Why clean house? You stated you wouldn’t evaluate them even if they asked because you would have to babysit them on deck, they wouldn’t use situational awareness during the transfer & would need reminding & because they would likely be late for the job. What in the heck type of engineers are you working with? Perhaps my expectations are too high but I don’t think so. Something is not right about your description of the engineers that you work with & it’s either your engineers or your description of them. I’m not working with any engineers that need babysitting anywhere aboard the ship but that’s just me. But again, maybe your description is biased?
Also, when you say your company requires the Chief to have the PIC do you mean the C/E or C/M? If it’s the C/E then that is even more reason for the 2AE & 3AE to get the endorsement because hopefully they aspire to be a C/E one day. The more cross training & the more a person knows the better IMO.