Frequently Asked Questions about Officer OERs

Q: How does an OPR, EPR, or PRF document a member's duty location when the member is on "loan" to another organization?
A: The duty location is always the owning PAS Code. When a member is working in another organization the words "with duty at-----" must follow the owning organization. All evaluators can be from the "loan" organization except for the Senior Rater/Reviewer who must be from the owning organization's chain of command.

Q: Where are PRFs maintained after the Central Selection Board (CBS) is completed?
A: Immediately following the CSB, the PRFs are placed on optical disk. These microfilmed copies are retained for historical, legal and appeal processes only. They are not maintained in any other record series at the base or major command level.

Q: Is an EPR required when a member is AWOL?
A: Members in AWOL status receive normal EPRs such as "annual" and "CRO." They do not receive an EPR just because they are AWOL. If a member is AWOL for more than 30 consecutive days, the rater must deduct these days from the period of supervision.

Q: When should I receive a copy of my Promotion Recommendation Form (PRF)?
A: Your senior rater should provide you a copy of your PRF approximately 30 days before the central selection board unless you are meeting the AF Level Student or Nonline Management Level Review. If you are an AF Level Student or will compete at the Nonline MLR, you PRF will be mailed from HQ AFPC/DPPPEB upon completion of MLR.

Q: Are promotion statements allowed on PRFs?
A: Yes. However, comments must be limited to the next higher grade. Additionally, senior raters should base promotion recommendations only duty performance and the potential based on that performance.

Q: Can Letters of Evaluation (LOEs) be seen by the ratees?
A: There are no regulatory provisions that prohibit an evaluator from showing or giving a copy of an LOE to the ratee.

Q: How are senior rater "DP" allocations calculated? What does carry-over and aggregation mean?
A: Management Levels determine each senior rater's share of allocations by applying the appropriate allocation rate to their IPZ and BPZ eligibles and round down fractions to the next whole number. For example, a 55% allocation rate applied to a senior rater's 10 IPZ captains would yield 5 "DP" allocations. (10 IPZ eligibles x 55% allocation rate = 5.5 which rounds down to 5 allocations.) Since all allocations are rounded down by senior raters, the fractions of allocations left over accrue at the management level and result in allocations called "carry--over" DP allocations. These allocations are awarded to account for variations of quality within organizations under the management level. The management level then notifies each senior rater of the number of officers he or she may submit to compete for carry-over allocations at the Management Level Review. Senior raters who do not have the minimum number of IPZ officers to generate an allocation may compete them through the process known as "aggregation." Grouping of such officers and applying the allocation rate yields, after rounding down, the number of "DP" allocations available to officers competing in aggregation at the Management Level Review.

Q: What happens at the Management Level Review (MLR)?
A: MLRs are conducted 60-40 days prior to the Central Selection Board. Management Levels gather all senior raters with eligibles and have four functions: 1) Quality review all Records of Performance (ROP), Duty Qualification History Briefs (DQHB), and Promotion Recommendation Forms (PRF) of all I/APZ officers in order to identify and discuss with appropriate senior raters those PRFs that appear to contain exaggerated or unrealistic comments or comments that do not appear to support the overall recommendation based on the ROP; 2) To award DP recommendations to those officers whose senior rater had too few eligibles to earn a DP allocation (aggregation); 3) To award carry-over DP allocations; and 4) To award DP allocations to Management Level Students.

Q: Under what circumstances can the rating chain request an extension for the closeout date of a report?
A: The closeout date can be extended by this office under the following circumstances:
1 A negative incident of serious significance occurred after the closeout of the report but before the report is a matter of record that is of such gravity it cannot be ignored;
2 The report is an "Annual";
3 There will be no change of rater during the period of extension. All requests must be made by the servicing Military Personnel Flight either via message, letter, CRT, FAX, or E-Mail and must contain an information copy to the servicing MAJCOM. HQ AFPC/DPPPEP retains approval/disapproval authority of all requests.

Q: If I am eligible for an upcoming promotion board and I have an assignment, who is responsible for accomplishing my Promotion Recommendation Form (PRF)?
A: Your senior rater as of the accounting date (150 day prior to the Central Selection Board) will accomplish your PRF. If you depart PCS prior to day 150, the date the gaining accounting and finance office establishes as your Date Arrived Station (DAS) will determine which senior rater is responsible for completing your PRF. If your DAS is on or before day 150, the gaining senior rater is responsible for completing the PRF. If your DAS is after day 150, the losing senior rater will write the PRF.

