Officer Evaluation System (OES)

• We can tell its promotion board time by the influx of late OERs. We have recently seen several OERs with ending dates from 6 months, 12 months and even 24 months! These late OERs undermine the whole intent of the OES. Per the NOAA Corps Officer Evaluation Directives, "The OES is an important part of the NOAA Corps officer personnel management system. It supplies information to the Director, Commissioned Personnel Center, for personnel management decisions in a variety of areas, mainly: Promotion, Assignment and Career Development." For the system to work properly and for OMAO to make sound decisions, it requires timely OERs.
• NOAA Corps Officer Evaluation Directives 10.A.2.c.2.k states that the Reported-On-Officer "Assumes ultimate responsibility for managing own performance, notwithstanding the responsibilities assigned to others in the rating chain. This includes ensuring performance feedback is thorough and that OERs and associated documentation are timely and accurate." It also states in 10.A.2.c.2.g that the Reported-On-Officer "Informs Director, Commissioned Personnel Center (CPC) directly by written communication (e.g., letter, E-mail) if the official copy of the OER has not been received 90 days after the end of the reporting period."
• Reported-On-Officers will receive an email from oer.cpc@noaa.gov when their OER has been logged into the system. If you have not seen that email within 45 days of the end of your annual reporting period, or ending date of your OER submission, please contact OCMD so we can shake the trees and get those OERs to fall out.
• It is also the charge of any NOAA Corps Supervisor, Reporting Officer or Reviewing Officer to ensure they are taking care of their employees and completing evaluations on time. Not only does it provide timely feedback and guidance to the officer, it is essential to maintaining the integrity of the OES.
• One of the main duties of OCMD is to ensure OER ratings are fair, representative of performance and defendable. Scores deviating from a "4" must be backed up by informative comments. Per the Directives "a well-constructed comment will be clear, concise and easy to understand. It should discuss how well the task was done and report the result achieved. Most importantly, it should indicate the impact of the officer's conduct or performance on the unit's ability to meet its mission objectives."
• Lastly, in reference to "high" scores and how they are specifically addressed in the Directives. "A mark of four represents the expected standard of performance. Additional specific performance observations must be included when an officer has been assigned a mark of five or six to show how they exceeded this high level of performance. Those assigned the superlative mark of seven should have specific comments demonstrating how they exceeded the six standard block." One of the main takeaways here is the fact that a "7" is superlative and must be defendable by impacts or metrics.

I want to thank everyone for your continued effort to maintain the integrity of the Officer Evaluation System and ensure it allows CPC to make the most informed and best decisions for the NOAA Corps.

Administrative Absence and Permissive Travel

Recently, there have been inquiries regarding administrative leave for NOAA Corps officers. In response, we are providing an overview on administrative absence and permissive travel. Administrative absence is a period of authorized absence not chargeable as leave. These absences, not to exceed ten calendar days per year, may be approved by leave granting authorities for purposes that include non-federal meetings, professional society functions or other functions that will enhance an officer's professional development or the image of the NOAA Corps. If the meeting or function is held away from an officers' current duty station, permissive travel orders must be issued.

A complete list of authorized administrative absences is located in NCD, Section 06501.

Officers may be granted administrative absence up to five days for house hunting. This must be done prior to effecting a PCS. Upon official notification of a forthcoming assignment, geographically distant from the current assignment, an officer may be authorized up to five days of administrative absence in conjunction with permissive travel orders. Permissive travel is authorization for an officer to travel away from his/her current duty station at no cost to the Government. Permissive travel orders are to be issued by the officer's supervisor in conjunction with any administrative absence which requires the officer to leave the local commuting area. Please refer to NCD, Section 06502 for guidance on permissive travel.

Heavy Board

An Aviation Advisory Board will convene during the month of June 2016 to make recommendations for the next P-3 and G-IV pilots.  The Board will consider all interested aviators in the rank of O-4 and below with a minimum of 1,500 hours of total flight time and 100 hours of NOAA Aircraft Commander time.  Applicants must reasonably expect to meet the minimum qualifications listed above by the following estimated training start dates:

• 1 G-IV pilot: June 2017
• 1 P-3 pilot: June 2017

By COB, Monday, May 31, 2016, all interested officers should submit an email (one-page maximum) to CDR Nicholas Chrobak at assignmentbranch.cpc@noaa.gov, with the following detailed information:

• Explain how your experience and expertise will benefit the programs and missions in which the aircraft support
• Desired platform (if any)
• Aircraft ratings held
• Positions held by aircraft (both AOC and other) and current flight times in those capacities
• Anything additional that will highlight your accomplishments and performance

Please note, for official boards convened by the Director, NOAA Corps, members will have access to Official Personnel File. Ensure that your file and assignment preferences are up to date. 

Aviators with specific questions regarding these positions may contact either LCDR Christopher Kerns or LCDR Jason Mansour.

Aviation Advisory Board

An Aviation Advisory Board will convene in June 2016 to select for initial flight training. Please see below for additional information:

Initial Flight:
The Board will select up to three officers from the fleet who are interested in transitioning to aviation. Start dates for flight training will be determined based upon the needs of the Service and rotation dates of the officers selected. Flight experience is encouraged, but is not required for this opportunity.

Requirements for the NOAA Corps Aviation Selection Process:

• Complete all sections of NOAA Form 56-43 (Application for NOAA Corps Aviation Program).
• Complete a USCG Class I flight physical. 
• Complete the Aviation Selection Test Battery (ASTB) exam through a Department of Defense recruiting center. 
• A recommendation for aviation selection must be included in Section 10 (Potential) of the applicant's Officer Evaluation Report (NOAA form 56-6A), or provide a written endorsement from your current supervisor.

If you are interested in this opportunity, notify CDR Nicholas Chrobak (assignmentbranch.cpc@noaa.gov) by COB, 29 April 2016. AOC will be responsible for conducting interviews between April and May for all applicants. Completed aviation application packages must arrive at the Commissioned Personnel Center (CPC) by COB, 31 May 2016. Contact LCDR Chris Kerns (christopher.kerns@noaa.gov) – (813) 828-4361 or LCDR Jason Mansour (jason.mansour@noaa.gov) – (813) 828-4165 with any questions that you have.

ACO Award Submission

REMINDER: The due date to submit nominations for the 2015 ACO Awards is 01 April 2016.

Submit nominations via e-mail to Ryan.Wattam@noaa.gov, by COB 01 April 2016.

Please see the 19 February Cyberflash for more details on the submission procedures.