Officers of the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service who have been detailed through official orders (as spelled out Commissioned Corps Instructions 1323.01, 1323.02, or 1323.03) to serve in a special program of a Federal or State Agency or other organization is eligible for the Special Assignment Award. Assignments that are ordered through memorandum or other official methods qualify for the award, except in cases where the assignment involves performing routine functions associated with the officer’s position of it is specifically mentioned in the description of the officer’s position. Also excluded are assignments for training purposes or which fall under another component of the Department of Health and Human Services (or any other organization that HHS has an agreement to provide officers for detail service.)
Officers must spend at least consecutive 30 days in a qualifying assignment to earn the award, but assignments that require 30 or more non-consecutive days may be considered on an individual basis. In those cases, the non-consecutive days must be spent on the same assignment in the same organization as part of a continuing activity with a clearly defined mission and objective.
As mentioned earlier, officers assigned from one HHS component to another typically do not qualify for the award. But assignment to special initiatives, projects, or activities of the Secretary of HHS, the Assistant Secretary of Health (tasked with handling strategy and policy direction for the Commissioned Corps) and/or the Surgeon General do qualify for the award. Ultimately, the Surgeon General is responsible for the validation of special initiatives and activities pursuant to issuance of the Special Assignment Award.