DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS
2000 NAVY PENTAGON
WASHINGTON, DC 20350-2000
OPNAVINST 3120.47A
N9
15 Jan 2025
OPNAV INSTRUCTION 3120.47A
From: Chief of Naval Operations
Subj: SURFACE SHIP ENGINEERED OPERATING CYCLE PROGRAM
Ref: (a) OPNAVINST 4700.7N
(b) COMUSFLTFORCOMINST 4790.3
(c) MIL-STD-3034, Department of Defense Standard Practice: Reliability-Centered
Maintenance (RCM) Process, 21 Jan 2011
(d) NAVSEA SL720-AA-MAN-030 Manual Navy Modernization Program Management
and Operations Manual, 12 Feb 2015
1. Purpose. To update and establish responsibilities for effective Surface Ship Engineered
Operating Cycle (SSEOC) program management, and revise the policy for reporting deferred
mandatory (Technical) Class Maintenance Plan (CMP) tasks. This instruction is a complete
revision and should be reviewed in its entirety.
a. Changes reporting periodicities, timeline and authorities.
b. Clarifies the routing process and content of the SSEOC Program Deferred Tasks Annual
Report.
c. Defines the role of U.S. Fleet Forces Command (USFLTFORCOM) Director, Fleet
Maintenance (N43) and the U.S. Pacific Fleet (COMPACFLT) Director, Fleet Maintenance
(N43) in generating a Fleet response to the SSEOC Deferred Tasks Annual Report.
2. Cancellation. OPNAVINST 3120.47.
3. Scope and Applicability. The SSEOC Program applies to all Navy battle force surface ships
under cognizance of Director, Expeditionary Warfare (OPNAV N95) and Director, Surface
Warfare (OPNAV N96). It does not apply to Military Sealift Command ships, leased vessels and
boats.
4. Background
a. The SSEOC program is used to ensure proper identification, documentation, tracking and
execution of the minimum maintenance tasks and shipboard assessments necessary for a ship to
achieve expected service life (ESL). The SSEOC Deferred Tasks Annual Report is the
OPNAVINST 3120.47A
15 Jan 2025
mechanism to report Fleet maintenance deferral actions. The report serves to identify the cause
of changes or cancellations, aid in corrective action determination and inform planning,
programming, budgeting and execution (PPBE) decisions.
b. The CMP identifies all maintenance tasks, with periodicities, for a given class. The CMP
tasks determined necessary for compliance with this instruction are identified as SSEOC tasks.
c. The engineered operating cycle is the disciplined assignment of CMP tasks throughout a
ship’s life cycle. SSEOC tasks are mandatory minimum maintenance tasks comprised of
assessments and qualified repairs intended to cost-effectively sustain ship material condition, and
which, if not accomplished, are likely to cause significant, unplanned corrective maintenance and
cost burdens at a later date. For example, data has shown that failure to complete required tank
overhauls when first required results in additional future costs as the coating system fails and
metal wastage begins.
d. The SSEOC program supports the surface ship maintenance process described in
reference (b).
5. Discussion
a. An engineered timely approach to adequately accomplish minimum maintenance tasks
necessary to achieve a ship’s ESL will reduce costs to execute those tasks in future years.
b. Consistent with references (a) and (b), the SSEOC Program is a disciplined engineering
approach based on reliability-centered maintenance principles, per reference (c), for managing
maintenance tasks critical to achieve ESL.
c. SSEOC tasks are a subset of maintenance and modernization tasks in a given ship CMP.
The Technical Foundation Papers (TFP) align the CMP requirements with Chief of Naval
Operation (CNO) availabilities and continuous maintenance availabilities over a ship’s life. The
TFPs provide notional man-day estimates for the work. Ship sheets, developed annually, refine
the technical foundation paper notional estimates with hull-specific information, including any
previously deferred SSEOC requirements, in order to make out-year adjustments to the Program
Objective Memorandum (POM). Some general guidelines for determining SSEOC tasks
include:
(1) Supportability of Equipment. Systems, equipment, or material that impact ESL for
which the acquisition process did not adequately plan and program for in-service sustainment.
