PHILADELPHIA –
When the USS Indianapolis commissioned Oct. 26 in Indiana, it was a first for the United States Navy and posed a unique challenge for the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support Subsistence supply chain.
Traditionally, Navy ships are commissioned out of Mayport, Florida, where prime vendor support is established through the Subsistence contracts.
In the absence of prime vendor support in the immediate area, additional coordination was needed to accommodate the Navy’s requirements.
Stacy Perry, Subsistence tailored vendor logistics specialist, coordinated with vendors and DLA Distribution to meet the challenge.
Perry led the coordination efforts to ensure food orders were placed and deliveries made ahead of the USS Indianapolis commissioning ceremony.
“The [Littoral Combat Ships] are being built in Marinette, Wisconsin, so their prime vendor support is based out of [the Wisconsin] area, but due to the distance to Indiana for the ceremony, additional coordinating was made with DLA Distribution to pick up the order from Wisconsin and transport it to Burns Harbor, Indiana to get delivered,” Perry said.
According to Perry, the mission required additional DLA Distribution support, and for her to coordinate with another TVLS in a separate region as the ship makes additional stops in areas without prime vendor support before arriving in Mayport later this year.
The USS Indianapolis has already surpassed its predecessors in making prime vendor order history long before setting sail.
“Out of all the LCS ships out of Wisconsin to place an order, the USS Indianapolis placed the largest order which was over $44K before ever setting sail,” Perry said.
Peter Oiesen, supply systems analyst, Fleet Logistics Center Jacksonville, said DLA Troop Support provides such an enormous amount of support to make all the ships in the fleet ready and prepared for a successful mission.
“From ensuring that we use updated catalogs from their prime vendor supported ports to identifying and assisting in the vendor that provides food support in non-prime vendor supported ports,” he said. “In essence, without DLA, there would not be a [point of contact] for a particular region your ship and/or customer is located in to assist in the food ordering process which ultimately has a direct impact in providing that ship/customer with food to sustain [sailors] in port and at sea.”