Now Hear This - September 2011

Performance evaluation update for lieutenants

An interim change to the Navy Performance Evaluation and Counseling System Instruction BUPERSINST 1610.10C was recently promulgated by Navy Personnel Command. Effective with the 31 January 2012 periodic evaluations for lieutenants, the following changes will apply:

• Early Promote recommendation limit will remain at 20 percent.
• The combined Early Promote and Must Promote recommendations must not exceed 60 percent. The Must Promote recommendation may be increased by one for each Early Promote quota not used.

This change in policy provides a mechanism for controlling performance inflation and identifies early onthe- top performers for the selective detailing and selection boards. The interim change will be followed by an official change in the next revision of BUPERSINST 1610.10. An updated release of navfit98a is projected for January 2012, to incorporate this policy change. Reference for the above information is NAVADMIN 219/11.

Budget talks address retired pay and cost of living allowance (COLA)

Military retired pay and COLA are under discussion in Administration budget talks. Two possible retirement changes are being evaluated:

1. Change how the cost-of-living adjustment is calculated. The change, which would save up to $24 billion over ten years, would apply to military and federal civilian retired pay, veterans disability, and survivor benefits. Instead of linking annual COLAs for benefits and retired pay to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners (CPI-W), the new plan would link increases to the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) which, on average, is 0.25 percent less than the CPI-W. If adopted, the change from CPI-W to CPI-U would apply to all future cost-of-living adjustments, including all current retirees.
2. Adopt a complete overhaul of military retired pay – ending the 20-year retirement system. If changed, it would not apply to any current retirees or anyone currently in the military. The plan: future service members would earn some retirement benefits after ten years of service, but only people retired on disability would receive immediate retired pay. Those not retired on disability would wait until age 60 or older before retired pay would commence. Although unpopular in military circles, military retirement reform has been included on many lists of ways to cut federal spending, including recommendations from the cochairman of President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. The Defense Department has not provided an estimate of how much this might save, but the immediate effect would be very small because current service members would be exempt. The only immediate impact would be a small change in the contribution made by the services into the military retirement trust fund.

Navy looking for Sailors for officer programs

The Navy is searching for Sailors to enroll in the fiscal year 2013 limited-duty and chief warrant officer programs. Important note: Neither program requires a college degree. Applications are due by 1 October.

Positions are available in the surface, submarine, aviation, general series and staff corps communities. Selected officers will have the opportunity to serve in a variety of leadership billets within their technical fields, ranging from division officer to commanding officer ashore. To be eligible for the limited-duty officer program, Sailors must be U.S. citizens, serving in pay grades E-7 through E-9, or an E-6 who has passed the E-7 exam. Applicants for the program must be on active duty and have at least eight, but not more than 16, years of active-duty service. The chief warrant officer program requires Sailors who are U.S. citizens, serving in pay grades E-7 through E-9 on active duty and have at least 12, but not more than 22, years of active-duty service. For the full information, refer to NAVADMIN 224/11.

TRICARE Prime fee increases coming

A Congressional vote ensured that TRICARE Prime enrollment fees for individual retirees under age 65 will increase in the new fiscal year by $30, to $260 a year, and that retiree family coverage will climb by $60, to $520. These will be the first fee increases since TRICARE rates were set in 1995. Defense officials intend to make mail order more attractive by ending a $3 charge for generic drugs and raising the co-pay for generic medicines at retail outlets to $5, up from $3. Co-pays for brand name drugs on the military formulary would stay at $9 by mail but climb to $12 at retail pharmacies. For non-formulary brand drugs, the $22 co-pay would climb to $25 for mail order and retail. The new co-pays are projected to save $2.6 billion over five years.