Columbus, Ohio – A contract signed recently with Michelin Aircraft Tire Company, LLC, is projected to save millions of dollars for taxpayers through the consolidated purchase of tires. The Defense Supply Center Columbus, designated supply chain manager of tires for the Defense Logistics Agency, signed a contract worth more than $368 million for aviation tires with Michelin for a base period of five years, and an additional five-year option period worth more than $300 million.

That contract, plus one for land vehicle tires, set to be announced in late January, is the result of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Act requiring Commodity Management Privatization of tires.  Previously managed by each of the armed services, tires purchased under these contracts will be managed by DLA, saving a BRAC-estimated net savings of $172.8 million.

This first-ever CMP contract is the largest in monetary value ever signed by DSCC and makes the contractor responsible for the day-to-day management instead of the government.

“Michelin will now be accomplishing all the tasks related to supply, storage and distribution of aviation tires,” said Matt Geary, project manager for DSCC CMP contracting efforts. “DSCC will have oversight of the contract, but Michelin will be doing everything else.”

This contracting effort is the latest in a series of initiatives by DLA to link suppliers with warfighting customer demands both stateside and around the world.

Geary said the Navy has a similar contract with Michelin which DLA will take over in fiscal year 2009. The savings created from that Navy contract helped set the stage for the BRAC-mandated CMP effort.

“The DSCC tire team absolutely could not have made this happen in less than a year without the help of all the military services, especially the Navy, because of the knowledge gained by a similar contract they had developed,” said Geary. “This was a monumental effort. We went from having no knowledge about the service-managed programs and the tire industry in January 2006, to getting this contract signed in less than a year. We had to learn everything about the existing tire programs and the tire industry during the process.”

He said the DSCC-led effort required developing relationships at the program level.

“We needed to listen and learn the requirements of the Army and Air Force, who were very proud of their programs that these contracts will replace. I can’t emphasize enough the level of cooperation provided from the services, which was phenomenal. With their help we were able to put together the requirements and build a contract that meets the expectations of everyone,” said Geary.

Geary also said the tire industry provided a lot of help, including information on how the tire industry operates, beginning with a tire industry day March 9, 2006, at DSCC. Thirty-eight companies came to the event, which generated a lot of interest about the upcoming contracts.

“After that meeting we performed a lot of market research, meeting face-to-face for two weeks with different companies and manufacturers,” said Geary. “We received a lot of good input and made many, many changes to our concept of operations.”

Based on the information gathered, the team finalized solicitation requirements and the approach to evaluation, and issued the solicitations July 10, 2006.

“We are proud of the team for doing such a great job putting the contracts together and look forward to working with the services to ensure success,” said Navy Rear Adm. Charlie Lilli, the DSCC commander.

DSCC serves more than 24,000 military and civilian customers and 10,000 contractors as one of the largest suppliers of weapon systems parts in the world. DSCC buys materiel, monitors inventory levels, maintains technical data, and assures quality conformance of spare parts, which vary from such common items as vehicle parts and accessories to complex mechanical and electronic repair parts for weapon systems.

DLA provides supply support, and technical and logistics services to the U.S. military services and several federal civilian agencies. Headquartered at Fort Belvoir, Va., the agency is the one source for nearly every consumable item, whether for combat readiness, emergency preparedness or day-to-day operations inside the Department of Defense. More information about DLA is available at www.dla.mil.