Q: What is the evaluation process for Air Force Level Students?
A: All Air Force officers departing for AF-Level Training have a Narrative-Only PRF accomplished by their losing senior rater, regardless of promotion eligibility. A Narrative-Only PRF is accomplished and signed the same as regular PRFs except the SRID, "Promotion Zone" and the rating blocks are not completed. The Narrative-Only PRF is filed at HQ AFPC and is used for promotion consideration only when the officer is eligible while in "student" status. Air Force officers who are promotion-eligible while in "student" status (signed in to school on or before the PRF Accounting Date) compete for "Definitely Promote" recommendations through the Air Force Student Management Level Review (MLR) at HQ AFPC. This MLR serves as the student's senior rater for the purpose of completing the PRF. The MLR uses a duty qualification history brief and the officer's record of performance (ROP), which consists of OPRs, OERs, Training Reports, Letters of Evaluation and the Narrative-Only PRF to determine a promotion recommendation and complete the Recommendation-Only PRF. A Recommendation-Only PRF is the PRF that is prepared at HQ AFPC to document the results of the AF review. It identifies the course the officer is enrolled in and is the one actually signed and marked ("Definitely Promote," "Promote," or "Do Not Promote This Board') by the MLR president. Essentially, the Narrative-Only and Recommendation-Only PRFs are "married up" to form the overall PRF. The PRFs are filed in the Officer Selection Record for use by the Central Selection Board. If not selected for promotion, the Narrative-Only PRF is retained for the next evaluation cycle for as long as the officer is in student status.

Q: How do we handle reports due on members who are on appellate review leave?
A: Reports are not prepared on members undergoing appellate review since there is no direct supervision on which to report. MPFs should ensure the next annual report is
projected in the system, then update DIN VBN to "6." This will suppress internal edits, preventing an EPR/OPR shell from being produced and avoiding "overdue report" remarks on Transaction Registers.

Q: When must a report be written on a member whose last report is more than a year old?
A: Normally, reports are written as soon as the rater has 120 days of supervision. However, in cases where the annual closeout date has already passed and there's a change of rater, the number of required days supervision is decreased to 60 days. If the losing rater has at least 60 days supervision on the CRO date, the rater prepares a report. The number days supervision will be the actual number of days accumulated as of the CRO date and the reason for report will be "Annual." If the losing rater does not have 60 days supervision on the CRO date the report is reprojected for a 120 day report. For example:

SSgt Doe's annual report was projected to close out 15 Jul 98. He had a change of rater on 1 Jun 98 and his report was reprojected to close out 28 Sep 98 (no CRO report was required due to insufficient supervision--he's assigned to a high-TDY unit).

On 20 Jul 98, SSgt Doe had another change of rater. SSgt Doe's report was again reprojected, now to close out 16 Nov 98 (even though the CRO takes place after his normal annual date he's still projected for a 120-day report because his losing rater does not have at least 60 days supervision).

Now, SSgt Doe's newest supervisor finally receives approval on that humanitarian reassignment he requested 3 months ago, and CRO takes place on 23 Sep 98. The next person in the rating chain becomes SSgt Doe's new rater on that day, and SSgt Doe's losing rater writes an annual EPR closing out 23 Sep 98 with 66 days supervision.

Q: Can I use periods and exclamation points on a performance report to add some emphasis to key phrases?
A: Punctuation (among other things) should not be used to emphasize words or phrases. Bullet statements are not sentences and do not require periods. Limited use of exclamation points is acceptable; multiple exclamation points at the end of a statement are prohibited.

Q: When can we enter "N/A" in the Commander's Review block on AF Fm 911?
A: You may enter "N/A" in the Commander's Review block only when the Unit Commander is an evaluator on the EPR. We commonly receive reports where "N/A" has been entered because the Wing Commander was the final evaluator--this is incorrect. When the member's Unit Commander is junior in grade to the rater's rater or endorser, he or she must complete the Commander's Review before the report goes forward for rater's rater/endorser comments. This also applies to enlisted personnel assigned to the Wing Staff; they are normally attached to the local Mission Support Squadron for administrative purposes, and the MSS Commander would be the individual to perform the Commander's Review. In the rare situation where the Wing Commander is the rater, the Unit Commander will perform the Commander's Review after the rater.

Q: What rating is updated in the system when, during the Commander's Review, the Unit Commander nonconcurs with the final evaluator?
A: In most cases, the final rating given by the Unit Commander will be the rating updated in the system. However, in the rare situations where the report is closed out by a single evaluator who outranks the Unit Commander, the ratings of the single evaluator will be updated. In these cases, the Unit Commander may nonconcur and attach an AF Fm 77 to explain his or her nonoccurrence.

Q: Who, exactly, qualifies as a "single evaluator" for EPR purposes?
A: To qualify as a single evaluator, he or she must be the individual's rater and hold the grade of 06 (Colonel) or higher. This single evaluator can close out the EPR; no other evaluator comments are required (but Commander's Review must still be accomplished).

Q: Who can "certify true" an evaluator's missing signature on an EPR/OPR?
A: For EPRs, the MPF Commander or Chief, Career Enhancement, are the only individuals who can "certify true" a missing signature. For OPRs, the ratee's reviewer or a personnel officer (preferably in the grade of Major) are the only individuals who can "certify true" a missing signature. NCOICs of Career Enhancement may "certify true" a copy of a completed report, but may not certify missing signatures.

U.S. Military

Information Courtesy of U.S. Air Force