Happy New Year, fellow NOAA Corps officers!
I am pleased to announce that Secretary Raimondo approved the Officer Personnel Board's promotion recommendations and forwarded the package to the White House for the President's approval. Congratulations to the following officers recommended for promotion to the next higher grade:
Bravo Zulu!
CAPT Douglas MacIntyre, NOAA
Director, Commissioned Personnel Center
| 19 Jan 2022 | Ops Working Group |
| 02 Feb 2022 | Officer Assignment Board |
| Mar 2022 | Command Advisory Board |
| LT Lauren Jarlenski | 12 Feb 2022 |
| CDR Bradley Fritzler | 01 Mar 2022 |
| CDR Ronald Moyers | 01 Mar 2022 |
| LCDR Justin Keesee | 01 Mar 2022 |
| LCDR Lindsey Norman | 18 May 2022 |
At the end of each year NOAA Boulder awards people that went well above and beyond in outreach, education, and communication. This year, they had two wonderful NOAA Corps Officers that did just that.
LT Timothy Holland was instrumental in communicating science from Antarctica this year. He even filmed a video for us for our "Ask A Scientist" segment for kids. Since NOAA Boulder can not yet accept tours into the building, Tim's contribution to our virtual efforts not only helped children this year but will help students for years to come.
LT Marisa Gedney stepped in this year when NOAA Boulder were not able to host employees' children in the building for their annual Take Your Kid To Work Days. She spent an hour virtual with kids from NOAA Boulder, NIST Boulder, and NIST Gaithersburg who signed on when their school day was done, but their parents were still working. Her informative talk on what it's like to be in the NOAA Corps gave a glimpse into the fascinating jobs and places she has been able to experience and kept the kids riveted. This was an in-reach activity to help employees who struggle with keeping kids entertained at home during COVID.
History of the Gold Star Awards:
90% of our outreach occurs because NOAA Boulder Staff volunteers help spread the word about your science. When we reach thousands of people in a typical year, we only do so because your Scientists, Admin Support, Directors, etc., went above and beyond by giving some of their hours to help with virtual tours, events, visits, conferences, and more. Without this support, our small team could not reach as many school groups, participate in as many conferences (many virtual), provide as many seminars, treat campus staff to special programs, or answer the many questions from the general public.
These award winners were selected by The Boulder Outreach Coordination Committee and is their highest honor in the year.
The End of Year package 2021 is available now on OPF Online and will remain open through March 04, 2022. You may use this time to get a head start on the package by reviewing your OPF and ensuring completeness. Please direct any questions to LT Steve Moulton, stephen.f.moulton@noaa.gov.
Promotion board season will be here before you know it, and to better help officers understand the promotion process, OCMD would like to highlight the use of Precept Letters in the promotion process. Each promotion board is governed by a precept letter that is issued to the Chair of the promotion board by the Director, NOAA Corps. The precept letter identifies board membership, officers who are in or above zone, and the number of officers to be selected for promotion. It also is the document where the Director, NOAA Corps provides guidance to the promotion board on priorities for the organization at each rank and things the board should consider when making their promotion recommendations.
Precept letters from past promotion boards are uploaded to the CPC website once all recommendations have been approved by the Secretary of Commerce. While there is no guarantee that the precept letters for upcoming boards will be identical to past precept letters, the letters from past boards can provide valuable insight to officers who are preparing to compete for promotion to higher ranks.
Additional information on the promotion process can be found in 2 webinars hosted by OCMD over the past year.
Promotion Process Webinar (DEC 2020)
OCMP Formulation and Promotion Timelines Webinar (AUG 2021)
If you have any questions regarding the promotion process, or to get some feedback for how to prepare yourself for promotion, please contact:
CDR Ryan Wattam
Chief, Officer Career Management Division
chief.careermgmt.cpc@noaa.gov
301-713-7748
As a reminder, the end of the reporting period for ENS and LTJGs with less than 3 years of service is January 31st. 21 days prior (January 10th) Rated Officers should be submitting a list of accomplishments and administrative data for Section 1 of NOAA Form 56-6E to their Supervisors.
This is a friendly reminder from OCMD that any training that is required for all NOAA employees (ex - the Annual IT Security Awareness Training) should not be uploaded to your OPF. Any training meeting this criteria will have the OPF case declined with the following reason: “Required training for all NOAA employees.” The exception to this is the required promotion training curriculum. More information on required promotion training can be found on the CPC website.
If you have questions about training document uploads please reach out to the CPC Leadership Coordinator, LT Diane Perry, or or the OCMD HR Assistant, Faiona Chamorro, at cpc.training@noaa.gov. You may also call 301-713-7736.
Given the enduring nature of COVID-19 and the characteristics of the new Omicron variant, the CDC released new guidelines regarding isolation and quarantine. Given the critical nature of many NOAA worksites, a negative COVID test (PCR or Rapid test) is required to return to a worksite if you have tested positive while COVID cases remain high.
Note that if you are on an operational platform please continue to follow your local protocols. Otherwise, please follow this guidance:
Isolation (5 days): If you are sick (any cold or flu-like symptoms) or with confirmed infection (positive COVID test) with or without symptoms.
Quarantine (5 days): If you are identified as a close contact* of some with COVID-19.
*Close contact is someone who was less than 6 feet away from an infected person (laboratory-confirmed or a clinical diagnosis) for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period (for example, three individual 5-minute exposures for a total of 15 minutes).
No one with cold or flu-like symptoms of any kind should report to a worksite. Individuals that have tested positive should not report to a physical worksite.
