With captain and commander selection boards closing in, it's important for eligible officers to ensure their records are up-to-date and accurate.

“The Navy’s promotion board process is designed to select the best and most fully qualified officers for promotion, but to do this, boards rely completely on the accuracy of the information in each officer’s record,“ said Capt. Joe Torres, assistant commander, Navy Personnel Command for Career Progression.

“Once released, officers should review the Notice of Convening NAVADMIN to determine if they are eligible for an upcoming promotion board, and if so, they should thoroughly review their service record to confirm that the board will have the most recent and accurate information of their career and performance.

"If officers have any questions about their record or need assistance or counseling, they should contact and discuss with their detailer prior to the Letter to the Board submission deadline and the convening of the promotion board," Torres said.

The information in the Officer Summary Record (OSR), Performance Summary record (PSR), and Official Military Personnel File (OMPF), available for review using MyNavy Portal (MNP) and BUPERS Online (BOL) will be presented to the board.  For any submissions to the board, an eligible officer can use the Electronic Submission of Selection Board Documents (ESSBD) application, which provides nearly instant ability for officers and enlisted Sailors to submit a Letter to the Board (LTB) directly to the selection board without the delays, cost and hassle of postal mail or e-mail. The application allows board candidates the ability to submit pre-formatted LTB, with or without attachments.

The ESSBD application was formally announced in NAVADMIN 220/19 in January 2020 and can be accessed through MNP and BOL.

If an officer’s military record is up to date, there is no need to submit a package to the board.  Board packages are not required for promotion boards.  If Sailors do nothing more than resubmit official correspondence already contained within their official record, it is counterproductive to the board process. However, Letter to the Board (LTB) packages can be submitted to correct an error within their official record or other specific questions related to the board.

LTBs will not be presented to the board if they are late or if other correspondence about the eligible officer is received from any other person without the officer’s written acknowledgement. This is considered third-party correspondence and is prohibited.

The Convening NAVADMIN is usually released in mid-December and provides convene dates for each board, what Competitive Categories (COMPCAT) will be considered by each board, and the names, lineal/precedence number and date of rank of the senior in-zone, junior in-zone and junior eligible officers for each COMPCAT under consideration.

Additionally, the NAVADMIN provides procedures for submitting board correspondence (i.e. LTB) from the eligible officers.  The board fiscal year (FY) is always one year ahead of the current FY (i.e. boards promoting officers for FY-22, will be held in FY-21) and officers senior to the senior in-zone officer (or above zone) are eligible for promotion consideration.

Per DoD policy and NAVADMIN 247/20 official photographs are prohibited from being considered and displayed in all officer promotion selection boards and selection board processes pertaining to assignment, training, education and command.  The removal of photographs from all selection boards to ensure that all candidates are evaluated more on thestrength of the candidate’s professional performance within the selection process.

For a step-by-step ESSBD user’s guide visit the Advancement and Promotion section in MyNavy Portal. For questions on selection board correspondence, contact MyNavy Career Center at 1-833-330-MNCC (6622).