LOGLINES

FISCAL

RESPONSIBILITY

Efficient and Effective 

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY JANUARY – FEBRUARY 2011
DIRECTOR

Here at the Defense Logistics Agency,

it’s a busy, rewarding time to

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DLA’s dedicated team members are

conducting the agency’s daily business,

and our leaders are planning for the

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For the past 10 years, the Defense

Department has been heavily focused

on providing the most effective support

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become critical that we intensify efforts to

get the most out of every taxpayer dollar

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called for a departmentwide look at inNavy Vice Adm. Alan S. Thompson, SC, USN

Director, Defense Logistics Agency

from the

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defense programs, we immediately engaged

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These reviews showed DLA already workLQJWRSURYLGHHIIHFWLYHHI¿FLHQWVXSSRUW

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of selected material purchased from

suppliers by as much as 10 percent and

working with our industry partners to

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a strategic focus on an enterprise level

will ensure DLA pays reasonable prices

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DLA is adding additional functionality

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The recently launched EProcurement

module is expected to standardize contract

writing across the agency, and the planned

addition of energy convergence will bring

a business industry solution online to

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Headquarters, Defense Logistics Agency

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Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-6221

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DLA Director

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DLA Vice Director

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Jack Hooper

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Editor Jacob Boyer

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Layout/Design Paul Henry Crank

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agency activities worldwide and industry customers of

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to the following address:

LOGLINES

Official Official Flagship Publication of the Defense Logistics Agency

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aims to help DLA ensure its distribution

facilities are best located to meet war-

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As a result, the agency will be better able

to position material to meet the services’

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Looking back over our nearly 50-

year history, DLA has always served as

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logistics functions have moved from the

military services to DLA over the years,

and because our capabilities are scalable,

we have been able to assume additional

missions without a corresponding

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reducing DLA’s overhead costs, bringing

those down from 25 percent to 14 percent

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Loglines O January - February 2011 1

CONTENTS

Saving Dollars Makes Sense 2

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will impact DLA in coming years and the efforts the agency is making

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Optimizing Support 6

New program looks to improve DLA distribution, disposition and

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Work Smarter 10

EProcurement consolidates agency contract writing and brings it into

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The Right Price 14

Center of Excellence for Pricing provides oversight, fraud detection

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Energy Convergence 18

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Fuel Protection 22

The BattleJacket system that protects fuel tankers from small-arms

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Adding Operational Data 24

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Cultural Improvements 26

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Green Light 36

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We are DLA 28

Ten Questions with ... 30

DLA NewsWire 33

Money Matters 34

I am DLA Back Cover

DEPARTMENTS

January - February 2011

pg 2

pg 10

pg 36

pg 18

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY 

EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE
Saving

Dollars

Makes 

Sense

Story by Beth Reece

hen Defense Secretary Robert

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nitiatives in August, Defense

Logistics Agency employees

were already looking for ways

to reduce costs. They’d been forewarned

of a shrinking defense budget repeatedly

by DLA Director Navy Vice Adm. Alan

Thompson.

“You are all aware from what you see

in the news that the defense budget is

going to be increasingly pressured in the

next few years. The good news is we’ve

been talking about this in DLA for a while,

and we’ve been talking about the need

to make adjustments sooner rather than

later,” Thompson told employees a week

before the secretary’s announcement.

One week after he introduced the

departmentwide savings campaign,

Gates directed Department of Defense

components to conduct organizational

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY: EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE

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in

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to reduce cos

2 www.dla.mil

Air Force Senior Airman Wesley Farnsworth
Loglines O January - February 2011 3

self-assessments to give the newly formed

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of what missions exist throughout the

department and what resources are

being used to meet them. Templates

were provided to ensure each component

used common data sources and standard

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“These actions represent an initial

step in reversing the dramatic growth in

size and expense we have seen in these

components since 2001,” Gates wrote

in a memorandum outlining how the

assessments would be carried out.

The assessment took 10 weeks of

“hard-core focus,” said DLA Strategic

Plans and Policy Director Jeff Curtis,

whose staff worked closely with senior

leaders to evaluate the agency and

develop recommendations for possible

restructuring.

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approach, Curtis’ staff created a snapshot of DLA’s missions and goals and

the agency’s use of its personnel, budgetary and management resources. Senior

leaders then went through a “clean-sheet

exercise” to determine how to better align

DLA resources with critical challenges and

priorities without regard to legislative requirements, external mandates or history,

said Renee’ Roberts, DLA Strategic Plans

and Policy.

