So we are once again at the mercy of the lowest bidder…? I’m capitalist at heart and believe in the free market…I’m also a consumer and have learned that the cheapest price isn’t always the best price…
Now if we could just get our government to go for a quality product at a fair price we’ll be on to something…:mad:
I’m posting the following comments of behalf of Norleen Schumer:
"I would like to add a comment or two or three, regarding Tim Spears and his letter to gCaptain on [U][B]NMC has over 8000 files waiting to be evaluated.
[/B][/U]First and foremost, it is horrid to see a “new kid on the block” so completely disheartened by what is happening at NMC and I want to extend my heart felt sympathy to you and you wife Tim.
Being a person who fought against this “consolidation” from the very beginning, I feel for you. I know first hand the frustration, disappointment and disbelief. I retired from an REC after 22 years as an evaluator and Assistant Chief. I have been put down, stomped on, squashed, told lie after lie and had to deal with EGO’s the size of the Continent of Asia, and so much more. Like you Tim, I also am not a disgruntled ex-employee, I am however, extremely disappointed by the lack of knowledge and leadership from an organization that I used to respect and was, for many many years, loyal too. My hackles used to go up, because of my loyalty, when I would hear someone say ‘[B]U[/B]ncle [B]S[/B]am’s[B] C[/B]onfused[B] G[/B]roup’, well, NMC has more than adequately proven that this saying is now absolutely and without a doubt, true.
In my business, I deal on a daily basis with NMC in one form or another, no wonder I am getting more gray hair, I have been slammed (Anonymously) for not knowing what I’m talking about because I send out items that come from NMC and that are then changed (even before the ink on the the cyber paper has dried), so I am forced to resend the updates, once again making me, or the REC’s, or the evaluators at NMC look like we don’t know what the h**l we are talking about (by the way, that is a very famous trick preformed by NMC on a regular basis-“make the other guy look bad and I’ll look great”). As you said Tim, NMC’s evaluation personnel are confused, they get conflicting instructions almost by the hour. Do it this way, no-no, do it this way, E-Mail traffic in the “House of NMC” is hazardous to your mental health. Do as I say and don’t pay any attention to the CFR’s, Policy Letters, MSM, or NVIC’s, because I know better.
I won’t even mention the “Oops” that someone at NMC did by posting the new “Draft” 9 page physical form on the web, but yet we are to accept everything and any thing as “factual” when it is posted on the web, just ask NMC, that is exactly what they will tell you, that’s what they told me.
Unfortunately, not one of the egomaniacs at NMC are being held accountable for this debacle.
Good job Tim and congratulations to you and your wife for getting out of the Ivory Tower before it drug you down and good luck in your new business."
[QUOTE=dougpine;14865]I’m posting the following comments of behalf of Norleen Schumer[/QUOTE]
Wow.
Has anybody asked Congressman Elijah Cummins to join gCaptain and this thread? I can only imagine his reaction.
Well Norleen, I am basking in the sun in the “no stress zone” in SW Florida now. I wonder why it took so long for me to figure it out and make this decision. I guess I thought things were going to get better but they just kept getting worse on a daily basis.
[quote=Capt. Fran;14874]Wow.
Has anybody asked Congressman Elijah Cummins to join gCaptain and this thread? I can only imagine his reaction.[/quote]
I just wrote to Capt. Stalfort asking him to address the ninety-six per day rumor. Will advise.
Nice job Doug, I suspect that the Capt. doesn’t like rumors anymore than we do and will set the record straight…
I just received this via email from Capt. Stalfort, the C/O at NMC:
"Thank you for the opportunity to provide some factual information about MMC production at the National Maritime Center. The information that was posted regarding the number of credentials that the NMC is capable of producing in an eight hour day completely wrong. The NMC is currently printing and issuing to mariners an average of 380 credentials per day.
