option to display scores is selected.
- Veterans Preference still applies under the Rule of Many and will continue to be supported by FedHire
- With scores required for the Rule of Many, agencies will need to ensure they’re leveraging robust assessments that can best measure a candidates’ qualifications and ensure accurate ranking. Our system supports a wide range of assessment methods—whether scores are provided by SMEs in the Collaborate module, automatically imported from assessments administered on our testing platform, or uploaded from externally administered evaluations.
"Three Consideration Rule"
- Hiring Managers can add comments to explain the non-selection, such as three bona fide considerations, declinations by candidates or pass-overs for veterans
- HR can create a custom status code to easily identify candidates, so they are not referred again for the same position
- The documentation to remove a candidate from further consideration can be saved as a vacancy case file
In-System Guidance for Users and Job Seekers
- Agencies can include language in the announcement text regarding how the vacancy will be filled– i.e. whether by Rule of Many or Category Ranking – or, take it a step further and configure the method to appear as part of the vacancy
- In the Selecting Official module, HR users can include instructions to help guide hiring managers and selecting officials on how to make and annotate selections from the certificate, including considerations for veteran preference
- HR users and Hiring Managers can add any necessary documentation and notes, including the selected method, to the case file
Additional Resources
Interested in a demo for ApplyGov’s merit-based talent acquisition system?
For ApplyGov agencies with questions or concerns on the Rule of Many, reach out to your representative!