Improving the existing personal property program - Brief Article

Translog: Journal of Military Transportation Management, Jan-Feb, 2001 by Nonie Cabana

Changes are coming to the way the Military Traffic Management Command moves the nation's service members.

It is very exciting. We are changing the mechanics and standards of more than 600,000 personal property moves that take place annually.

Our personal property team and support folks are meeting this challenge with great energy and creativity.

Meetings have been held with all the Department of Defense military services, explaining the initiative and the need for additional funding.

As demonstrated in the ongoing pilots, there is additional cost associated with giving our service members the kind of move they deserve.

We believe that improvements can be implemented during fiscal year 2002 if we can identify funding sources. We are aware that the military services have not programmed for increased costs near term, in anticipation of our final evaluation. As such, we've begun soliciting the support of senior leaders to identify funds for FY 2002.

Our effort to improve the household goods movement process is a critical Quality of Life issue. The current program, unchanged for 35 years, no longer gives service members and their families the quality they deserve and should expect. Based on Congressional language in the fiscal year 1996 National Defense Authorization Act, three different, but related, pilot programs are ongoing.

However, since the onset of these initiatives, only a minimal number of shipments are realizing improvements. At best, we are effecting an estimated 67,000 household moves per year. Consequently, only 10 percent of military service members and their families are receiving the benefits of some level of reengineering. That still leaves 547,000 shipments per year unaffected by any real improvement.

Something also has to be done to protect the infrastructure of the industry. In our partnering with industry, it has been pointed out that the Department of Defense has for many years supported a program that is low-rate driven. Carriers and agents alike are complaining that this practice causes many of them to go down because the rates do not adequately compensate them.

Consequently, companies are going out of business and stranding shipments in the pipeline. Companies are failing to pay their local agents, resulting in shipments being held hostage by the agents. This practice has to go. Hence, it is critical that we act now, before the infrastructure crumbles before our eyes--negatively impacting our service members and their families.

We believe improvements can be realized much sooner than planned by incorporating successful pilot features into the current program now as an interim solution. We recommend incorporating the features that are common to all pilots and show promise of success into the current program now.

The features that are proposed for implementation are:

* Full replacement coverage for lost and damaged items, along with the ability to settle claims directly with the moving company.

* Direct communication between the carrier and the member to improve customer service.

* Awarding of moving contracts based on more factors than price alone. This will lead to a higher quality of service and put the Department of Defense program on par with corporate standards.

* Use of customer satisfaction surveys to allow service members' input as a primary measure of carrier performance.

In order to implement these pilot successes into the current program, a Task Force Fix has been established. It is comprised of industry and government representatives to review and coordinate the proposed changes. The proposal to incorporate pilot features into the current program is not intended to replace the pilots, but to capitalize on their successes--the real winner being the military family.

Today, service members receive substandard quality and incur too many out-of-pocket expenses to right the wrong. This has to change: Our people deserve "World-Class Treatment."

Col. Nonie Cabana
Deputy Chief of Staff for Passenger &
Personal Property