Section 451.302 - Ranks for senior career employees(a) The circumstances under which the President may award the rank of Distinguished Senior Professional and Meritorious Senior Professional to a senior career employee are set forth in 5 U.S.C. 4507a .(b) To be eligible for a rank award, a senior career employee must:(1) Hold a career appointment in a Senior-Level (SL) or Scientific-Professional (ST) position that is subject to OPM position allocations under part 319 of this chapter and paid under 5 U.S.C. 5376 on the nomination deadline set by OPM;(2) Be an employee of the agency on the nomination deadline set by OPM; and(3) Have at least 3 years of career or career-type Federal civilian service above GS-15. Service need not be continuous. Qualifying service includes appointments that are not- (ii) To positions that are excepted from the competitive service because of their confidential or policy-determining character.(c) Each agency may nominate up to 9 percent of its senior career employees for rank awards. 67 FR 52596 , Aug. 13, 2002, as amended at 72 FR 44367 , Aug. 8, 2007