PHS Officers must maintain various types of documentation to remain basic ready and prepare for promotion. The main document repository utilized by Officers, is the Electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF). Items such as your BLS certificate, COERs, DPP, etc. must all be uploaded to the eOPF to ensure availability.
Electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF)
The electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF) is a digital version of your physical Official Personnel File (OPF) and contains a digital image of documents contained in your hard copy paper OPF. Your OPF is considered for official purposes the system of record and is maintained in accordance with regulations set forth by the National Archives Records Administration (NARA), HHS records management and schedule for maintenance and disposal of records, and Corps policy. The eOPF contains more information than your OPF, since the versatility of a digital record allows Commissioned Corps Headquarters (CCHQ) to operate electronic boards.
The eOPF contains additional documents beyond what is mandated in your OPF. Some examples of these documents include, but are not limited to certificates, PHS support activities, CEUs, BLS, CVs, and other items that are sent in for the sole purpose of review by a promotion board. These documents are critical to the promotion board process but are not maintained in paper form in the OPF. The OPF on the other hand, contains documents that are required by the above regulations and policy and include but are not limited to official transcripts, application documents, oath of office, personnel orders, insurance forms, and most hard-copy documents that are required to have an original signature.
Document Processing
Many documents never get placed in the OPF, as noted above. Some documents only reside in the eOPF. The majority of these documentsare uploaded by the individual officer. When a document is uploaded, the image is stored in a document queue. Each document is briefly reviewed, then filed to your eOPF.
At no time are the documents that have been uploaded printed; the process is completely electronic. This allows documents to show-up in your eOPF sooner and reduces the risk of error.
While most documents (CV, OS, etc.) need to be uploaded separately, CEU and PHS Support Activity documents (certificates, letters of appreciation, etc.) should be grouped together by the year in which they occur and labeled as such – “2016 CEU certificates” or “2016 PHS activities documentation”. This makes it easier for the promotion board to view these documents.