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- Travel, PCS and Transportation
- Important Regulation Changes
- Travel & Transportation Entitlements Summary
- Permanent Change of Station (PCS)
- Temporary Duty (TDY)
- Junior COSTEP Travel Information
- Official Travel Forms
- Household Goods Officers
- Transportation
- Government Travel Charge Card
- Table of Frequently Used Acronyms
- Servicemembers Civil Relief Act
- Links
- Travel and Transportation Allowances FAQ
- About Personnel & Career Management
- Awards-Officer Awards Program
- Nominations Procedures and Forms
- Eligibility to Receive Awards
- Approval Levels
- Types of Recognition & Awards Criteria
- Non-PHS Awards
- Write-Up (Narrative) Guidance & Tips
- List of OPDIV Awards Coordinators (PDF, 67kb)
- List of Liaisons (PDF, 266kb)
- 2021 USPHS Awards Process Flowchart (PDF, 702kb)
- FAQs
- PHS Award Recipients
- DEERS Information (PDF, 139kb)
- Important Information Regarding DEERS and ID Cards During COVID-19 (PDF, 57kb)
- eCORPS Information
- Education Benefits Overview
- FAQs
- Forms
- Electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF)
- eOPF FAQs
- eOPF Status
- FAQs Practice Hours and Special Pay Changes
- Licensure
- Transcripts FAQs
- Extramural and Intramural Training FAQs
- Officer Leave and Absence Request FAQ
- Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA)
- Veteran Health Administration (VHA) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for Practice Hours
- Link to list of Professional Advisory Committee (PAC) Chairs (PDF, 19kb)
- About Policy
- Commissioned Corps Issuance System
- Equal Opportunity
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Political Restrictions
- Promotion Ceremony Protocol (PDF, 126kb)
- SGHG Drill and Ceremonies Manual (PDF, 3.39mb)
- Uniform Specifications
- PHS Hard Shoulder Boards and Sleeve Insignia (Male and Female) (PDF, 828kb)
- PHS Soft Shoulder Marks (Unisex) (PDF, 324kb)
- Medical Requirements for Promotion
- Force Readiness Information
- Link to list of Chief Professional Officers (CPO) (PDF, 348kb)
- Link to list of Liaisons (PDF, 266kb)
- Promotion Board Recommendations
- Not promoted? Now What?
- FAQs
- Board Composition and Scoresheet FAQs
- Officer Promotion Packet Verification System (OPPVS) Timeline & FAQs
- Promotion, Readiness and Compliance FAQs
- Permanent Promotion Eligibility Chart
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- Visit CDC.gov for Coronavirus (COVID-19) Public Health Updates
As Public Health Service Officers and America’s Health Responders, we stand ready to preserve public health and national security during national or global health emergencies. Our mission is to be out the door as soon as requested, as this is an “all hands on deck” situation. All Corps officers were placed on involuntary deploy or "alert" status effective Wednesday, March 25, 2020, irrespective of the 'on-call month' status. Under Commissioned Corps Directive 121.02, "Deployment and Readiness," as directed by Assistant Secretary for Health, Commissioned Corps Headquarters will deploy Commissioned Corps officers assigned to HHS OpDivs/StaffDivs, either voluntarily or involuntarily and without supervisory approval, who are not considered mission critical, for deployments, under the current National Emergency. Mission critical requests sent to CCHQ are not final until the request is approved by the CCHQ Director as per the POM 821.76 ”Deployment Procedures”. An officer with a non-HHS organization may be deployed in accordance with the Memorandum of Agreement/Understanding between the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the non-HHS organization.
