Fort Belvoir, Va. -- Military customers of the Defense Logistics Agency’s Defense Distribution Center will reap the first benefits of the $1.6 billion contract awarded Aug. 17 to Menlo Worldwide Government Services, LLC of San Mateo, Calif. by the U.S. Transportation Command as part of its Defense Transportation Coordination Initiative. USTRANSCOM, the Distribution Process Owner for the Department of Defense, will also monitor the contract through the award period.
"DLA and USTRANSCOM have worked closely on the Defense Transportation Coordination Initiative for several years. This award represents a significant accomplishment in our collective efforts to streamline distribution processes and provide better and more cost effective support to our nation’s war fighters. DLA looks forward to executing the first phase of the initiative,” said Army Lt. Gen. Robert T. Dail, DLA director.
Menlo Worldwide Government Services will manage about a third of DoD second destination freight movements in the continental United States for the 67 sites included in the DTCI award. DTCI is a freight management program designed to improve the reliability, predictability and efficiency of DoD materiel moving inside the U.S. The initiative will reduce cycle times and improve predictability through the use of more shipment consolidation, routing services, cross docking operations, better mode selection and load optimization, according to Air Force Gen. Norton Schwartz, USTRANSCOM commander.
“DTCI is a team effort, in partnership with the Defense Logistics Agency and the military services, to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of DoD freight movements in the continental United States,” said Schwartz. “Menlo Worldwide Government Services will utilize best commercial practices to enable load consolidation and optimization, use of more efficient intermodal means of transportation and tailored scheduling to meet the customer requirements. These improvements will increase the precision and reliability of freight movements, leading to increased customer confidence, cost savings, and increased efficiency in our CONUS shipping operations.”
DTCI will be rolled out in three phases with the first coming on line in just over five months.
Phase I includes 18 DLA distribution centers stateside and will be completed within 22 months. This phase will create improved processes that reduce cycle times (the time from request for materiel movement to delivery), increase operational effectiveness, improve customer confidence, and increase efficiencies. DTCI’s first phase will show a cost savings by using a single-touch transportation provider for stateside freight. Establishing a long-term partnership with an expert transportation service coordinator is also a move that mirrors current industry best practices.
Phase II will start before the completion of Phase I and will incorporate shipping activities within close proximity of the distribution centers, selected aerial ports and DoD shippers. Phase II will increase the number of sites participating in DTCI, allowing even better load consolidation, more informed scheduling, increased use of cost-efficient intermodal transport (by moving freight in the same container using different types of transportation), and other efficiencies that avoid costs. The government may require the coordinator to implement an additional 50 sites per year after successful Phase II implementation. In no event will the number of sites under this contract exceed 260.
Phase III, which will start before the completion of Phase II, will expand to all other scheduled DoD activities and will be completed within 25 months.
DTCI will provide enhanced in-transit visibility of freight movements, allowing for improved planning of other transportation modes to better meet military services’ expectations of delivery, according to Air Force Col. James Lovell, director of the DTCI program management office.
“In addition to the efficiencies and expected cost savings we’ll gain, this long-term partnership with Menlo Worldwide Government Services allows us to implement several commercial best practices into our transportation operations,” Lovell said.
Certain categories of freight will be excluded from DTCI, such as military unit moves, shipments under small package contracts, vendor shipments, cash/collect on delivery shipments, sensitive and/or classified shipments, arms, ammunition and explosives, bulk and missile fuels, household goods and privately owned vehicles.
For more information on DTCI, go to http://dtci.transcom.mil/ You can find questions and answers about DTCI at http://dtci.transcom.mil/files/Q&A.pdf or contact the DTCI Public Affairs Officer, Lt. Col. Cliff Mirabella at (618) 622-2212. For more information on DLA, visit www.dla.mil. For information on USTRANSCOM, visit http://www.transcom.mil/.