(2) Lessons Learned. Naval Sea Systems Command (COMNAVSEASYSCOM) will
validate, document and analyze growth and new work that occur during CNO availabilities for
possible inclusion into the SSEOC Program.
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(3) Mandatory Safety Alterations (MSA). Alterations that are critical to safety of
personnel, equipment or the ship that must be completed when programmed and could have a
significant impact to personnel or equipment if not accomplished.
6. Policy
a. The engineered operating cycle and associated reliability-centered maintenance-based
SSEOC tasking will be accorded high priority. The SSEOC tasks will be developed using sound
technical rationale and objective quality evidence. Surface Maintenance Engineering Planning
Program (SURFMEPP), as NAVSEA’s principal surface ship maintenance planning activity, is
responsible for developing, updating, tracking and reporting SSEOC tasks for surface ships.
b. All SSEOC tasks must be programmed according to their periodicity or event-based
requirements. Early planning, close coordination among the several commands involved, and
accommodation with current support facilities, manpower and funds are required to achieve
satisfactory implementation.
c. At times, exceeding SSEOC task periodicities or deferring scheduled SSEOC tasks may
be necessary. Technical adjudication of deferred tasks will be per reference (b) by
COMNAVSEASYSCOM. Early and close coordination among the various parties is required to
minimize these occurrences and, where unavoidable, to rapidly recover from the deferral. The
CNO availability close-out letter must capture all deferred SSEOC and MSA tasks.
d. Reportable requirements that will be reported in the COMNAVSEASYSCOM SSEOC
Deferred Annual Task Report are, at a minimum:
(1) Availabilities Cancelled with Life Cycle Technical Violations. Cancelled CNO
Availabilities with life cycle technical violations that resulted in risk to ESL, including
availability shifts greater than 24 months beyond Optimized Fleet Response Plan requirement.
(2) Reprogramming Challenges with Life Cycle Technical Violations: Deferred
maintenance resulting in an increase in maintenance requirements by greater than 15 percent of
the notional requirement of a future availability as outlined in the annual OPNAVLTR 4700.
(3) Life Cycle Technical Violations. Life cycle technical discrepancies that resulted in
risk to ESL or requires future avail type changes.
(4) Fiscal Year Shift. Availabilities planned in a fiscal year and included in the
workload agreement that were deferred to a later fiscal year.
(5) MSAs: Incomplete or reprogrammed MSAs that were previously identified and
fielded per ref (d).
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(6) Most current Life Cycle Health Assessment metric and an assessment of the overall
technical risk posed by the percentage of unsatisfactory ships.
(7) Summary of technical requirements not executed and the resulting technical and
economic risk to each ship. Economic risk, as used in this context, refers to the risk posed to a
ship’s service life by allowing costly repairs to accumulate.
(8) An estimate of current surface ship maintenance backlog and an estimate of the
maintenance required to be programmed and executed for each ship with canceled depot
maintenance periods.
(9) An assessment of the risk to shipyard industrial base and any exacerbation on
maintenance delays that may be experienced as a result of maintenance backlog.
e. Fleet response letters will include, at a minimum:
(1) An explanation of contributing factors that led to deferral of SSEOC tasks. Factors
will be categorized by Operational Requirements, Yard Loading or Industrial Capacity, Fiscal
Constraints, Decommissioning and Other.
(2) Outline anticipated future funding impacts, provide associated mitigation and
recovery plans and project any significant impact to port loading (e.g., additional dry-dock
availability, an extension of the next CNO availability, etc.).
(3) A risk assessment of the ship’s material condition and risk of the resulting extended
maintenance interval on the ability to meet operational requirements and achieve ESL. This
assessment must include impact on ESL, lost operational capacity due to degraded systems and
increased operational risk to the ship and crew throughout ships’ service life.
(4) A risk assessment of fleet-wide industrial, economic and operational risks associated
with the fleet’s aggregate maintenance backlog.
7. Responsibilities
a. OPNAV N95 and OPNAV N96 will:
(1) Ensure that planning, programming and budgeting support CMP execution for
applicable platforms and that SSEOC tasks are programmed as minimum mandatory
maintenance requirements.