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DLA if we were just standing it up today.

Are there functions we do right now that

really don’t fall into the scope of DLA?

Should we redesign ourselves to take

on more? Or is there a gap in DoD that

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Roberts said.

DLA Strategic Plans and Policy subPLWWHGWKHDJHQF\¶V¿QDOUHSRUW2FW,W

included recommendations for organizational restructuring and asset reallocation,

all of which are predecisional and won’t be

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which proposals to implement, Curtis

said.

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look for ideas that have merit and then ask

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he said. “So we may end up writing longer,

more detailed recommendations in the

weeks and months ahead.”

At least two of the recommendations

are already being pursued for implementation. One involves Strategic Network

Optimization, which will optimize the

number, location and functions of distribution and disposition facilities to reduce

operating costs while also balancing ef-

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The second is DoD Warehouse

Consolidation, under which DLA would

assume management of warehouses

not used to directly support tactical

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planning a concept of operations and

Air Force Airman 1st Class Jamaul Anderson,

375th Civil Engineer Squadron, checks

inventory at Scott Air Force Base, Ill. After

assuming management of some Navy

warehouses, DLA is determining whether

efficiencies can be gained by assuming

warehouse operations from other services.

Navy Petty Officer2nd ClassRonaldLauderman,

an aviation structural mechanic, patches a

panel door on an F/A-18C Hornet. DLA has

already helped the Defense Department achieve

efficiencies by assuming the supply mission at

the services’ industrial sites.

Navy Seaman Ryan McLearnon
determining approximately how much

savings could be achieved.

“The thought is that DLA would take

over warehouse management and look

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something we consider a competency of

DLA Distribution,” said Louise Terrell,

deputy executive director of strategic

programs and initiatives for DLA

Logistics Operations.

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have added extra emphasis to DLA’s goals

to cut costs and made leaders follow a

structured process to prioritize missions.

And while Gates’ initiatives are partially

about cutting fat, DLA leaders were hardSUHVVHGWR¿QGXQQHFHVVDU\PLVVLRQVDQG

costs.

“We have constant, never-ending

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as possible because our customers keep

a vigilant eye on our cost-recovery rate,”

he said. “So when we took a look to see if

there were things that maybe we shouldn’t

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Comparisons of the agency’s business

volume and personnel strength before

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“We have constant,

never-ending pressure

to be as efficient and

effective as possible

because our customers

keep a vigilant eye on

our cost-recovery rate.”

— Jeff Curtis

4 www.dla.mil

Marine Sgt. Brian A. Lautenslager
Loglines O January - February 2011 5

hasn’t grown as much as other defense

components, Curtis added.

“Aside from the new missions we

have absorbed through the 2005 Base

Realignment and Closure, the number of

people we employ to support the legacy

DLA business has gone up only by 1,000

or 2,000 in the past 10 years even though

our business volume has doubled. We’re

now doing $42 billion in sales, where

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around $17 billion,” he said.

The organizational assessment also

led DLA leaders to question the elasticity

of the workforce.

“Somehow we went from doing $17

billion in business to $42 billion without

many extra people. So if we go all the

way back down to $17 billion, does that

mean we then need only half the people?”

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‘x’ number of people no matter what the

business volume is?”

Gates has said headquarters and support bureaucracies, military and civilian

alike, have “swelled to cumbersome and

top-heavy proportions.” Since September

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grown by more than 100, and the number

of Senior Executive Service positions has

increased by more than 300. He expects

those added positions to be cut by at least

half in the next two years.

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ranks, Curtis said.

“When we looked at how many

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now compared to 10 years ago, we only

found one, even though our business

doubled and we took on new missions,”

he said. “We’ve managed to keep the top

pretty lean.”

The assessment was an arduous

process that DLA leaders took to heart,

Curtis continued. “The discussions were

lively and at times animated, because

every leader got directly involved.”

 Overall results of DLA’s assessment

were eye-opening to many of the participants, and Roberts said the process

helped her realize just how well DLA is

managed.

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get a sense of security in knowing what

a good job our senior leaders have done

to keep us where we need to be, where

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have much of an impact on individual

employees,” she said. “To me, it’s a good

sign that our senior leaders have been doing the right thing all along.”

A Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle

drives through Helmand province, Afghanistan.

Providing repair parts for such items as the

MRAP has caused DLA’s business volume

to double, while personnel strength has

increased only between 1,000 to 2,000 in the

past 10 years.

