From:	Pomije, Brian D. (LCDR)
Sent:	Monday, January 24, 2005 4:05 PM
To:	Burke, Gerald; Carter, Darron H., LTjg; Casey, Richard W.; Clark, Dorothy M. (CIV); Ely, Karen D. (CIV); Giel, Daniel T. (CIV); Hecht, Sheila C , LCDR; Herrera, Mark E; Hope, Lawanda P. HM1; Johnson, Gabrielle M.; Kennemur, Lisa K LCDR; LaFontaine, Richard L CT; McFadden, Anthony E LTJG; Pomije, Brian D. (LCDR); Scott, John H., CIV.; Shumaker, Debbie J. (LCDR); Simays, Andrew E., CDR; Solanki, Haresh P; Swilley, Eugene A. (LT); Torres, Freddy H  LTJG; Tu, Victor LT; Williams, Anthony S. (LCDR); Younes, Georges  E LCDR; Beecham, Harry J. CAPT NAMRU2; ElMohamady, Hanan (NAMRU3 Cairo); Gustafson, Robert (NDSL Jax); Hoang, LongChau LTJG; Hodge, Jenny L. MSGT; Ratiwayanto, Sutanti (NAMRU2 Jakarta)
Cc:	Fong, Raynard K. CAPT BUMED; Lino CDR Fragoso (E-mail) (Lino.Fragoso@navy.mil); Jerry LCDR' 'Sanders (jerry.sanders@navy.mil); Ely, Karen D. (CIV); Clark, Dorothy M. (CIV); Pomije, Brian D. (LCDR)
Subject:	Submitting NRMP Applications for Amendments
To all Radiation Safety Officers and NRMP Permittees,

Several commands have been submitting "NRMP amendment applications" on very short notice, even though the purpose of the amendments appear to be fairly routine, or have been known about for a significant amount of time prior to submission of the request.  This is unacceptable since it takes time for NEHC to research the amendment request to ensure compliance with Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and Navy regulations.  In addition, if it is determined that the amendment application is incomplete or has significant discrepancies, it may take a number of days to weeks for the requesting command to revise the application and resubmit it.

Also, once the NRMP amendment has been drafted by NEHC, it must be signed and serialized, and forwarded to the Naval Radiation Safety Committee (NRSC) for review and approval.  This can take a significant amount of time since the members of the NRSC are located at several different commands, including OPNAV-N45, BUMED-M3F7, NAVSEA-O4N, as well as the U.S. Marine Corps.  If modifications are indicated, the entire amendment request might be returned for revision.

Some of the most common reasons for NEHC not receiving an amendment application in a timely manner, or receiving an unacceptable amendment application, are as follows:

•	Requests/applications are being forwarded up the RSO's chain of command for review and signature by the Commanding Officer (CO) via guardmail, routing folder, etc., and not "hand carried" up the chain of command.  Several recent amendment applications were either lost within an RSO's own chain of command, or have remained in the XO's or CO's inbox for several days to weeks with no action taken.
•	One RSO actually physically transferred from a command, assuming that the amendment application to name a new RSO had been signed off by the NRSC.  Upon request by NEHC, the amendment application was tracked down by the requesting command, and the application was found to still be in their CO's inbox after being submitted more than 2 months earlier.
•	NEHC was recently notified by phone of an amendment request to name a new RSO, less than two days prior to the current RSO's transfer date.  The actual amendment request was received almost a week later, without a date or serial number. 
•	Amendment requests are often received by NEHC without a signature by their commanding officer, or without a date or serialization number.  The cover letter and "amendment application form" are NOT allowed to be signed by the RSO, Department Head, Directorate, XO, or anyone other than the command's Commanding Officer (or the "acting" CO).  The use of "by direction" is also not acceptable.
•	Amendment requests are often received without the actual "amendment application form", or with a form that is not signed or dated by the CO.
•	Enclosures stated on the cover letter are sometimes missing from the application package, or there are extraneous enclosures that are not required in the application or listed on the cover letter.
•	The most common problem is that required documentation is often missing from the application package, especially in the case of approving new Authorized Users or Radiation Safety Officers.
•	Lack of documentation by the command's Radiation Safety Committee for review and approval of the amendment request.
•	One recent amendment application was actually mailed to the incorrect address by the command's mail room.  NEHC finally received it months after it had been submitted.

NEHC should be notified well in advance of when an amendment to a command's NRMP is required, especially for issues that are known well in advance.  If at all possible, these amendment requests should be received by NEHC at least 30 days in advance of any deadline specified by the command.

To expedite processing of amendment requests/applications, commands may notify NEHC prior to formally submitting the request, to ensure that all documentation has been completed appropriately, and that all required documentation has been included in the amendment package.

Very Respectfully,

LCDR Pomije

Brian D. Pomije, MS, DABR
Lieutenant Commander, Medical Service Corps, USN
Radiation Health Team Leader
Navy Environmental Health Center
620 John Paul Jones Circle (Suite 1100)
Portsmouth, VA 23708-2103

W: (757) 953-0766; DSN: 377-0766
Cell: (757) 651-2814
Fax: (757) 953-0685