Pilot program aims to ease military moving process

A pilot program designed to improve the moving process may revolutionize the way the Defense Department handles relocations for service members. Each year, the Pentagon spends about $3 billion on moving military service members and their families, including the transportation, storage and management of household furniture, goods and baggage. Three years ago, the Military Traffic Management Command, which is responsible for managing all military deployments, decided it needed better service from moving companies. At the time, 77 percent of military personnel said they were dissatisfied with Defense's moving services. Moves paid for by Defense resulted in damage claims a quarter of the time. These claims totaled $100 million in 1997. So Defense officials began searching for ways to improve moving services and initiated several pilot programs, including the Full Service Moving Project, which began in January. This program incorporates the best features of previous relocation pilot programs, says Military Traffic Management Command spokesman John Randt. The results of the pilot program may determine how the military handles moves in the future. Under the Full Service Moving Project, Defense outsources personal property moves to move managers, providing service members with a single point of contact. They also get the full replacement cost for damaged or lost property and binding cost estimates for moves. And there is a two-hour pickup and delivery window. The move managers "provide cradle-to-grave management," said Cullen Hutchinson, director of the Full Service Moving Project. "We've streamlined a lot of the processes so that it is easier for the member. It's not disjointed, so to speak, as it is in the current program." According to Hutchinson, the move manager is chosen from an inventory of carriers approved by the Full Service Moving Project team. Those carriers will ultimately compete for the Pentagon's business based on a formula of customer satisfaction and best value. "In the past, most contract efforts were based on the lowest cost. Best value was never a factor," Hutchinson said. "The service member should be seeing a much better quality move. The carriers are bidding reasonable rates in most cases." To evaluate the companies, military customers are being surveyed within two weeks of their move date. That information is compiled and the best performers in the pilot program get the most business, Hutchinson said. During the next two years, the U.S. Transportation Command will follow this program and compare the results with those of other relocation pilot programs. "They are supposed to analyze that information, and through coordination with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, make a proposal for a new moving program," Hutchinson said. "Once they make their recommendation, then it's a matter of taking all the pilots and then integrating them into whatever the new recommendations will be." The Full Service Moving Project is being used in the Washington, D.C., area, Minot, N.D., and in Georgia.