As the COVID-19 Omicron variant fuels an increase in COVID-19 cases across the United States, it is more important than ever for us to know the extent to which the epidemic is touching our agency and our people. All NOAA Corps officers are to ensure they are reporting all suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19 to their immediate supervisors and ensuring their case is captured in the SECO tool.
Supervisors must utilize the SECO reporting tool if the employee is unable to do so. This is to ensure that the overall numbers of individuals affected can be tracked as well as allowing for geographical hotspots to be identified so as to inform operational and administrative decision making.
As noted in the above headline, in the case of suspected exposure, a 5-day quarantine is required and a negative COVID test on day 5 before returning to a critical worksite with strict mask-wearing in public for an additional 5 days. In the case of a confirmed positive, 5 days (10 days if possible) of isolation is required with a negative COVID test on day 5 before returning to the worksite and strict mask wearing for an additional 5 days. No one with cold or flu-like symptoms of any kind should report to a worksite. Individuals that have tested positive should not report to a physical worksite.
In the case of testing positive for COVID-19 while assigned to an operational platform, please follow the guidance of the AOC Flight Surgeon, or the Marine Operations Protocols.
Given that the new CDC guidelines are based on the "booster" status of individuals, Medical Affairs recommends that all NOAA Corps officers receive a COVID-19 booster at earliest availability from their PCP or MTF.
NOAA's Office of Health Services does not endorse one brand over another, any of the vaccinations under FDA emergency use authorization (Moderna, Johnson & Johnson), or approval (Pfizer-BioNtech) are acceptable.
Please upload documentation of your booster to your eOPF for tracking purposes.
Continue to reach out to noaacorps.medical@noaa.gov if you have any questions.
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On September 20, 2021, there was an approval for selected locations for a temporary BAH increase from October 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021. We have a process in which will help officers in applying and receiving this temporary BAH using a form that the Coast Guard uses. Since we do not have a temporary BAH form, this form will suffice.
U.S. Coast Guard 2021 Temporary BAH Rate Increase Application
You can find the authorized locations with the pay rate for each grade here: 2021 Temporary BAH Increase Rates.
To be eligible for a temporary increase in BAH, a Service member’s housing costs must have exceeded the BAH he/she received based on a zip code in one of the affected MHAs, and the increased cost must have been attributable to the circumstances attributable to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Service members may be eligible for the temporary BAH rate increase, subject to Service specific implementation guidelines and approval of individual applications, if they: a) are received BAH based on one of the affected 56 MHAs; and b) have a verifiable housing cost increase attributable to COVID-19-driven housing market effects. Once a member is approved for a higher BAH rate, their eligibility only continues through December 31, 2021, unless a BAH status change occurs (e.g., promotion, demotion, dependency status change).
Eligibility for payment is retroactive to the first month where qualifying costs are established; however, that assumes a member’s application is submitted, approved by their supervisor and CPC, and received by NOAA Corps Payroll for processing. The 2022 BAH rates supersede this temporary increase and additional payouts are not authorized for housing costs past December 31, 2021. Only housing costs between October 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021 are eligible.
When filling out the form the service member must be sure that they are residing in the authorized locations. The service member will fill out blocks 1 through 14. Their supervisor will sign block 15. Even though this is a Coast Guard form, the document will not be sent to the Coast Guard. Please send the completed and endorsed form to Jerrard Baker at CPC for verification via email at jerrard.baker@noaa.gov.
Once it has been verified, signed, and approved, it will then be sent to payroll for the payout. If there are any questions or concerns, you may direct them to Jerrard Baker at jerrard.baker@noaa.gov.
The NOAA Corps Payroll team is unable to reset your Direct Access Passwords at this time. The below information is for your guidance. Please follow the instructions and use the Customer Care Email if necessary.
If your email address is not present or is incorrect, you will not be able to use the self-service password reset feature until your Business email address has been added to the system or is corrected. Contact your Servicing Personnel Office (SPO) and ask them to update your address for you. The SPO can perform this service for all Coast Guard personnel (Active Duty, Reservists and Civilians). Contractors and other non-USCG personnel/employees may contact PPC Customer Care or assistance.
Enhanced password controls were recently implemented in Direct Access to meet audit requirements. Passwords must now be 15 characters in length, have a least 1 special character, 1 number, 1 upper case, and 1 lower case. Passwords will expire every 35 days. DA will remember your last 9 passwords (must use new password when resetting). Accounts will lock (for 20 minutes) after 3 failed login attempts.
Password Reset Guidance
During a recent Direct Access (DA) system upgrade, the forgot password security question "What is your mother's maiden name?" was disabled in DA to reduce the possibility of a compromise of personally identifiable information (PII). For users who originally chose this as a security question, the hint question will now default to "What town were you born in?" but the ANSWER has NOT changed from what the user originally established for "What is your mother's maiden name?"
For those who have tried to use the Forgot Password feature and have been locked out of DA, please email PPC-DG-CustomerCare@uscg.mil to request a temporary password. Once logged into DA, you will need to follow the user guide below to change your security question, answer, or both.
It is recommended that users who originally selected "What is your mother's maiden name?" as their Forgot Password security question, log into DA and follow the user guide below to change the security question, answer, or both.
Password Reset GuidePDF File
NOAA Corps Payroll can not properly process your leave without a complete address listed in block 5 of the NF 56-16 - to include a zip code. Multiple site locations are acceptable so long as they are complete. Please make sure you put a complete leave address so that your leave chits may be processed correctly and timely.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