Norma Jara builds Unitized Group Rations

at DLA Distribution San Joaquin, Calif.

DLA officials are studying distribution and

disposition facilities to see if they can reduce

operating costs while also balancing efficiency

and effectiveness through the Strategic

Network Optimization initiative.

Nutan Chada
FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY: EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE

Optimizing

Support

Story by Jonathan Stack

T

he Defense Logistics Agency

is partnering with U.S.

Transportation Command and

the military services on a program

to save money within the end-toend supply chain to help meet Defense

Secretary Robert Gates’ goal of a more

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The Strategic Network Optimization

program seeks to hone the number,

location and function of distribution

and disposition facilities and

Army Staff Sgt. Daniel Yarnall

6 www.dla.mil
Loglines O January - February 2011 7

transportation resources.

This will reduce operating costs,

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provide agility and performance to support customers during both peacetime

and contingency operations.

“The SNO program is moving the

Defense Department ... toward the next

evolution in the global supply, distribution, disposition and transportation

network,” said Lynne Allen, DLA SNO

program manager.

As a result, the agency will be better

able to position material to meet customer

expectations at a reduced cost. The integration of information systems and other

functions in and outside DLA will streamline the agency’s interfaces and allow for

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“We’re taking a look at that end-toend effort – from the acquisition of

material to the actual delivery – and

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said Clyde Hobby, executive director of

DLA Strategic Programs and Initiatives

for DLA Logistics Operations.

DLA acquires materials from vendors

or distributes them from one of its supply centers based on customer demand.

Material is then delivered to customers

through one of the agency’s distribution

depots, he said.

“When we do that [material], it goes

through several hands: the vendor picks

it up and delivers it to a depot, the depot

places it in storage and then puts it into

the distribution system, where it is then

delivered to the customer,” Hobby said.

“So you can see the multiple touches

there. In that supply chain, there’s room

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He said there are multiple ways to

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location and positioning of inventory, for

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“Currently, we are using an analytical

tool, a modeling tool, and we’re loading

in our demand, distribution and disposal

data along with USTRANSCOM loading

their transportation data, surface and

air,” Allen said.

The analytical software uses a common database between USTRANSCOM,

DLA and the services. The result is a

model that highlights areas in which efA Soldier fastens a railcar door at the

Baumholder, Germany, railhead. In order to

gain efficiencies in acquiring, transporting

and delivering materials, DLA is partnering

with U.S. Transportation Command through

the Strategic Network Optimization program,

which seeks to optimize the number, location

and function of distribution and disposition

facilities and transportation resources.

Army Sgt. Frank Sanchez III

An Army supply sergeant inventories chemical

protective equipment at Camp Victory, Iraq.

DLA provides chemical protective equipment

to the services and is working to better

position material it provides to meet customer

expectations at a reduced cost through the

Strategic Network Optimization program.
The integration of

information systems

and other functions in

and outside DLA will

streamline the agency’s

interfaces and allow for

more flexible customer

relationships.

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where we are today. Then we provide our

assumptions and put in some constraints.

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she said.

“From the answer we’ll derive our

savings, which will make us more ef-

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locations we should be at, realign or

consolidate.”

USTRANSCOM and DLA have both

run models with assumptions of data, but

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combined database that shows a common

picture of the distribution network.

“It’s the most realistic model for us to

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SNO Program

Key Tenets:

 Optimize global distribution

capability using all channels –

commercial, organic or hybrid –

across the supply chain

 Strategically position and

size distribution and disposal

network capabilities to meet

customer expectations at best

value

 Leverage best practices and network optimization software tools

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in mission or strategy

 Pass on cost savings to the

customer, or reinvest into

optimization opportunities

8 www.dla.mil
Loglines O January - February 2011 9

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ways, then they have more funds to train

or buy more and better equipment,”

Hobby said.

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material to its customers, the higher the

customers’ readiness will be,” he said.

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agency.

“DLA operates on a reimbursable

basis, so if we can lower some of our

infrastructure cost by gaining more

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cost-recovery rate goes down and we

operate at a better margin,” Hobby said.

“It will also give DLA the ability to

expand other programs it needs,” he said.

“SNO is poised to help DLA reap the

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pilot programs across the network,” Allen

The Strategic Network Optimization

program stems from the need

to support Defense Department

requirements for efficiencies

and related savings in business

operations and enable investment in

force structure and modernization.

