General

Governmentwide regulations do not establish a minimum time. Instead, the regulations require that appraisal programs establish a minimum appraisal period, which is the minimum amount of time that employees must work under a specific set of elements and standards before they can be assigned a rating of record. (The Governmentwide regulation on minimum appraisal periods is found in part 430 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations.)

As long as a supervisor has the necessary information and the employee has been under an established set of elements and standards for the minimum appraisal period, the supervisor can assign a rating.