Firing an NCOIC is not a small task nor is it easy.  Before you go down this road consider the following:

1) Is the lack of performance because of a lack or motivation or ability?  Do they have the tools and not want to do the job or do they lack the tools?  Collectively we want to “motivate” people to do the job but usually fail to assess if we’ve given them the tools.

2)  With a more experienced NCOIC I’ve found that a more open dialogue counseling is appropriate.  What do we need to work the issue out together?  Agree to what you and I are accountable for.  I usually start with an endstate and some non-negotiable points.

3) If these fail then it is a monotonous process of counseling and documenting failures.  Don’t forget to do the follow up counseling and fill in the final blocks to close out the action plan.  Demonstrate that the plan failed.  Ultimately you’re going to need to go to a commander with this issue and get there buy in for action.  Start those discussions now.