New Item Introduction

Thank you for your interest in supplying food products to DLA Troop Support customers. Learn more here about how to introduce new products.

Any new item entering our system must be the result of an agreement between our suppliers and our customers, based on the customers' specific requirements or needs. All suppliers should first contact potential customers to market their products. Our main customers are the Military Services; we also supply food and related products to entities such as the Bureau of Prisons (BoP), the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Veteran's Administration (VA), the United States Coast Guard (USCG), the National Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Department of the Interior.

Troop Feeding (Dining Halls and Ships)

All sales of troop feeding (dining hall and ships) food products are through a worldwide network of commercial distributors. Distributors, their points of contact, and a listing of the Department of Defense (DoD) customers they service can be found on our Food Services site. It's necessary to build a partnership with these distributors to sell your products, while marketing your goods to the food service chiefs of the military services, as well as the installation food advisors or food service officers at individual installations.

Be aware that having your product line in a DLA Troop Support distributor's house and having your products listed in a DoD catalog doesn't automatically guarantee sales, unless chooses to buy it. We use a commercial system, therefore, our customers have freedom of choice.

Communicating with the following food service chiefs of the military services could aid you when marketing your products to customers at individual posts, camps and stations:

ARMY
U.S. Army Quartermaster Center & School
Fort Gregg-Adams, VA 23801-1601
Phone: 804-734-4862

MARINES
701 S. Courthouse Road
Building 12 - RM 2J155
Arlington, VA 22204-2469
HQMC, I&L, LF, MCICOM G-4
Phone: 703-604-4511

AIR FORCE
HQ AFSVA/SVOFS
2361 Hughes Ave, Suite 156
Lackland AFB, TX 78235-9852
Phone: 210-395-7788

NAVY
NAVSUP NAVY FOOD SERVICE
5450 Carlisle Pike
Bldg. 407 WS 3-138
Mechanicsburg, PA 17050-2411
Phone: 717-605-1153

Product cuttings and demonstrations take place at individual military bases, providing vendors an opportunity to market items to the installation food adviser or food service chief.

Commissary Stores (military retail supermarkets)

The Defense Commissary Agency, headquartered at Fort Gregg-Adams, VA., operates a worldwide chain of DoD commissary stores providing groceries to military personnel, retirees and their families in a safe and secure shopping environment. Authorized patrons purchase items at cost plus a 5-percent surcharge, which covers the costs of building new commissaries and modernizing existing ones. For more information, visit www.commissaries.com or call 804-734-8000.

Operational Rations

The introduction of a new item for the Operational Rations Program differs from the information above. Most new Operational Rations items must first be evaluated by the The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center (DEVCOM Soldier Center) , located in Natick, Massachusetts, and known locally as DEVCOM. DLA Troop Support Subsistence works with DEVCOM to obtain samples of new products for testing and reporting on test results. Final approvals come from the military services, the Office of the Surgeon General (OTSG) , and the Army Center for Excellence-Subsistence (ACES) , in conjunction with DEVCOM and DLA Troop Support Subsistence, at the yearly February Joint Services Operational Rations Forum (JSORF) meeting that takes place in Richmond, Virginia.

What happens next

Once an agreement is established between a supplier and a customer, a determination has to be made as to whether or not the supplier's product or service is required to be listed in The World Wide Directory for Sanitarily Approved Food Establishments for Armed Forces Procurement . If the supplier's product or service is required to be listed and is not, please follow the Initial Audit Request Procedures for DLA Troop Support . Upon meeting all requirements, customers shall submit a request to DLA Troop Support to place their product or service in our system. Visit DLA's Small Business page to learn more about how to work with DLA.

Suppliers must be, at times, willing to submit proprietary information on the product involved, as well as company background information, such as a full description of the item and specific characteristics of the item, as well as company name, address and point(s) of contact.

To complete the process, DLA Troop Support Subsistence employs product identity and procurement criteria to establish a stock number. Depending on the customer and/or program, an item is entered into a specific database. The item would then appear in a customer's catalog.

National Allowance Program

Are you aware of the National Allowance Pricing Agreement (NAPA) Program? A NAPA Agreement allows DLA Troop Support to form partnerships with manufacturers, to capture rebates based on purchasing volume.

DLA Troop Support Subsistence POC for New Items for NAPA Program is listed below.