(2) In coordination with Director of Fleet Readiness (OPNAV N83) fleet commanders
and type commander use ship sheet data to inform out-year programming requirements for
SSEOC tasks.
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b. OPNAV N83 will:
(1) Assess surface ship maintenance requirements in support of CMP execution for all
surface ship classes covered by this instruction.
(2) Publish surface ship CNO availability schedules to support annual POM
development.
c. Commander, Naval Sea System Command will:
(1) Develop, implement and maintain a COMNAVSEASYSCOM policy for the SSEOC
Program detailing functions, roles and responsibilities to develop, update and track SSEOC
tasks.
(2) Establish the SSEOC Program task list for each ship class.
(3) Ensure that CMP and TFP reflect the SSEOC tasks and that ship sheets also identify
them, including prior deferrals, for fleet commander submissions to OPNAV N83, OPNAV N95
and OPNAV N96 in support of the PPBE process.
(4) Ensure baseline availability work package close-out letter, generated by SURFMEPP,
documented at 100 days following end of availability, includes SSEOC mandatory (technical)
related requirement changes. The letter will include all deferred mandatory (technical) tasks to
include information on job control number, requirement summary, deferred man-days, final
disposition and reason for deferral.
(5) Ensure SSEOC tasks are appropriately identified during planning process and tracked
through completion, to provide early awareness of potential task deferrals or lapses of
periodicity.
(6) Adjudicate SSEOC task periodicity extension or deferral requests from the Fleets by
providing appropriate technical and economic risk evaluation.
(7) Following a programmatic and technical review by COMNAVSEASYSCOM via
Naval Systems Engineering Directorate (SEA05) and Surface Ship Maintenance, Modernization,
and Sustainment Directorate (SEA21) and an industrial based assessment by SEA21A, receive
the SURFMEPP-generated SSEOC Deferred Tasks Annual Report for the preceding fiscal year.
This report must be submitted by SURFMEPP to NAVSEA via SEA05, SEA21 and copy
OPNAV N83, OPNAV N95, OPNAV N96, USFLTFORCOM N43, and COMPACFLT N43 no
later than 31 December, annually.
(8) Track maintenance requirements until ships have been approved for decommissioning
by Congress.
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d. USFLTFORCOM and COMPACFLT Directors of Fleet Maintenance (N43) will:
Review of the SURFMEPP generated SSEOC Deferred Tasks Annual Report, submit a letter to
OPNAV N83, OPNAV N96, and OPNAV N95 to comment on each instance reportable SSEOC
requirements were not met as listed in the SSEOC Deferred Tasks Annual Report. This letter
must be submitted annually by 1 March, or no later than 2 months after receipt of the SSEOC
Deferred Tasks Annual Report.
8. Records Management
a. Records created as a result of this instruction, regardless of format or media, must be
maintained and dispositioned per the records disposition schedules located on the Department of
the Navy (DON) Assistant for Administration, Directives and Records Management Division
portal page at https://portal.secnav.navy.mil/orgs/DUSNM/DONAA/DRM/Records-and-
Information-Management/Approved%20Record%20Schedules/Forms/AllItems.aspx.
b. For questions concerning the management of records related to this or the records
disposition schedules, please contact the local records manager or the OPNAV
Records Management Program (DNS-16).
9. Review and Effective date. Per OPNAVINST 5215.17A, OPNAV N96 will review this
instruction annually around the anniversary of its issuance date to ensure applicability, currency
and consistency with Federal, Department of Defense, Secretary of the Navy and Navy policy
and statutory authority using OPNAV 5215/40 Review of Instruction. This instruction will be in
effect for 10 years, unless revised or canceled in the interim, and will be reissued by the 10-year
anniversary date if it is still required, unless it meets one of the exceptions in OPNAVINST
5215.17A, paragraph 9. Otherwise, if the instruction is no longer required, it will be processed
for cancellation as soon as the need for cancellation is known following the guidance in OPNAV
Manual 5215.1 of May 2016.
Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for
Warfighting Requirements and Capabilities
Releasability and Distribution:
This instruction is cleared for public release and is available electronically only via Department
of the Navy Issuances website, https://www.secnav.navy.mil/doni/default.aspx.
