• Promotion Information

  Promotion Process

  Who is reviewed by the Promotion Board?

  All permanent grades, O-2 and above, and temporary grades O-4 and above are reviewed by a Promotion Board. (Exception: For Medical and Dental Categories, Temporary O-4 is non-competitive).

  What is a Promotion Board?

  A Promotion Board is a group of five temporary grade O-6 officers, with two to three additional officers as alternates, who are selected to review the files of officers who are eligible for promotion within their category. Board members are chosen and appointed by the Surgeon General based on established eligibility criteria, with every effort made to ensure a cross section reflective of the category or group they represent. Officers are not able to serve on a board more than once every three years. Every officer serving on a board must take an oath to hold in confidence everything that is seen, read or discussed while serving on the board.

  With smaller categories, if there are not enough officers eligible to serve on the Promotion Board, an officer from a different comparable category may serve on a board outside his/her category. There are a total of 12 boards, one for each of the 11 categories in the Corps. The Nurse category is broken into an upper board and a lower board. 

  When do the Promotion Boards meet?

   Promotion boards meet each spring (typically from February to May) to review records of officers who will become eligible for promotion from July 1st of that year through June 30th of the following year. For example, a promotion board will meet in spring of 2019 to review all officers eligible for promotion from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020.

  What does the Promotion Board use to score officers?

  The Promotion Board review includes careful consideration of the officer's career as it relates to the five precepts upon which the Benchmarks are developed and promotion recommendations are based. These five precepts are:

  1. Performance (40% of overall score)
  2. Education, Training, and Professional Development (20% of overall score)
  3. Career Progression and Potential (25% of overall score)
  4.  Characteristics of Career Officer & Service to the Corps (officership) (15% of overall score)
  5. Response Readiness (0% of overall score, not scored by the promotion board). Readiness information will be available to the promotion boards for review. Response readiness is still an administrative check used for promotion. Officers who fail to meet and maintain basic readiness will not be promoted.

  In evaluating an officer for promotion, the board references the Benchmarks established by each professional category for the "best qualified" officer. The board compares the officer, as reflected in the eOPF, against the theoretical "best qualified" officer. This "best qualified" officer is the only competition for any one officer being reviewed by a Promotion Board.

  What does/doesn’t the Promotion Board see?

  The Promotion Board members have access to and will review many items in an officer’s eOPF. The "Commissioned Officers' Effectiveness Report" (COER) provides specific information about the current and previous year’s duties, accomplishments, and goals. An up-to-date Curriculum Vitae (CV) is essential for outlining major duties and outcomes demonstrating progressive growth in an officer's career and a continued increase in professional value to the Corps. The CV is a critical document used by the Promotion Board to score all precepts. Officers are strongly encouraged to follow the category specific format. Both the Reviewing Official Statement (ROS) and the Officer Statement (OS) are important promotion documents that are an integral part of the board review process. The Promotion Board members focus on many documents to include:

  • COERs/ROS
  • PIR
  • CV
  • Continuing Education
  • OS
  • Letters of appreciation
  • Awards
  • Licenses/Certifications/Credentials
  • Readiness Status and History

  The Promotion Board members do not have access to:

  • Medical information
  • Compensation information
  • Personal information, e.g., marriage/divorce, birth certificates, insurance
  • Previous board scores/score sheets
  • OS from previous years

  There are no scoring procedures which establish lower success rates or scores for officers previously considered for promotion. The board is not aware of who has been unsuccessful for promotion in previous years. This is the reason that boards do not see any previous board scores, score sheets, OS, etc.

  How does the Promotion Board score officers?

  Promotion Board scoring consists of two parts. The first part is an overall promotion recommendation by the board. For permanent grade the options are “recommend” or “not-recommend.” For temporary grade, the options are “recommend,” or “not-recommend.” For a description of each of these promotion recommendations, refer to the Promotion Board Recommendations section on the Promotion Information website.

  The second part of the score is a numerical score used to generate a rank-order list of all officers eligible for promotion within a specific category and grade. Each officer eligible for promotion is scored by each board member on each of the first four precepts using a scale of 0-100 in five point increments. Once the board members score all officers in their category, the board members’ scores are averaged for each precept and multiplied by the weight of each precept to get an overall precept score. Each weighted precept score is added together to get an overall promotion board score.

  What if a Board Member knows the officer he/she is scoring?

  Promotion Boards are charged to review authorized sections of the eOPF and score according to its contents only. Board members are instructed that they are not to consider or discuss any anecdotal information during the promotion process. If a board member is not able to objectively score an officer for any reason, he/she is asked to recuse him/herself from scoring that officer. If this occurs, the officer’s score is an average of the remaining four board members.

  What if there is a tie in scoring?

  If there is a tie between two officers eligible for the same rank in the same category, the tie is broken using the following criteria, in order, until the tie is broken:

  • Higher permanent grade has relative standing over lower permanent grade
  • Seniority Credit
  • Years of active duty Corps service
  • Years of active duty service in any uniformed service and at any rank

  How is it determined who is successful for promotion and who is not?

  The officers are rank ordered in sequential order of their promotion board scores creating a rank order list. The number of officers promoted depends on the requirements of the Corps in each grade as determined by the Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH) in consultation with the Surgeon General (SG). These success rates are multiplied by the total number eligible in each category for each grade to determine the total number of people promoted within each category and for each grade. These numbers are applied to the rank order list and a success line is drawn. Those above the line on the rank order list are successful; those below the line are not successful.

  Are all those above the success line promoted?

  Once the successful list is created, officers on the list are reviewed for administrative checks. For temporary promotion, the files of successful officers are checked to ensure:

  • There are no missing COERs for the last five (5) years (as applicable) and the most recent COER is Satisfactory;
  • There are no current or pending adverse administrative actions;
  • There is a current valid license/certification on file with DCCPR, if required; and
  • Readiness and Deployment Operations Group (RedDOG) reports readiness standards are met.
  • For permanent grade promotion, all the same administrative checks apply, in addition to meeting MA medical requirements. For additional details, refer to the Medical Requirements for Permanent Grade Promotion section on the Promotion Information website.

  Only officers who are above the promotion success line and meet all administrative requirements will be promoted.

  How will an officer know what the Promotion Board scored or recommended?

  All officers reviewed for promotion will have a Score Sheet and a Promotion Information Report (PIR) in the Confidential Documents section of the eOPF. This Score Sheet provides each precept score, and the number of recommends/not recommends/recusals. If an officer is considered for a temporary and permanent promotion, there will be score sheets and PIRs for both grades in the Confidential Documents section of the eOPF. In most cases, the scores the officer receives for temporary and permanent grades will be the same. The scores may differ, since board members may review the officer’s eOPF and score each type of promotion independently.

  If you do not find the answers to your questions on this website, please send an e-mail to: PHSPromotions@hhs.gov.

  Promotion Instructions are available on the Commissioned Corps Issuance System (CCIS).

  • Select "Commissioned Corps Issuance System" from the link bar at the top of this page.
  • Click on "Table of Contents."
  • Click on the "+" next to "Book 3: Personnel Management."
  • Click on Chapter 3: Promotions and Reductions.
  • Click the "+" next to the topic of interest related to promotions. The section title will turn blue.
  • Double click the blue section title and refer to the policy governing this process.
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