The SNO analysis supports

Defense Secretary Robert Gates’

DoD efficiency initiatives to:

r Significantly reduce excess costs

and apply the savings to force

structure and modernization

r Consider consolidation or closure

of other facilities

r Conduct a ‘clean-sheet review’ to

determine what DLA should be doing, where it should do it, and at

what level of rank it should be done

in keeping with the department’s

most critical priorities

said. “By examining these best practices

and aiding their wider implementation,

the SNO program will bolster the most

successful strategies for cost reduction and

streamlining across the organization.”

Several such efforts, including the

Single Storefront program in Guam and

the consolidation of distribution and

disposition functions at Pearl Harbor,

Hawaii, are already being considered for

expansion, she said.

“If we can better identify where the

demands are, where to position our stock,

what kind of inventory we want to put

there and how we want to manage that

inventory, we can shorten that distribution challenge by either lessening the cost

or shortening the distance,” Hobby said.

The material will get to the customer

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more effective, he said.

“The cooperation we’re getting between DLA and USTRANSCOM is superb,

essentially two big strategic partners that

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said.

The SNO program began with the

JRDORI ¿QGLQJHI¿FLHQFLHVDQGFRVWVDYings within the transportation network,

Allen said.

“Then it evolved into a larger effort

where DLA was going to look at optimization across the enterprise,” she said.

“It started as an effort to optimize the

whole distribution network, working with

USTRANSCOM to position DLA where we

will [best] serve the customer.”

STRATEGIC

NETWORK

OPTIMIZATION

A U.S. Army Soldier and Afghan National Army

soldier load humanitarian relief supplies onto

a truck at Forward Operating Base Gardez, in

Paktia province, Afghanistan. DLA is seeking

to save money within the end-to-end supply

chain to help meet Defense Secretary Robert

Gates’ goal of a more efficient Department

of Defense through its Strategic Network

Optimization program.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Barry Loo

It also recognizes Navy Vice

Adm. Alan Thompson’s fiscal

year 2011 Defense Logistics

Agency Director’s Guidance to:

r Develop and help initiate significant departmental logistics

efficiencies that better serve

customers and support the

secretary of defense’s cost savings

and funding realignment initiatives

r Optimize logistics performance to

determine the appropriate number,

location and strategic function of

distribution nodes and disposition

activities

r Partner with DoD and non-DoD

customers to provide recommended solutions to achieve the desired

end-state of the next generation

global distribution network
FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY: EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE

Work 

Smarter

Story by Sara Moore

T

e Defense Logistics Agency

rocesses more than

0,000 contract awards and

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PSURYLQJWKHHI¿FLHQF\RIWKHVH

actions has long been a goal for agency

leaders.

That goal recently came to fruition

when EProcurement, the agency’s longanticipated automated contract-writing

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10 www.dla.mil

h

p

10

P

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actions

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h

Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Eric Powell
Loglines O January - February 2011 11

logistics contracts, but will also include

capabilities for DLR procurement, Holloway said.

The incremental release of EProcurePHQWZKLFKEHJDQLQ1RYHPEHUDQGZLOO

continue with Release 1.1 in February

and Release 1.2 this summer, wasn’t the

original plan for the project, but was born

out of necessity when some technical

issues delayed an enterprisewide release,

Claffey said. DLA senior leaders decided

they wanted to get the program started in

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Materials.

EProcurement, short for Enterprise

Procurement, is a software program

within the Enterprise Business System

that automates and standardizes contract

writing throughout the agency. It was deYHORSHGWRUHSODFH'/$¶VOHJDF\FRQWUDFWing systems, which range from manualentry paper systems to fully automated

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“This will bring DLA, which has

thousands of users [and] multiple buying

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onto the same contract writing and

contract administration system,” said Air

Force Col. Mike Claffey, the procurement

process owner in DLA Acquisition. “We

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'/$KDVEHHQGHYHORSLQJ(3URFXUHPHQWIRUVHYHUDO\HDUVVDLG6DEULQD+ROloway, the EProcurement project lead in

DLA Information Operations. The project

started in September 2007, she said. The

2005 Base Realignment and Closure recRPPHQGDWLRQWKDWJDYH'/$UHVSRQVLELOLW\IRUSURFXULQJDOOGHSRWOHYHOUHSDUDEOH

added new requirements to the project.

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be repaired and reused throughout their

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engines.

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includes capabilities not only for simpli-

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2010 as opposed to waiting for a largescale release.