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COER Policy FAQs Commissioned Corp Instruction (CCI) 351.01 2021 Evaluation Year Old Policy New Policy (2021 Evaluation Year
and Forward)COER Types - COERs include annual, officer transfer, supervisor transfer, interim, retirement and "other"
- COERs include annual and interim
- All COER types from the previous system - except annual COERs - are consolidated into interim COERs
Evaluation period and COER Type - If an officer's rater changes during the evaluation year (through transfer, separation, retirement, etc.), the period of evaluation which ends on or after July 1st will be the annual COER
- If an officer's rater changes during the evaluation year (through transfer, separation, retirement, etc.), the period of evaluation covering ≥ 6 months will be the annual COER
COER Initiation - Only an officer may initiate his/her COER online
- An officer or his/her rater may initiate the COER online
- If the rater initiates a COER, it is mandatory for the officer to complete
Rater's Comments - One textbox - all comments and/or examples for the eight performance attributes are combined into one textbox
- Eight textboxes - each of the eight performance attributes has a corresponding textbox for raters to enter comments and/or examples
Evaluation period and COER Type If an officer transfers on 1 June: - The period from 1 October to 31 May (8 months) is evaluated by a transfer COER (optional)
- The period from 1 June to 30 September (4 months) is evaluated by an annual COER (mandatory)
If an officer transfers on 1 June: - The period from 1 October to 31 May (8 months) is evaluated by a annual COER (mandatory)
- The period from 1 June to 30 September (4 months) is evaluated by an interim COER (optional)
- Consolidation of all COER types - except annual COERs - into interim COERs
- Annual COER criteria changes for officers whose rater changes (transfer, separation, or retirement of the officers or rater). Please see the scenarios presentation at the end of the FAQs for further explanation.
- COERs may be initiated by the officer or rater.
- Each of the eight performance attributes has a corresponding textbox for raters to enter comments or examples to justify the rating score.
1 October 2020.
1 October through 30 September represents the COER evaluation year. The 2021 evaluation year runs form 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2021.
There are only two COER types - annual and interim.
Yes. All active duty officers, except those exempt according to COER policy, are required to have an annual COER for each evaluation year.
No. Interim COERs are optional unless an officer's rater initiates a COER for the officer. If this occurs, the interim COER is mandatory.
An officer can only have one annual COER per evaluation year. However, it is possible to have multiple interim COERs in one evaluation year due to multiple rater changes. The majority of officers will have one annual COER and no interim COERs per evaluation year.
No, you may only complete a COER if you have a valid reason for doing so. Valid reasons include:
- End of the evaluation year (end date of the COER must be 30 September)
- Rater change (transfer, separation, or retirement of the officer or rater)
- TDY
- Adverse action
No, the start and end date of a COER must remain within the same evaluation year.
The start date will be 1 October, and the end date will be 30 September. For the 2021 evaluation year, the start date is 1 October 2020, and the end date is 30 September 2021.
Start Date:
For COERs pertaining to the 2021 evaluation year, if the period of evaluation with your rater begins on or before 1 October 2020, the start date will be 1 October 2020 because a COER cannot span across multiple evaluation years. If the period of evaluation with your rater begins after 1 October 2020, the start date will be the day the period of supervision with your rater began.
End date:
For COERs pertaining to the 2021 evaluation year, if you were under supervision by your rater on or after 30 September 2021, the end date will be 30 September 2021 because a COER cannot span across multiple evaluation years. If your period of supervision with your rater ended before 30 September, the end date will be the day the period of supervision with your rater ended.
For officers who transfer, you should use the "DATE ASSIGNED NEW ORGANIZATION" on your orders to determine the exact date to use. The end date for the period of evaluation with your previous rater should be the day before "DATE ASSIGNED NEW ORGANIZATION".
For officers whose rater remained constant throughout the evaluation year:
You may begin your annual COER immediately after the evaluation year is over. For the 2021 evaluation year, you may begin your annual COER on 1 October 2021.
For officers who had a rater change (transfer, separation, or retirement of the officer or rater):
You may begin your COER (annual or interim), up to one month before the rater change occurs.
