Adjudication of two positions of the same or different Corps without coinciding the period of time of possession.

Last update: September 2025

The question raised relates to the situation of a staff member belonging to the Civil Administration Management Corps of the State who is on leave to provide services in the public sector in the Auxiliary General Corps of the Civil Administration of the State. Once it has applied for participation in several specific competitions and, awarded one of them, after taking possession of it, it is awarded another competition.

It is thus considered whether you can choose to stay in one destination or another, or you are obliged to stay in the first destination for two years. Likewise, if the conclusion reached is applicable in the event that the contests awarded refer to the two Bodies of the General Administration of the State to which the official belongs.

In the first place, the legal framework for implementation must be analysed. The fourth final provision of Royal Legislative Decree 5/2015, of 30 October, approving the consolidated text of the Law on the Basic Statute of the Public Employee (TREBEP), differs the entry into force of the provisions relating to the provision of jobs and mobility until the entry into force of the Public Service Laws that are issued in development of the Statute.

Thus, and in accordance with the provisions of the fourth final provision of the TREBEP, which establishes in its second paragraph:

“Until the Civil Service Laws are enacted and the development regulations are in force in each Civil Service, the current regulations on the management, planning and management of human resources shall remain in force as long as they do not conflict with the provisions of this Statute.”

Consequently, the provisions relating to the provision of posts regulated by Law 30/1984 of 2 August on Measures for the Reform of the Public Service and Royal Decree 364/1995 of 10 March, approving the General Regulations on the Admission of Personnel to the Service of the General State Administration and on the Provision of Jobs and Professional Promotion of Civil Servants of the General State Administration, remain in force.

In this context, article 20.1.a) of Law 30/1984, of 2 August, on Measures for the Reform of the Public Service, establishes that competitive examination is the normal procedure for the provision of jobs for career civil servants; and participation in it, as a general rule, is of a voluntary nature.

For its part, according to article 49.1 of the General Regulations on the Entry of Personnel into the Service of the General State Administration and on the Provision of Jobs and Professional Promotion of Civil Servants of the General State Administration, approved by Royal Decree 364/1995 of 10 March, the destinations awarded by tender are inalienable, except in the case that before the end of the term of office another destination has been obtained by public call.

In view of the above, the question raised focuses on the possibility of participating in several competitions and the option in case of being awarded several positions.

From the provisions of article 49.1 of Royal Decree 364/1995 it follows that, as a general rule, the destinations awarded by contest are inalienable. In accordance with Article 41(2) of the same Regulation, “Staff members shall remain in each permanent post for a minimum of two years in order to participate in procurement competitions, except at the level of a Secretariat of State or a Ministerial Department, in the absence thereof (…)”.

Thus, once a position has been awarded by a competitive examination, it must be held for a minimum of two years as a general rule. In this regard, in the event that the staff member is interested in one position more than another, it would be advisable and appropriate for her to withdraw the application for participation in the competition that is not of interest to her before it is resolved, in which case it would be irrevocable.

Article 49.1 of Royal Decree 364/1995 contains the only exception to this rule, in those cases in which, before the end of the period for taking office, another destination has been obtained by means of a public announcement. Only in this case if the official or official will be able to choose the position he wants.

Therefore, it is possible to participate in various specific contests that coincide in time without the first of them having been resolved. But once the period for taking office ends, as the destination is inalienable, you cannot opt for the destination awarded in the subsequent resolution contest.

In the case of being interested in a subsequent contest, based on the voluntariness of participation in them, one of them may be waived according to the provisions of the specific call, normally before the date on which the Valuation Commission completes the process of review and evaluation of the merits.

And all this without prejudice to the fact that the convening body will be competent to consider and assess the incidents, as well as to resolve any doubts that may arise in relation to the contests that they call, adopting in this regard the motivated decisions that it deems appropriate.

Likewise, the same consultation is proposed in relation to the possibility that two posts from different Corps will be awarded by competitive examination without the time limit for taking office coinciding.

In this case, there would be no inconvenience in the participation in competitions of several Bodies to which the official belongs and, resolved and awarded in his favor one of them, could take possession a posteriori, if resolved in a period other than the previous one already obtained, becoming in an administrative situation of voluntary leave for the provision of services in the public sector with respect to the other Body.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, it is recalled that the change of administrative situations is not the instrument that the legislator contemplates for the mobility of an official, not only because it could constitute a fraud of law but also because of the possible damages that it could cause to the Administration.

All of the foregoing is without prejudice to recalling that, according to the regime of competences of this management center, the answers to queries issued by this general directorate are merely informative and, consequently, are not of a binding criterion, nor do they give rise to rights or expectations of law, nor imply any link with the type of procedures to which they refer. Furthermore, in the absence of a mandatory or binding nature, the bodies receiving such replies may, where appropriate, finally take a decision that does not correspond to the opinion contained therein.

The responses to queries contained in this bulletin address the issues raised in the light of the regulations in force at the time of their issuance, so that such responses may be affected by subsequent legislative changes or judicial decisions.