Rob Gee, the EProcurement functional lead in DLA Acquisition Management,

said getting the functionality needed to

release EProcurement all at once was

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“Breaking it up into smaller increPHQWVKDVSUREDEO\EHHQDJRRGPRYH ́

he said. “It’s made things a lot more

manageable.”

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Enterprise Procurement, DLA’s long-anticipated automated contract-writing system, is

designed to streamline procurement efforts

throughout the agency and ultimately improve

support to warfighters, like this sailor monitoring an air approach radar console aboard the

amphibious assault ship USS Essex.

EProcurement is expected to streamline DLA’s procurement process and expedite delivery of

supplies to the field, like these medical aid and humanitarian supplies being unloaded by Sailors

in Panama.

Marine Sgt. Samuel R. Beyers
went to DLA Strategic Materials and

'/$'RFXPHQW6HUYLFHVEHFDXVHWKH\DUH

VPDOOHUDFWLYLWLHVZLWKIDLUO\VLPSOHSURcurement systems, Gee said. In this way,

DLA can start the program with a small

number of users and gradually grow the

system with the future releases, using

IHHGEDFNIURPWKH¿UVWXVHUVWRLPSURYH

the system along the way.

“It’s not going to be perfect; there’s

going to be bumps along the way as we

deploy this thing,” Gee said. “We’re there

to work through it.”

(3URFXUHPHQWZLOOPRVWGH¿QLWHO\

bring changes to DLA Document SerYLFHVZKHUHDOOFRQWUDFWVZHUHSUHYLRXVO\

written manually in word-processing

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RI'/$'RFXPHQW6HUYLFHV6SHDNLQJ

before the launch of EProcurement, he

VDLGKHH[SHFWHGWKHV\VWHPWRLPSURYH

WKHHI¿FLHQF\DQGTXDOLW\RIKLVDFWLYity’s contracting practices. He noted that

'/$'RFXPHQW6HUYLFHVLPSOHPHQWHG

the Enterprise Business System in June

2009, and employees were putting in a

lot of extra work to learn the new system

and ensure all the contracting documents

synced up for each transaction.

“We’re looking for both streamlining

HI¿FLHQFLHV±ZKLFK,WKLQNLVH[WUHPHO\

LPSRUWDQWLQWRGD\¶VHQYLURQPHQW2DQG

WKHQWKHLPSURYHPHQWLQTXDOLW\DQGFRQsistency, because we’re using a program

to ensure that the contract packages are

properly built,” Sherman said.

Implementing EProcurement will

bring challenges, as any new system does,

Sherman said. Besides the expected funcWLRQDOLVVXHVRQHRIWKHPRVWREYLRXVZLOO

EHWKHFXOWXUHFKDQJH(PSOR\HHVZLOOKDYH

to learn how to use the new system. To

RYHUFRPHWKLVFKDOOHQJH'/$'RFXPHQW

6HUYLFHVKDVEHHQFRQGXFWLQJ(3URFXUHment training and putting a lot of emphasis on change management, he said.

“We’re looking forward to it,” he said.

“We’re depending on it to streamline our

SURFHVVDQGLPSURYHTXDOLW\DQGFRQVLVtency, and we’re going to make it work.”

In addition to training employees,

WKH(3URFXUHPHQW3URJUDP2I¿FHKDV

In this resource-constrained

environment, we’re seeing

a great effort by all of DLA

to step up and to tailor the

training and make it the

most meaningful.

—Air Force Col. Mike Claffey

EProcurement will bring all of DLA under

one contract-writing system and add new

capabilities for procurement specialists,

ultimately improving the services the agency

provides to warfighters, such as purchasing

construction supplies and materials used by

service members throughout Afghanistan.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Bronco Suzuki Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Greg Johnson EProcurement is expected to improve the

agency’s efficiency in purchasing supplies for

warfighters in the field, like these humanitarian

supplies being sorted in Yusufiyah, Iraq.

12 www.dla.mil
Loglines O January - February 2011 13

been testing the EProcurement system

LQSUHSDUDWLRQIRUWKH¿UVWUHOHDVHVVDLG

&KXFN0F1HOOH\FKLHIRIFRQWUDFWLQJIRU

'/$'RFXPHQW6HUYLFHV+HQRWHGWKDW

(3URFXUHPHQW3URJUDP2I¿FHSHUVRQQHO

at Hybla Valley took current contracts

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WKHPLQWRWKHV\VWHPWRHQVXUHHYHU\-

thing worked smoothly.