The COER should be completed by the deadlines established in the most recent COER POM. If the COER is due to a rater change (transfer, separation, or retirement of the officers or rater), it should be completed no later than 2 months after the rater changed occurred.
No, you must wait until the evaluation year is over. You may only complete your annual COER early if you have a rater change (transfer, separation, or retirement of the officer or rater) or incur special circumstances.
If the period of evaluation by your former rater is ≥ 6 months during the evaluation year, it is mandatory for you to complete a COER for this period, and it will count as your annual COER for the evaluation year. For example, if an officer transfers on 1 June 2021, the period of evaluation with the former rater covers October 1st 2020 until May 31st 2021. This 8 month period will be the officer's annual COER for the year, and it is mandatory for the officer to complete it.
If the period covered by your former rater is less than 6 months during the evaluation year, it is recommended but not required for you to complete a COER for this period; it will be labeled as an interim COER. However, your former rater has the option to make a COER for this period mandatory if he or she wishes by initiating the COER. For example, if an officer transfers on February 1st 2021, the period of evaluation with the former rater covers October 1st 2020 until January 31st 2021. It is not required, but recommended for the officer to complete a COER for this 4 month period. The officer's former rater has the option to make this 4-month period mandatory for the officer to complete by initiated the COER.
No, your annual COER is complete for the evaluation year. However, you have the option of completing an interim COER to that covers the period with your new rater from the date the rater changed to the end of the evaluation year.
Yes, all officers (except those exempt) must have one annual COER per evaluation year
If the officer does not have a period of evaluation by one rater ≥ 6 months, the period of evaluation that covers the longest period of time will be the annual COER (even if it is the longest period of evaluation by one day). If no period of evaluation is the longest, the most recent COER will be the annual COER.
You will need to contact your previous rater, reviewing official, and liaison of the longest period of evaluation by one rater during the evaluation year and complete an annual COER for this period.
Make every effort to complete the COER before the deadline. If it is not possible, contact your liaison as soon as possible so they are aware.
Your acting supervisor or whoever is next in your chain of command may complete your COER.
Complete an interim COER that fills in the time from when your rater changed until the end of the evaluation year. For example, if an officer transfers on June 1st 2020, the officer may complete an interim COER for the period of June 1st 2020 until September 30th 2020.
No, any COER that covers a period of evaluation <6 months is not required to include scores (Section 3 of the COER). However, the rater my complete Section 3 if he or she wishes.
No, because all interim COERs cover a period of <6 months, they are not required to include scores (Section 3 of the COER). However, the rater my complete Section 3 if he or she wishes.
If you were called to active duty after 1 April, you are not required to complete an annual COER for the corresponding evaluation year. For example, if you were called to active duty after 1 April 2021, you are not required to complete an annual COER for the 2021 evaluation year. It is recommended, but not required, for you to complete an interim COER for this period. Additionally, if your rater initiates an interim COER for this period, it is mandatory.
Officers who retire prior to 1 April are not required to complete an annual COER for the corresponding evaluation year. For example, if you retire before 1 April 2021, you are not required to complete an annual COER for the 2021 evaluation year.
Your direct supervisor is your rater.
The supervisor of your direct supervisor is your reviewing official.
If you are up for promotion, the ROS is required. If you are not up for promotion, the ROS is optional.
The Reviewing Official's Comments section is optional and used to justify the Reviewing Official's concurrence or non-concurrence; it may also be used for general comments about the officer. It is separate from the ROS.
You may only include information in your COER since you were called to duty. You cannot include accomplishments from your time in a civil service position on your COER. If you would like to document performance prior to becoming an officer consider documenting this on your CV.
If you have exhausted all efforts of communicating with your Rater or RO the importance of completing a COER, contact your liaison for assistance. Do not wait until the last minute to communicate any problems or difficulties you are having with completing your COER.
Missing COERs will delay or nullify promotions, appointment board nominations, awards and special pays and potentially affect retention in the Commissioned Corps as an officer.
COER Scenarios 
