Navy Cash™ recognized for acquisition excellence - e-business smart card technology for cashless ships

Navy Supply Corps Newsletter, Jan-Feb, 2003 by Richard Klein

Naval Supply Systems Command's Navy Cash[TM] Program was recognized as one of the top 12 acquisition programs in the federal government at an awards ceremony held in Washington, D.C., in September for the finalists for the Business Solutions in the Public Interest Awards. It was chosen by acquisition professionals from a highly competitive field of 70 applicant programs as representing an outstanding example of using creative business tools.

The Business Solutions in the Public Interest Awards are administered jointly by Government Executive Magazine, the Council for Excellence in Government and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy to identify and celebrate acquisition teams and agency leaders who use acquisition effectively and creatively to achieve agency missions. This competition strives to select programs that demonstrate the power and payoff of using acquisition tools to transform the acquisition culture.

Navy Cash[TM] is a Navy, Department of the Treasury, and industry partnering project to make Navy ships "cash-lite/cashless" using e-business smart card technology. The Navy Cash[TM] program is an Afloat Supply Department of the Future (ASDOF) initiative that supports the Naval Supply Systems Command strategic goal to reduce workload aboard ships. Navy Cash[TM] is built on the ATMs-At-Sea Program calling for migration to a cashless environment within the skin of the ship using reloadable electronic purse technology.

Prototypes of Navy Cash[TM] on board the USS Rentz and USS Bonhomme Richard in 2001, were the result of the NAVSUP Navy Cash[TM] Program Office forging partnerships to leverage the qualified expertise of each partner into one financial platform. Each partner was brought into the venture with a stake in the outcome promising a direct benefit. This venture opened opportunities for Navy to develop and test the concept of cashless ships while providing Treasury a controlled environment for exercising its responsibilities for developing e-commerce capabilities. To migrate all ships to a cashless environment, the Navy Cash[TM] Team devised a solution of making each ship "a bank in a box" using an electronic-purse/debit card system.

Navy Cash[TM] provides major quality of life benefits for Sailors and Marines and specific business benefits for the partners. Navy Cash[TM] capabilities represent the only functioning e-purse on a debit card in use in the United States today. It is also the first Department of Defense open Smart Card financial application for use on military installations, ships, and in the civilian economy. The debit feature of the card allows members to withdraw cash at more than 670,000 ATMs worldwide and to make purchases from approximately 22,000,000 merchants where MasterCard is accepted. Members have access to financial services 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week no matter where the ship is located using "Cashless ATMs" via satellite communications.

Navy Cash[TM] significantly reduces the workload in the Disbursing Office and retail locations throughout the ship by eliminating the constant counting, sorting, moving and monitoring of bills and coins. It reduces the cashing and handling of checks, particularly returned checks. It enables retail and service operations on the ship to redirect personnel to other core functions.

Improved business practices and ashore accounting performed by a Treasury agent bank reduce the cost of ships operations. The change to cashless ships provides an actual cash savings to the Department of Treasury for production, transportation and storage of cash consisting of literally hundreds of millions of dollars in bills and coins currently required for shipboard operations.

The team just returned recently from Norfolk where the USS Porter became the fourth "Navy Cash" ship and our first destroyer. She went live Oct. 21 and has a crew of around 250 members. She joins the USS Rentz, USS Bon-homme Richard and the USS Anzio.

The 21st of October marked the Navy Cash one year anniversary on Bonhomme Richard. To date, Navy Cash[TM] has processed over 1.5 million transactions valued at $22M.

The Navy Cash[TM] Program Office expects a fleetwide rollout to be approved in the December 2002 time frame. Watch for updates and announcements as the rollout develops.

Richard Klein received a bachelor's degree from Mary Washinton College. He spent 29 years on active duty and as a civilian with the U.S. Army in special operations, intelligence and counter-drug activities. He moved to the Navy in 1995 and transferred to NAVSUP in 1997

Richard Klein, Assistant Program Manager, ATMs-at-Sea Support Services Directorate, Naval Supply Systems Command