A key component in preparing to release EProcurement has been workforce

training. “In this resource-constrained

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effort by all of DLA to step up and to

tailor the training and make it the most

PHDQLQJIXODQGKDYHWKHELJJHVWDQGEHVW

impact to the users and posture them for

success,” Claffey said.

Some of the notable new capabilities

are in the contract administration and

records management areas, Gee said.

EProcurement will also establish autoPDWHGLQWHUIDFHVZLWKYDULRXV'HIHQVH

Department and federal systems, he added.

EProcurement was designed to

work within the agency’s Enterprise

Business System, the technology hub that

makes DLA’s daily supply-management operations possible. EBS is the “backbone”

WKDWFRQWDLQVDOOWKHFRUH¿QDQFLDO

technical, procurement and item data,

Gee explained. EProcurement will work

as a subsystem of EBS and will be used by

DLA’s buyers and contract administrators

to process purchase requests and

customer-direct requisitions, he said.

“They will use EProcurement to go

out and do their job and solicit bids or

TXRWHVIURPYHQGRUVFUHDWHWKRVHVROLFLtation documents, get the quotes back

LQGRWKHHYDOXDWLRQVPDNHWKHFRQWUDFW

award, and all the actions that need to

be taken to do a purchase,” he said. “The

data, of course, as we’re going along, is

being fed back into EBS.”

+DYLQJDQDXWRPDWHGSURFXUHPHQW

system is something DLA has been working toward for a long time and is directly

WLHGWRVWHZDUGVKLSLQLWLDWLYHVRXWOLQHGLQ

the 2010 and 2011 Director’s Guidance,

which are aimed at bringing EBS-enabled

business process enhancements on line.

It has taken a lot of work to get to this

point, and while implementation may

not be perfect, the system will ultimately

EULQJPDQ\LPSURYHPHQWVWRWKHDJHQF\¶V

procurement operations, Gee said.

“It’s going to be a big change for

HYHU\ERG\3HRSOHDUHXVHGWRZKDWHYHU

V\VWHPVWKH\¶YHEHHQXVLQJIRUKRZHYHU

many years, so there’s going to be a learnLQJFXUYHRXWWKHUH ́KHVDLG37KH\¶UH

MXVWJRLQJWRKDYHWREHDZDUHRIWKDWDQG

ZRUNZLWKXVDORQJWKHZD\DQGHYHQWXally we’ll end up with a good system. It

might not be tomorrow, but a few years

down the road I think we’ll probably be

glad that we did what we did.”

Air Force Tech. Sgt. Chad Chisholm EProcurement will work within the Enterprise Business System and integrate with Defense

Department systems to improve the consistency and quality of procurement operations, which

will mean better support to warfighters, like these Airmen unloading a C-17 Globemaster III

aircraft at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan.
FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY: EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE

The Right 

Price

Story by Beth Reece

C ntestants on the television game

how “The Price is Right” give

heir best guess when naming an

tem’s actual retail price. At the

Defense Logistics Agency, there’s

no guessing.

“We make sure the prices we’re

paying for our acquisitions are reasonable

and that we’re getting good value,”

said Catherine Benavides, who heads

the Center of Excellence for Pricing,

which falls under DLA Acquisition’s

on

sh

th

it

D

no

C

guessin

14 www.dla.mil
Loglines O January - February 2011 15

Procurement Integrity and Pricing

Division.

Benavides and her team are helping

create a more strategic focus on pricing

throughout the enterprise as DLA’s

acquisition workforce strives to reduce

the costs of products it purchases from

industry.

The center’s recent efforts include

encouraging the use of standardized

forms for determining fair and reasonable prices, assisting in the creation of

more effective pricing tools, and working

with the DLA Training Center to establish

a curriculum for a new Pricing Academy.

“We need to make full use of the

COEP resources to ensure that we are

obtaining the best pricing, expand our

focus to include automated purchases

DQGHQVXUHRXUSXUVXLWRIHI¿FLHQF\GRHV

not result in a loss of pricing effectiveness,” DLA Acquisition Director Nancy

Heimbaugh told employees in a recent

newsletter for acquisition professionals.

Since its creation as a DLA Headquarters element in 2008, the Center

of Excellence for Pricing has focused

primarily on ensuring contractors complied

with the pricing terms and conditions of

their contracts, Benavides said. It’s made

up of independent pricing professionals

who provide oversight, fraud detection

and pricing assistance to procurement

specialists at all of DLA’s supply centers.

