Fiscal closeout may delay orders in hand Published Sept. 2, 2009 By Daniel Elkins Air Force Personnel Center Public Affairs RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- Some Airmen may experience slight delays in receiving permanent-change-of-station orders in September as officials here begin implementing new procedures for closing out the fiscal year PCS budget. Active-duty Airmen with assignment report dates or a date eligible for return from overseas of January 2010 or later may be impacted by the delay in receiving their orders. Airmen entering the service, separating or retiring are not affected. Air Force Personnel Center officials here implemented new procedures in July that ensure Airmen continue to receive orders in-hand no later than 60 days prior to their projected departure date, but no earlier than 90 days prior to their reporting date, or DEROS. AFPC is budgeted to publish a set number of PCS orders each fiscal year. As the fiscal year comes to a close, AFPC officials will be closely observing base-level military personnel sections to ensure they do not exceed the overall number of orders allowed by the budget. To prevent exceeding the budget while ensuring the availability of sufficient PCS funds to cover obligations, approval of orders may temporarily shift from the base level to AFPC. "AFPC may need to restrict base-level approving official access and centrally authenticate the remaining orders here," said Lt. Col. Gloria Porter, the AFPC Assignments Directorate Analysis Branch chief. "This restriction should only last two to three weeks at most in order to balance the books." If monitoring of base military personnel sections reveals the Air Force is operating well within its budgeted PCS funds, AFPC officials will approve as many orders as needed to meet mission requirements. However, if remaining PCS funds are very limited, they will only approve orders for Airmen as an exception to policy on a case-by-case basis, Colonel Porter said. Assignments considered under the exception to the policy include Airmen required to perform temporary duty en route between assignments, individual emergencies, personal hardships or those whose moves are in the best interest of the Air Force. Colonel Porter emphasized that it is imperative that the MPS and other orders-publishing authorities exercise extreme diligence in continuing normal orders processing while exercising thorough quality control for accuracy. "The new requirement clearly defines a window for orders publication and is essential to the Air Force's ability to accurately project PCS budget estimates, control spending and comply with the law," Colonel Porter said. "Any pause in issuing orders while the books are balanced will last no more than a few weeks with authority returning to the base level Oct. 1." For more information about PCS orders publication, visit http://ask.afpc.randolph.af.mil and type "PCS orders in-hand" into the search engine or call the 24-hour Total Force Service Center-San Antonio at 800-525-0102.