Why is there such a long wait for reserve component officer and warrant federal recognition/promotion?

I have been meaning to post some of the info I have learned. I am not saying that it is all absolutely correct, but I do my best not to relay any information that is only hearsay. If anyone has contrary information, I will be happy to dig in to an accurate answer.
I am NOT an official voice. I am doing my best to relay info. I do not speak for anyone at NGB and I have not coordinated this with anyone there. My experience is primarily with UVP of Warrant Officers. I focus on those, but dont know the differences in the normal DA Select process.
1. First and foremost, the Federal Recognition requirement (and process) is NOT invented by NGB. There are many historical instances that support it. Check out the history of Colonel Sanders, Kentucky National Guard (yes, he is real). What we go through at our State levels is a board that RECOMMENDS Federal Recognition. Only the President can grant Federal Recognition, which he has delegated to the Secretary of Defense. Federal Recognition is the certification that you meet the requirements to serve alongside your Regular Army peers in the event we are Federalized and called to Active Duty under Title 10.
2. NGB only accepts packets from the States and scrolls them. Their 'standard' is to accept within 10 days and assign to a scroll within 45 days. Once this is complete, and the scroll is transmitted to DMPM, their part in the process is complete, until the scroll is returned. NGB is doing some additional initial screening in an effort to cut down on the delays for issues caught further down the line and assist with the process. Generally, NGB says they are meeting their suspenses for scrolling.
3. The whole process at DA and DOD is just normal staffing. Any time a document moves from one place to another, there is always a lot of work. SecArmy has to approve before a doc goes to SecDef. CSA approves before it goes to SecArmy, Dir Army Staff approves before it goes to CSA, etc. Its bureaucracy, but its SOP whether a change to a Reg, a Policy Memo, or a Promotion Scroll.
4. The Exemplary Conduct Screening (at OTJAG) was expected to add about 45 days to the process. A normal Scroll (without screening) is expected to take 4 months, but NGR 600-101 allows packets to be submitted 120 days PRIOR to eligibility (TIG met). The Screening is directed by SecDef and SecArmy (Army Dir 2016-26), nothing to do with NGB. While it is taking 10 months in many cases, the EXPECTED time is approx 6 months, meaning it is running about 4 months longer. That is not good, but it is what ABCMR, et al, are looking at. Early in FY17, scrolls were taking 5-6 months (presumably with Screening). There are THOUSANDS of promotions that go through Screening each year and I was told that initially, there was one person doing all that screening.
5. Promotions to CW2 and 1LT are backdated. I was told this was to date of the State Fed Rec Board. For that reason, they are only done every quarter (at least for CW2) and are very LARGE lists. Of course this means they take longer. We all know how important it is to be able to pin on that rank! But at least you can take some comfort in the fact that pay is also backdated.

As I have posted before, new packets are electronically transmitted through TMT. This should help speed things up, but also provides greater visibility. However, the NGB G1Tracker we all use does not interface directly with TMT. There are updates being sent out via State channels that are more up to date than the Tracker. It would be nice to have an accurate Tracker, but we dont and it doesnt affect the status of your scroll in any way. We may not be able to track it, but it doesnt mean it is standing still.

I post this because I understand the desire for information. It doesn't solve the problem, but no one wants to lose any of you and the experience and skill you bring. By my count, there are 630 WOs somewhere in the process that have been accepted by NGB awaiting Fed Rec. A few of us are here, but there are a lot more going through it. Everyone appreciates what we all do, we just have to endure this for a while, but we will get through it. Call it an exercise in resilience. :-)

Discuss. Rationally, please. :-)

Here is an update to my post that I put on here....7-months ago. Feel free to add in your personal experiences!
Just think, that in the time that it takes to complete the FEDREC process for U06-17, it is equal to or more than:
1. A deployment, complete with PMT, DEMOB, and leave
2. A full year of college, to include summer session
3. A full-term pregnancy, followed by maternity leave
4. The time it takes to train a fighter pilot (average is 8-9 months)
5. An adjudicated TS clearance, complete with full scope poly
6. The Special Forces Qualification Course, minus language school (and that seemed forever)
7. Six(6) Ranger School Classes, possibly seven (7). Heck, a Ranger School student could recycle each phase twice and still graduate before U06-17 is completed
8. Lastly, I could watch my child grow from birth to that one-year mark when they are walking. Or in my case my child reached the age to graduate college, and then started to have a family of his own, thus beginning #1 all over again in an infinite cycle, much like Groundhog Day.

And to think, during the shutdown, or any shutdown for that matter, Congress still gets paid. At the same time, however, their aides do not get paid, and they are the ones doing all of the work. This scenario reminds me of the old MASH episodes with Radar O'Reilly and COL Henry Blake, except in this instance Radar is like a Congressional Aide and COL Blake is the Congressman. Radar (aide) would then present to COL Blake (Congressman) a huge stack of forms, with COL Blake asking, "What am I signing?". Radar replies, "You are signing this form to acknowledge your are signing the other forms, but those forms do not need a signature because this other form says so, but you need to sign this form that gives me permission to present these forms to you, which you do and do not have to sign....sir."

MAJ(P) (Join to see) that is why a lot of ARNG officers jump ship and come to the reserves. We are larger and not reliant on just the slots in the state in your AOC. Promotions tend to be faster as well.

They got tired of people complaining how long they were on the scroll so they fixed it! Now all of a sudden, when I try to go to Career Center to view how many days I've been on the scroll, I get an access prohibited message. Guess they decided if I can't see it cross the 200 day mark in a couple days, I can't complain! Fixed!

We should all seek to have our DOR pushed back to the average time for completion based on where your scroll fits in the process. This way we don't lose out on future advancement.

It's the scroll system. If one packet on the scroll the whole scroll goes back . I had a friend that was on a scroll that was 4 months older than the scroll I was on yet I was promoted before her.

This process and others like it need to be improved to the point that that it needs to be efficient and not let those in line for such action waiting for long periods of time.

Scroll 13-17 (probably will end up being 01-18) created today. Only 200 days to go if Im lucky!

Update for P07-17; Currently my status shows "Awaiting Dir of Mil Pers Mgmt; P07-17; 122 Days in DoD Approval cycle" and RED. I decided to email the folks at NGB and this is what I was told by CW3 Poppy...

Sir,
As of 21 Jun 17, that scroll as at DAS (Dir of Army Staff). There are a couple of offices in the process that are NOT listed in eTracker after this office. It has a few more offices to go before being signed. Once signed, it has been taking anywhere from 2-4 weeks for us to receive the signed scroll so that we can publish orders.

I do not know what the 'color coding' represents. I have asked the contractors to provide us the perimeters (meaning) or remove the color coding all together. (We have heard nothing from them!) The colors are off if you ask me....the further you go through the process, it should be going 'green' not 'red'. At the beginning, it is 'green'. (?) If you are at 123 days, you are doing good...trust me! Some are much longer and were submitted prior to your scroll. We have no control over the packets after they are sent to the Pentagon (HQDA G1).

So pretty good news even though the tracker doesn't reflect this. Keep your heads up!