The team also conducts quarterly pricing

audits and annual contractor reviews –

all with a small staff that includes three

analysts at DLA’s Fort Belvoir, Va.,

headquarters, two at DLA Troop Support,

and one each at DLA Land and Maritime

and DLA Aviation.

Today, COEP members like cost/price

DQDO\VW-RKQ'HPSVH\¿QGWKHPVHOYHV

increasingly involved before contracts are

awarded, acting as consultants during the

development of acquisition plans, which

Benavides said can easily span 100 pages.

“I think management recognizes the

value of our oversight and the fact that we

can collaborate with contract specialists

up front in the planning stage, sharing

ways to do things better rather than telling them after the fact what they should

have done differently,” said Dempsey,

who works at DLA Troop Support.

Better Pricing Tools

Defense Secretary Robert Gates’

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need for better pricing policies throughout

the department and DLA – an effort

Benavides said the COEP is supporting

by helping to improve pricing tools. She

stressed, however, that getting better

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to ask tough questions and challenge

vendors, not just accept their proposals at

face value.

“If a vendor tells you the cost is $100

a unit, for example, make them tell you

how they got to that price. Ask who else

has bought the item for $100 a unit, and

how that customer compares to DLA,”

Benavides continued.

Dempsey is working with subsistence

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WRROWKDWZLOOJLYHFRQWUDFWLQJRI¿FHUV

better visibility of the two elements that

make up DLA’s costs: product price and

distribution price. The product price

is the actual price a prime vendor pays

another manufacturer or supplier for

items; the distribution cost is the price of

transporting it to DLA customers.

The current pricing tool lumps

both costs together, and the process of

Raffaelo Rippo (left), DLA Troop Support, discusses the quality of fresh fruits and vegetables

with a local vendor at the Padova Terminal Market in Italy. Contracting officers throughout the

agency are focused on getting the best prices without sacrificing quality.

Beth Reece
separating the costs is labor intensive,

Dempsey said. “It’s a lot of work for

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JHWWKHLQIRUPDWLRQMXVWE\SXOOLQJXS

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other work to do in administering their

contracts, so if there’s a way to eliminate

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a time saver.”

(YHQWXDOO\WKHWRROZLOODOVRDOORZ

FRQWUDFWLQJRI¿FHUVWRTXLFNO\FRPSDUH

prices from all of DLA’s prime vendors

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market conditions.

“The tool will take the data that

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and any new items they want to add to the

catalog and compare one prime vendor

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YLVLELOLW\RISULFHVEHFDXVHLIWKHPDUNHWLV

FKDQJLQJZHVKRXOGEHDEOHWRH[SHFWSULFH

increases or decreases from several prime

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A Standard Process

Standardizing the process employees

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getting a fair and reasonable price can

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'/$+HDGTXDUWHUV

“We want people – regardless of

where they’re at – to be asking the same

W\SHVRITXHVWLRQVVRLIWKH\ZHUHWRWDNH

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still arrive at the same decisions,” he said.

 No matter what program they work

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the same basic levels of information to

arrive at reasonable price determinations,

'HPSVH\VDLG%XWZKLOHFRQWUDFW

VSHFLDOLVWVDOOUHYLHZVXFKIDFWRUVDV

market conditions, competition and

contractors’ past performance, they do

so with slightly different approaches and

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standardized approach, where they go

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of information that allow them to do a

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they’re getting to other prime vendor

prices and to commercial market prices,”

he said.

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approach by reviewing the same general

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The more standard the pricing proFHVVLVDFURVVWHDPV'HPSVH\FRQWLQXHG

the less risk there will be for overpricing.

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the process.”

Pricing Academy

Training also plays a role in the

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training on pricing skills from the

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16 www.dla.mil

The Center of

Excellence for Pricing

focuses primarily on

ensuring contractors

comply with the pricing

terms and conditions

on their contracts. The

team also conducts

quarterly pricing audits

and annual contractor

reviews.

The Center of Excellence for Pricing team is

working with officials at all of DLA’s supply

chains to develop pricing tools that will give

contracting officers better visibility of product

and distribution prices.

Photo Illustration: Paul Crank / Erik Christensen
Logline

s

O

January -February 2011 17

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VXSSO\FKDLQWRFUHDWHDSULFLQJDFDGHP\ &XUUHQWO\EHLQJSLORWHGE\'/$$YLDWLRQ

the academywill offer commodityVSHFL¿FWUDLQLQJ 36RLI\RX¶UHDFRQWUDFWLQJRI¿FHUDW

>'/$/DQGDQG0DULWLPH@\RXUWUDLQ-

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or aviation,” Wells said.

