Code of Federal Regulations Title 5. Administrative Personnel § 5.1.3 Definitions

(a) Competitive service shall have the same meaning as the words “classified service”, or “classified (competitive) service”, or “classified civil service” as defined in existing statutes and executive orders.

(b) Competitive position shall mean a position in the competitive service.

(c) Competitive status shall mean basic eligibility to be noncompetitively selected to fill a vacancy in a competitive position. A competitive status shall be acquired by career-conditional or career appointment through open competitive examination upon satisfactory completion of a probationary period, or may be granted by statute, executive order, or the Civil Service Rules without competitive examination. A person with competitive status may be promoted, transferred, reassigned, reinstated, or demoted without taking an open competitive examination, subject to the conditions prescribed by the Civil Service Rules and Regulations.

(d) An employee shall be considered as being in the competitive service when he has a competitive status and occupies a competitive position unless he is serving under a temporary appointment:  Provided, that an employee who is in the competitive service at the time his position is first listed under Schedule A, B, or C shall be considered as continuing in the competitive service as long as he continues to occupy such position.

(e) Tenure shall mean the period of time an employee may reasonably expect to serve under his current appointment. Tenure shall be granted and governed by the type of appointment under which an employee is currently serving without regard to whether he has a competitive status or whether his appointment is to a competitive position or an excepted position.