Paralegal Specialist

So I applied to a paralegal specialist position in my own office. I have more than enough experience with my prior position (in the courts for 8 years) and 8 months in with my LAS position. I just received an email back from USA staffing that I am ineligible for all three grades 9/11/12. I am currently a 7 because I screened myself out of the higher grades when initially coming in due to not knowing what I was doing. Do you think it’s because they looked at my time in grade and went off of that? I had applied to the same position with another agency that was open to the public and didn’t put in my fed time on that app and was referred for all three grades. This position is also open to the public. Should I have not applied with my fed experience and applied as if I was an external? I don’t know what to do now and I’m so worked up about it. I did email the HR rep to find out what the problem is but that is my only guess.