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Commissioned Officers’ Awards Program (COAP)
Nomination Procedures and Forms
All awards are submitted electronically via email.
Paper awards are no longer accepted.Honor Awards
Each recommendation for an individual or unit honor award must be formally initiated within 13 months after the noteworthy act or specific period of service to be recognized. All nominations should have at least one level of Supervisory / Line Authority review and endorsement. Please utilize digital/electronic signatures whenever possible.
- Individual Honor Awards [Distinguished Service Medal (DSM); Meritorious Service Medal (MSM); Outstanding Service Medal (OSM); Commendation Medal (CM); Achievement Medal (AM); and Citation (CIT)] – utilize Form PHS 6342-2 (PDF, 266kb).
- Unit Honor Awards [Outstanding Unit Citation (OUC) and Unit Commendations (UC)] – utilize Form PHS 6342-1 (PDF, 414kb)
Service Awards
No form is utilized for submission of Service Awards; specific authorization memos are used.
Awards Boards
- Agency Awards Board (AAB) – Most agencies have their own AAB for review of Honor Award nominations. They have delegated authority for final approval of OSM and below and UC. Those agencies without an AAB have their nominations reviewed by the OSGAB.
- Office of the Surgeon General Awards Board (OSGAB) – Managed by COAP, reviews all non-agency honor award nominations, and those without an AAB, e.g. DoD, DHS/IHSC, PAC, and deployment.
- Commissioned Corps Awards Board (CCAB) – Managed by COAP, reviews all high level honor award nominations after an initial board review, i.e. DSM, MSM, OUC and any award w/Valor.
Procedures
- Agency Awards – Please contact your Agency Awards Coordinator or Agency Commissioned Corps Liaison to determine the procedure for award submission for both Honor and Service Award nominations.
- PAC Awards – PAC activity Honor Award nominations are reviewed by the Chief Professional Officers’ (CPO) Board prior to submission to COAP for review by the OSGAB. Submissions go through the CPO Awards Coordinator. Special Assignment Awards (SAA) are routed through the OSG’s Director of Operations for SG approval prior to their submission to COAP for processing.
- SG Appointed Group Awards (non-PAC) – Honor awards are submitted directly to COAP for review by the OSGAB, but follow the same procedure as PACs for SAA submissions.
- Deployment Awards – Honor Awards are managed by the Team Commanders/Leads and are submitted in coordination with RedDOG and COAP. Service Awards are determined by level of authorization (see COAP Introduction webpage) and are submitted by RedDOG to COAP for processing after receiving approval from the Director of DCCPR. Individual requests for deployment related Service Awards will not be processed. FMRB eligible lists are run by RedDOG and after receiving approval are forwarded to COAP for processing.
Timelines
- Agency Awards Board – Held as often as the agency deems necessary; please contact your Agency Awards Coordinator and/or Agency Liaison for specific deadlines for submissions.
- OSGAB – Held monthly, generally within the first two weeks of the month; nominations submitted in the prior month are reviewed. Results are disseminated only upon receipt of the final approval memo from the SG, to the relevant Agency Liaison and/or Awards Coordinator, or in the case of deployment and SG Group awards, directly to the nominator.
- CCAB – Held bi-monthly in even numbered months, generally on the first Tuesday of the month; nominations submitted 30 days prior reviewed. Results are disseminated only upon receipt of the final approval memo from the SG, to the relevant Agency Liaison and/or Awards Coordinator, or in the case of deployment awards directly to the nominator.
- Service Awards – agencies submit on a quarterly basis, whereas deployment awards and SG/PAC SAAs are submitted upon completion of mission, or term, with subsequent validation of participants and required approval.
- COAP – award processing is generally accomplished within 60-90 days after receipt from the agency (see the COAP Introduction webpage). In order to process awards for review during the next promotion cycle, agencies need to have submissions to COAP NLT the first Friday in November preceding the promotion year. . Upload of relevant documents is accomplished within 30-60 days of processing.
If you still have questions, please visit the COAP FAQs webpage at: http://ccmis.usphs.gov/CCMIS/COAP/COAP_frequently_asked_questions_m.aspx