You are correct that medical evaluations are no longer the bottleneck. In February we increased the size of our medical evaluation branch and eliminated the backlog of medical evaluations. Unfortunately the bottleneck has moved to the professional qualification stage of our process due a surge of applications from mariners in advance of the TWIC compliance date and some technical and software problems associated with the introduction of the new consolidated merchant mariner credential. We have assembled a tiger team at NMC with the intent to increase daily production next week to 500 per day with a goal of clearing out the backlog of applications by the end of September. With the backlog eliminated, we are confident that our productivity levels will begin to reduce credential processing time towards our goal of 30 days of less."
[QUOTE=dougpine;14971]I just received this via email from Capt. Stalfort, the C/O at NMC:[/QUOTE]
Doug, you earned your title of Super Moderator today, my friend. 
He’s still the guy asking the tough questions that no one else wants to ask…Bravo Zulu Doug…
Thanks, Doug
What the hell is a “Tiger Team”? sounds scary!
“Tiger Team” is a term they use when they assemble a special team to handle a special task.
Current production is about 350+ per day, and printing capability is not a constraint.
As for the “oops” about the physical form, it wasn’t NMC. NMC’s web page simply links to a web page for all Coast Guard forms. Someone at that site, without consulting NMC, posted the draft form.
(Edited comment - I should have read the comments on page 2 before I posted this…)
I turned in my application to have VSO endorsed on my STCW. I did this on May 12, 2010. Two days ago I checked the status and it is awaiting PBEQ. So much for a “30 day” process.
You did it ten months in the future?
Nemo
I could be wrong, and often am, but does anyone else recall in the early days of the NMC that the stated goal was five to seven working days? Now it’s thirty.
Yes, I recall sitting in the all hands meeting and being told that a simple renewal would be about a five day turn around. As far as what Stalfort said about my information on production be incorrect. IT IS NOT! If he read my post he would see that I said when they rolled the new credentials out that they were doing two an hour per machine and that information was correct because I was there when it started April 15th. If anyone thinks I don’t know what I’m talking about they can call Bill Allen who at that time and I think now is running the production department. His direct line is 304-433-3423.
I also said they may have more machines by now and that I would hope so. If they are putting out three hundred a day then they must have got more printers and laminators.
Stalfort needs to publish the numbers on here to back up his story. When my wife and I both quit April 30th they were barely getting one hundred out the door each day.
When the Operations System Center had us logging in th new system to try it, it would crash after about a half dozen people logged on. That went on for days. That system was launched in a big hurry because they already opened their mouth and put it in the federal register that it would start April 15 2009. So once again they put the cart in front of the horse and had to go ahead with it, ready or not!
Former Contract evaluator is providing info that is 2 months old…I have little to no doubt as to what he says holds some truth based on any new program coming on line in a big beauracracy…
It stands to reason that the whole system would be a typical " SNAFU "…
Capt. Stalfort is talking about the present, his own words of “currently” being issued…If his numbers are correct then there has been an improvement over what was happening in April…
What surprises me is, why now are they adding additional people in the form of a “Tiger Team” ? With all of the academies pushing out new 3 rds and already having quite a back log…The timing seems strange to me…and a little late…
I don’t have any doubt that they are putting out the numbers now that the Captain claims. That’s the point; I was talking about when they launched the program, not now. The reason they have to bring in the “Tiger Team” is because it is not possible to put the same numbers out as the ones coming in. They don’t have enough staff to handle the work load. Thus about five thousand in the backlog when I left, up to eight thousand now.
The plain and simple is this, the company that was awarded the contract is meeting at least their minimum that they agreed to but the Coast Guard once again underestimated what it would take to do the job when they wrote the contract that the companies bid on.
I tried telling my girlfriend about the good news (tiger teams, 350 applications per day, etc.) and how I might be able to get to work sooner than I first thought. [I]I just submitted for my original MMC on Thursday.[/I]
She’s smarter than I am. She crunched the numbers and replied "if the backlog won’t even be handled until the end of September and you just submitted yours, meaning your behind all of them, you’ll be lucky to get your MMC by October to November. :eek:
Is McDonald’s hiring?
PS I don’t believe anyone mentioned how many new applications are submitted to NMC on a daily basis, anyone know?
Back in 2007, the goal was for one week credential processing time by March 2009.
Just for fun, look at slide 5 in this presentation. I wonder how this vision of the future is progressing?