AIR FORCE INSTRUCTION 36-2406 BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE 8 NOVEMBER 2016 Personnel OFFICER AND ENLISTED EVALUATION SYSTEMS COMPLIANCE WITH THIS PUBLICATION IS MANDATORY ACCESSIBILITY: Publications and forms are available on the e-Publishing website at www.e-publishing.af.mil for downloading or ordering. RELEASABILITY: There are no releasability restrictions on this publication. OPR: AFPC/DP3SP Certified by: SAF/MR (Mr. Daniel R. Sitterly) Supersedes: AFI 36-2406, 2 January 2013 Pages: 317 This publication implements Air Force Policy Directive (AFPD) 36-24, Military Evaluations. It provides guidance and procedures for implementing Air Force (AF) Evaluation Systems policy for the Officer Evaluation System (OES) and Enlisted Evaluation System (EES). It describes how to prepare, submit, and manage Air Force Forms (AF Forms) prescribed by this Air Force Instruction (AFI). Waivers to this instruction are authorized and shall be processed IAW AFI 33-360, Publications and Forms Management. Waiver requests will be submitted using the AF Form 679, Air Force Publication Compliance Item Waiver Request/Approval, or via e-mail or memorandum if the form is unavailable. For unit-level compliance items, waivers must be approved by AFPC/DP3SP. AFPC/DP3SP is the waiver approving authority for non-tiered requirements in this publication. This publication applies to all major commands (MAJCOM), field operating agencies (FOA), direct reporting units (DRU), and other Air Force activities, as well as Regular Air Force, Air National Guard (ANG), Active Guard/Reserve (AGR), and Air Force Reserve (AFR) activities, officers, and enlisted. While the philosophy and intent of the OES/EES pertain to the ANG and AFR, modifications are necessary. This instruction also provides procedures governing evaluation of brigadier and major generals. This publication is affected by the Privacy Act (PA) of 1974 (DoDD 5400.11, DOD Privacy Program), and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (DoD Regulation 5400.7-R_AFMAN 33- 302, DoD Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Program). Title 10, United States Code, Section 8013 and Executive Order 9397, as amended, authorize the Air Force to collect and maintain the 2 AFI36-2406 8 NOVEMBER 2016 records in this instruction. System of Records Notice (SORN) F036 AF PC A, Effectiveness/Performance Reporting Systems, and F036 AFPC T, Officer Performance Report (OPR)/Enlisted Performance Report (EPR) Appeal Case Files is available at http://dpclo.defense.gov/Privacy/SORNs.aspx. Evaluators (except civilian and foreign- service evaluators) must provide the last four numbers of social security number (SSN). Use the SSN to verify the identity of the evaluator for research and accountability. Any requests for records or documents contained in this System of Records Notice will be processed under the Freedom of Information Act guidelines outlined IAW AFI 33-332, Air Force Privacy and Civil Liberties Program, Chapter 4, Giving Access to Privacy Act Records and Chapter 12, Disclosing Records to Third Parties. Ensure that all records created as a result of processes prescribed in this publication are maintained IAW Air Force Manual (AFMAN) 33-363, Management of Records, and disposed of IAW the Air Force Records Disposition Schedule (RDS) in the Air Force Records Information Management System (AFRIMS). Refer recommended changes and questions about this publication to Office of Primary Responsibility (OPR) using the AF Form 847, Recommendation for Change of Publication; route AF Form 847 to AFPC Publishing Office, 550 C Street West Suite 48, Joint Base San Antonio- Randolph Texas 78150-4750, or email [email protected]. Field agencies will not publish supplements that change basic policies/procedures or merely duplicate the text of these instructions. Supplements initiated at MAJCOM-level or below require HQ USAF/A1PPP and HQ AFPC/DP3SP approval before publication. Send published copies of approved supplements to HQ USAF/A1PPP, HQ AFPC/DP3SP, and HQ ARPC/PB. Field agencies must get HQ AFPC/DP3SP and AFDPO/PPP approval before using locally created versions of the AF Forms prescribed by this instruction. The authorities to waive wing/unit level requirements in this publication are identified with a Tier (“T-0, T-1, T-2, T-3”) number following the compliance statement. See AFI 33-360, Publications and Forms Management, for a description of the authorities associated with the Tier numbers. Submit requests for waivers through the chain of command to the appropriate Tier waiver approval authority, or alternately, to the Publication OPR for non-tiered compliance items. Vigilance must be taken to protect Personally Identifiable Information (PII) when submitting or sending nominations, applications or other documents to Department of Defense (DoD) agencies through government Internet, software applications, systems, e-mail, postal, faxing or scanning. See Attachment 1 for glossary of references and supporting information used in this publication. Attachment 2, Appeal Guidance for Applicants, is a guide to be used when appealing evaluations in accordance with Chapter 10. We recommend you review the attachments before reading this document. SUMMARY OF CHANGES This instruction has been extensively reformatted and should be read in its entirety. The new structure provides ease of references by separating the Officer Performance Report and Enlisted AFI36-2406 8 NOVEMBER 2016 3 Performance Report chapters eliminating redundancy in the instruction. These changes incorporate and implement new guidance on the Enlisted Evaluation System, including clarification on: mandatory comments, prohibited comments, future roles, Professional Military Education (PME) completion, retirement Enlisted Performance Report (EPR) options, clarification for forced distributors regarding discussions with lower level leadership, and adjustments to Enlisted Forced Distribution Panel (EFDP) splits and record review. In addition, the reference and utilization instructions for the SecAF Memorandum of Instruction (MOI) for use in officer evaluation programs were added. Chapter 5, Contingency and Wartime Provisions has been eliminated and the guidance was merged into the applicable officer and enlisted chapters. Updates were made to office symbols throughout the instruction. These changes were made in collaboration with the Chief of Air Force Reserve (HQ AF/RE) and the Director of the Air National Guard (NGB/CF), Headquarters Air Force, Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower, Personnel, and Services (HQ USAF/A1) develops personnel policy for enlisted promotion and demotion programs. Chapter 1— GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 10 1.1. Purpose.................................................................................................................... 10 1.2. Forms Used--Purpose and Their Use. ..................................................................... 10 1.3. General Guidelines. ................................................................................................ 11 1.4. Preparing and Processing Evaluations. ................................................................... 14 1.5. Evaluator Requirements. ......................................................................................... 20 1.6. Responsibilities. ...................................................................................................... 23 1.7. Rating Chain Deviations and Evaluator Changes. .................................................. 31 1.8. Evaluator’s Mandatory Considerations. .................................................................. 34 1.9. Disagreements. ........................................................................................................ 40 1.10. Referral Evaluations. .............................................................................................. 41 1.11. Mandatory Comments. ............................................................................................ 48 1.12. General Prohibited Evaluator Considerations and Comments. ............................... 49 1.13. Policy Deviations and Waiver Requests. ................................................................ 53 1.14. Missing, Late and Removed Performance Evaluations. ......................................... 53 1.15. National Emergency or Wartime Provisions. ......................................................... 54 Figure 1.1. Example Referral Memorandum. ............................................................................ 56 Table 1.1. Mailing Addresses for Correspondence. ................................................................. 58 Table 1.2. Missing and Late Evaluations. ................................................................................ 61 4 AFI36-2406 8 NOVEMBER 2016 Chapter 2— AIRMAN COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT 62 2.1. Purpose.................................................................................................................... 62 2.2. Responsibilities. ...................................................................................................... 62 2.3. Who Requires an ACA. .......................................................................................... 63 2.4. Guidance for Conducting ACA Sessions. ............................................................... 64 2.5. When to Hold Documented ACA Sessions. ........................................................... 64 2.6. The ACA Notice. ...................................................................................................