MTMC's small business chief talks to industry - Military Traffic Management Command - Brief Article

Translog: Journal of Military Transportation Management, March-April, 2001

Pamela Monroe has moved her job out of the office and onto the road lately.

Monroe, Associate Director for MTMC's Small Business Division, has been taking her work right into the customer's office.

"My job is to advise small businesses on how they can be eligible for MTMC contracts," said Monroe.

"I get phone calls all the time from small businesses."

What is the most important advice she gives small business callers?

"It is essential that they register in the Central Contract Registration," said Monroe, who joined MTMC in August after a 16-year career in the U.S. Air Force.

Monroe made her first industry contacts days after arriving, when she participated in a MTMC small business conference at Fort Belvoir, Va.

Her latest industry visit was Jan. 9 with the Household Goods Forwarders Association of America, Inc., in Alexandria, Va.

Monroe and Patricia Bruce, Assistant Small Business Specialist, met with Terry Head, the association's president.

"There is no doubt about it," said Head, "our association is dominated by small business activity. We appreciate the government partnership."

An estimated 50 to 60 percent of association members who handle MTMC personal property moves are small businesses, explained Head.

Head's association is one of the two biggest organizations representing moving companies in the country. The Household Goods Forwarders Association of America lists 1,621 companies, located in 144 countries, as members, or 90 percent of MTMC's 120 approved international carriers. About one-third of association members are in the United States.

Concerns, said Head, involve the industry's shrinking market share. "Our industry is going through a lot of mergers and acquisition activity--some is veiled and some is not.

"It's the same as in Europe. The big entities are buying up smaller ones. They are seeking warehouses as they anticipate home delivery distribution on a regional basis."

As a gauge for the activity, Head said the moving industry has historically paralleled the aviation industry.

"It works that way to a remarkable degree," said Head. "And right now the big guy is getting bigger."

More information useful for small businesses seeking MTMC contracts will be available April 9 at MTMC's Small Business Conference, said Monroe. The conference will be held on the first day of the 2001 MTMC Training Symposium, at the Wyndham Anatole Hotel, in Dallas.

Conference subjects will include Central Contract Registration, HUB Zones and subcontracting. HUB Zone information is available now on the Web at www.sba.gov, said Monroe.

For additional small business information, contact Monroe at (703) 428, 2037, or monroep@mtmc.army.mil.