Civilian Intelligence Personnel Management System (CIPMS) Qualification Standards are provided for evaluating candidates for CIPMS positions. They represent the minimum basic requirements for the particular job series. As with the newer Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Standards, specialized experience requirements in these standards are driven by job specific knowledges, skills, and abilities (KSAs). CIPMS Army Occupational Guides (AOGs), OPM Qualification and Classification Standards (if no CIPMS standards exist), position descriptions, and Army Civilian Training, Education and Development System (ACTEDS) competencies are among the best sources for determining the KSAs/specialized experience required in filling specific positions. The selection process allows activities to consider possession of pertinent ACTEDS competencies, recency of pertinent experience as well as the depth and breadth of each candidate's experience in evaluating total qualifications. KSAs should be used as ranking criteria to supplement the basic qualification standard in evaluating candidates.

It is expected that selective factors appropriate to individual positions will be made a part of the qualification requirements when justified. KSAs which are mandatory for performance of the position and which cannot readily be learned after entry on duty can be added to the minimum qualification requirements as selective factors. Some examples of possible selective factors which may be justified based on the duties of the position are: knowledge of a specific geographic area and/or language, or knowledge of a specific intelligence discipline (e.g. ELINT, SIGINT, Counterintelligence, etc).

Flexibility has been built into CIPMS standards to allow individual activities to tailor requirements to meet local needs. CIPMS standards list academic disciplines which generally would be relevant for most positions covered by that particular standard. These disciplines are meant to constitute the closely-related (CR) areas of academic study for that standard. Activities may adjust the definition of CR academic disciplines to specific vacancies. If, for example, some of the disciplines are irrelevant for a particular vacancy, do not credit them as being closely-related. Likewise, if an unlisted discipline is particularly pertinent to a specific vacancy, it should be credited as being closely-related. If applicable, disciplines considered CR for a specific vacancy should be indicated in the vacancy announcement so that applicants will know the basis of evaluation of a specific vacancy. Specialized experience is expected to be position-driven with job specific KSAs used in the qualification process.

In evaluating experience, activities should assure that work which shows evidence of meeting the specific experience requirements of a vacancy is credited. The key is possession of creditable experience, not necessarily where that experience was obtained. In evaluating military experience care should be taken to consider not only rank but also the actual duties performed, the echelons at which the duties were performed, KSAs gained, etc. Time spent acquiring intelligence-related knowledges (military reserve training courses) or reserve duty assignments can be credited as specialized work experience. Credit for part-time experience, whether reserve duty or civilian, will be calculated on the basis of a 2087 hour (260 day) work year.