DoD Core Values

Leadership, Professionalism, and Technical Knowledge through

dedication to duty, integrity, ethics, honor, courage, and loyalty.

A written rating of record must be provided at the end of the appraisal cycle for each employee who has been under
an approved performance plan for 90 calendar days during the cycle.

Performance elements should be written using the SMART criteria. Please see Page 3 to view the SMART criteria.

Command Vision:
Keeping our Navy Underway, Combat Ready and Effective

Command Mission:
Integrate, Test, Evaluate and Provide Life Cycle Engineering and Product Support for Warfare Systems

Command Priorities
• Build Trust Throughout Our Teams
• Build Effective and Capable Leaders, Supervisors, and Teams
• Acquisition Excellence and Cost Control
• Functional Excellence in Every Facet of our Enterprise
• Effective Cooperation, Coordination, and Collaboration Across Command
• Continuous Improvement Strategic Objectives

Strategic Objectives
• Improve Integrated Combat Systems
• Accelerate Deployment of new capabilities to the Fleet
• Improve affordability of Integrated Combat Systems
• Build and Shape a mission-focused workforce
• Establish effective Cyber In Service Engineering Agent capability/capacity across the Integrated Combat Systems
Lifecycle
Technical Competence/Mission Accomplishment Score

Leadership Score

Customer Care Score

Continuous Improvement Score

Collaboration Score
Performance Elements and Standards

Performance Elements

The DoD Performance Management and Appraisal Program allows for one type of performance element: Critical
element

Performance elements describe the required duties and responsibilities and should be clearly defined, stand-alone
segments of an employee's responsibilities. The performance elements must be aligned with organizational goals.

A Critical Performance Element:

• Is an assignment or responsibility of such importance that unacceptable performance in that element would result
in a determination that the employee's overall performance is unacceptable.

• At least one critical element is required for every performance plan; between three and seven critical elements are
appropriate for most work situations.

• Must describe individual work assignments and responsibilities that are within the employee's control.

Performance Standards

Performance standards are the requirements or expectations that must be met to be appraised at particular levels of
performance. There are three rating levels in the DoD Performance Management and Appraisal Program: ‘5 –
Outstanding’, ‘3 - Fully Successful’, and ‘1 – Unacceptable’. Performance standards must be provided for each
performance element and express how well an employee must perform to achieve the ‘Fully Successful’ level.

Whenever possible, encourage employees to participate in developing standards. The discussion of standards
should include the criteria for achieving ‘Fully Successful’ performance and the associated method for evaluating the
level of performance. Write performance standards for each key area of responsibility.

Performance Standards should be written using the SMART criteria, which provide the framework for developing
effective results and expectations by answering associated questions as described below:

• Specific – What needs to be accomplished? The performance standard should be stated as simply, concisely, and
explicitly as possible. This answers questions such as how much, for whom, for what, and how often?

• Measurable – Where is the performance target? This is the gauge for quantifying the accomplishment of the
performance element. This stresses the need for criteria to measure progress toward the attainment of the goal.
Writing measurable performance standards allows for a clearer, more objective evaluation.

• Achievable – Can the goal be accomplished with the resources, personnel, and time available, and is it sufficiently
challenging but not so complex as to be unrealistic?

• Relevant – Why is the goal important? Ties the goal to the DoD and organizational mission and success.

• Timely – When will meeting the goal start, or when will it be completed? If a multiple process project is being
evaluated, then it is important to name the specific outcome that is expected for the current rating cycle.

While not every performance standard lends itself to utilizing all five aspects of the SMART
criteria, supervisors should strive to include as many of the SMART criteria as possible.

When taken together, performance elements and standards should clearly describe specific
expectations of job performance required to achieve mission success