The Navy has announced the calendar-year 2021 enlisted Meritorious Advancement Program's Season One, and with it, some new rules that commands need to be aware of.
These command-level advancements, known as MAP, account for 20 percent of all enlisted advancements each calendar year. The program is a way for command triads to advance their most qualified Sailors ahead of each of the semi-annual Navy-wide Advancement (NWAE) Cycles.
This year, adjustments were made to the program to ensure closer coordination between MAP and the NWAE cycles, as well as special controls for some ratings to prevent overmanning in a particular paygrade. This will allow Sailors to be advanced through MAP, while also preserving advancement opportunity for those competing in the NWAE exam cycle.
The season and program changes were announced in NAVADMIN 035/21, released on Feb.11.
In this cycle, Navy personnel officials will control the numbers of meritorious advancement approvals for Sailors in five rating and pay grade combinations, known as rates. These are BM3, ABF2, ABF1, ABH3 and ABH2.
"The decision to control these rates was made based on a variety of factors including low NWAE advancement opportunity, and a large proportion of the community's total advancements coming from MAP," Vice Adm. John B. Nowell, Jr., the Navy's chief of personnel wrote in the message.
Commands wishing to advance Sailors to any of these rates must request those approvals by routing a request through their Immediate Superior in Command (ISIC) and Type Commander (TYCOM) to their budget submitting office (BSO)/echelon II command. The template for packages can be found on the MAP homepage in MyNavy Portal. Details on how this process will work are in the NAVADMIN.
Due to positive Fleet feedback, the 45-day MAP execution window will be made permanent which has proved to be ample time for commands to request quotas and execute their MAP advancements. The window was reduced last year from 60 days due to the successful automation of the MAP process in the Navy Standard Integrated Personnel System (NSIPS).
Once the season starts, MAP quotas by Unit Identification Code (UIC) will be posted on MyNavy Portal. Go to https://www.mnp.navy.mil/group/advancement-and-promotion/a-enlisted-advancement-resources-and-links, then select the *Websites* tab in the blue banner.
Example forms and frequently asked questions can be downloaded via MyNavy Portal at https://www.mnp.navy.mil/group/advancement-and-promotion/a-enlisted-advancement-resources-and-links, then select the *Websites* tab in the blue banner. A list of points of contact for each Budget Submitting Office (BSO) and echelon II command as well as lists of parent and subordinate UICs can also be found on this website.
For more news from Chief of Naval Personnel, follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mynavyhr, Twitter at https://twitter.com/mynavyhr or visit https://www.navy.mil/cnp.