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News | April 1, 2019

Agency rallies to support Navy’s critical part need

By Tim Hoyle, DLA Disposition Services & Dawn Bonsell, DLA Distribution DLA Disposition Services

Two major subordinate commands of the Defense Logistics Agency worked together quickly when the Navy called for help acquiring critical aviation parts.

It was DLA Disposition Services Chief of Staff Pete Foreman who got the call from Donald Larocco, with the Naval Air Systems Command, asking for help getting radar transponders that the Navy needed. The Navy knew that 48 such systems were being turned in by the Air Force to DLA Distribution’s site at Warner Robins, Georgia.

A telephone conference between Air Force leaders and staff members at DLA Disposition Services and DLA Distribution helped gather facts and verify that the Air Force had delivered the transponders to DLA Distribution who was preparing them for turn them over to the DLA Disposition Services site at Warner Robins. Paul Haynes Jr., DLA Disposition Services’ area manager, said quick action by the DLA Distribution and DLA Disposition Services team expedited the movement of the 48 transponders units into the DLA Disposition Services inventory on March 21, making them available for reutilization by the Navy.

“We got them in on Thursday and had the paperwork done in 24 hours,” Haynes said. “That is not the norm, but we expedited the transaction because of the need.”

Three working days later the items arrived at the base Traffic Management Office. Haynes said the items will be shipped to the customer as quickly as possible. Each unit is valued at $60,000 for a total acquisition value of $2.8 million dollars.

Kathy Atkins-Nunez, DLA Disposition Services’ South-East Region director, referred to the effort as “a great partnership between Distribution and Disposition to locate mission critical parts.”

“It is always a great feeling for our DLA Distribution and Disposition team when you get the call on an emergent requirement, coordinate the items through all of our processes and can turn it around to the customer as quickly as the team did,” said Kent Wheeler, director for DLA Distribution at Warner Robins.  “You cannot ask for a better relationship than the one we have with our DLA Disposition partners.”

Haynes said the relationship helps as the two organizations continue to watch for critical parts being turned in that could be used by someone else.