PETTY OFFICER QUALITY CONTROL
PROGRAM
Learning Objective: Recall the purpose of the Petty
Officer Quality Control Program.
The Navy needs qualified, responsible people in
positions of leadership. Many opportunities and efforts
are made to retain experienced Sailors. Some of the
opportunities like formal schools for a trade or skill
and leadership training would cost a civilian thousands
of dollars. We are privileged because the Navy takes
care of its highly motivated Sailors by promotion
opportunities and advanced schooling. The
importance of our welfare is reflected by many
programs for the family, recreation, health (hospitals,
doctors, etc.), and nonmilitary schools. Sailors are
guided to more career opportunities by boards, called
Professional Development Boards (PDBs),
established by BUPERSINST 1040.5
Additionally, there is an effort by the Navy to
ensure that those personnel with problems that affect
the Navy adversely are counseled and given help to
resolve those problems. In chapter 1, we covered the
need for petty officers to counsel subordinates with
performance and behavior problems. However, all
Sailors need to be aware of the consequences of
continued bad performance and behavior, which could
lead to retention in the Navy being denied. Career petty
officers, usually E-5 and above, are screened by way of
the Petty Officer Quality Control Program when there
is an indication of deficiencies.
The Petty Officer Quality Control Program can be
found in MILPERSMAN, article 3410180. Established
in 1980, the focus of the Petty Officer Quality Control
Program was to provide centralized oversight of career
petty officers with identified performance or behavior
deficiencies, to provide guidance to improve those
deficiencies, and to monitor their performance for
improvement. When first established BUPERS
screened service records of E-5 and above for
performance problems.
As outlined in NAVADMIN 253/96, BUPERS no
longer screens service records to identify individuals
who should not be reenlisted for performance or
behavior deficiencies. This oversight function has been
delegated to unit commanding officers. The
commanding officer may set up a board as needed to
review service records of members who warrant review.
GENERAL CATEGORIES OF
PERFORMANCE
The following quality-standard categories of
performance are considered by the commanding
officer and, if needed, by the board in their evaluations
and recommendations:
Financial responsibility
Sobriety
Leadership
Military/personal conduct
Performance of duty
Willful racism, sexism, or acts that deny equal
opportunity to others
Appearance and compliance with Navy fitness
standards
FUNCTION OF THE REVIEW BOARD
If the board determines that the performance of a
petty officer is below standard in one of the above
groups, it will take one or more of the following actions:
1. Advise the petty officer that it would be to his or
her personal benefit to request a transfer to the
Fleet Reserve, Navy Retired List, or Naval
Reserve Retired List.
2. Process the petty officer for administrative
separation.
3. Enter a letter of warning into the permanent
service record of the petty officer. (The member
would then require approval from the Chief of
Naval Personnel before reenlistment or
extension of current service or before other
appropriate administrative action.)
4. Recommend denial of reenlistment. (The
member would then require approval from the
Chief of Naval Personnel before reenlistment or
extension of current service or before other
appropriate administrative action.)
In addition, members under Petty Officer Quality
Control Program review will be informed by letter via
their commanding officers. All subsequent requests for
reenlistment or extension would be submitted directly
to the member’s commanding officer. If a service
member objects to a decision to deny reenlistment, the
commanding officer will forward a denial of
reenlistment recommendation to CHNAVPERS
(PERS-83). The affected service member shall be
provided the opportunity to make a statement.
CHNAVPERS (PERS-8) will make the final
determination of reenlistment eligibility.
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