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weapon system,” Wells said.

The inten

t of DLA’s Pricing Academy,

Benavides added,is to give employees

information they can take back to their

GHVNVDQGXVHZLWKRXWKDYLQJWRWUDQVODWH KRZLWSHUWDLQVWRWKHLUDUHDVRIH[SHUWLVH COEP team members have already

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-

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-

sight and reviews, Benavides said.

3:H¶UHKHUHWRZRUNZLWKVXSSO\

SURJUDPVDVWKH\GHYHORSWKHLUDFTXLVL

tion strategies,” Dempsey added.“Being

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across the agency of different pricing

challenges, and we can provide advice

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agency knowledge.”

AirForce TechSgt. Christopher Dean,a

material acquisitions noncommissioned

officer, signs for suppliesinsidea warehouse

atScott Air Force Base, Ill. DLA’s acquisition

workforce str

ives to get the best valuefor

suppliesprovided to warfighters.

Air Force Senior Airman Wesley Farnsworth
FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY: EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE

Energy

Convergence

Story by Jacob Boyer

S

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18 www.dla.mil
Loglines O January - February 2011 19

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A Navy supply ship conducts a refueling

operation with the USS Gettysburg in the

Gulf of Aden. Energy convergence will add

software to DLA’s Enterprise Business System

that will allow DLA Energy to better manage

its petroleum supply chain.

An Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft

receives fuel from the aerial refueling boom

of a KC-10 Extender aircraft over Afghanistan.

Energy convergence will allow for better

stewardship of DLA Energy’s supply chains.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Jason Robertson
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ZRXOGZRUNZLWKWKHSXEOLFVHFWRUVROXEnergy convergence

will replace the legacy

systems that manage

all of DLA Energy’s five

supply chains and fully

automate those that

have been limited in

that respect.

Sailors inspect a new advanced metering

infrastructure program smart meter at Naval Air

Station Kingsville, Texas. The meters will help

the command track electrical use and manage

energy consumption. Energy convergence will

allow DLA Energy to better manage all of its

supply chains, including electricity.

Jon Gagne

20 www.dla.mil
Loglines O January - February 2011 21

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Soldiers work together to refuel an M1-A1 Abrams tank in Baghdad. Energy convergence will allow DLA Energy to better manage supply chains

vital to warfighters in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Army Sgt. Mark Matthews k
FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY: EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE

Fuel

Protection

Story by Jonathan Stack

A er a number of recent combat

missions, more than 500 rounds

f ammunition were found

nside the tank of a fuel truck in

fghanistan.

But the holes caused by those rounds

were sealed completely by the BattleJacket

coating system, a lightweight protection

system developed when the military

recognized an urgent need to protect

the trucks that deliver fuel to forward

fte

m

of

in

Af A

But th

Air Force Senior Airman Brian J. Ellis

22 www.dla.mil
Loglines O January - February 2011 23

positions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

BattleJacket is a self-sealing,

composite coating system that allows

a bullet to pass through it and the fuel

tank before quickly sealing the puncture

within 15 seconds, said Julie Tsao, a DLA

industrial engineer.

The lightweight coating is typically

applied to the external surface of a fuel

tanker. It consists of three different

layers: a base coat applied to the fuel tank

surface that allows the other layers to

stick, an “intermediate micro expansion

bead encapsulation” layer that reacts

with the escaping fuel to seal holes, and a

compressive exterior layer.

The MEB layer is formulated to

expand rapidly on contact with hydrocarbon-based fuel, sealing the hole, Tsao

said. She called this layer “the key to the

system’s effectiveness.”

“The coating system may be speFL¿FDOO\IRUPXODWHGWRVHDODJDLQVWRWKHU

liquid chemicals and thus has many

potential uses, both military and commercial,” she added.

The system came about because

trucks in Afghanistan and Iraq were being

KLWE\VPDOODUPV¿UHFDXVLQJVXEVWDQWLDO

fuel leakage and safety issues. Additional

armor was looked into but was seen as

too unwieldy.

“Conventional armor plate would

have been too heavy, greatly limiting the

delivery capacity of the tanker trucks,”

she said.

Until now, the BattleJacket system

was applied in a manual spray process.

“Hand-spray application is slow,

tedious and cannot keep pace with

demand, especially for surge requirements

which may come about due to increased

combat operations tempo,” Tsao said.

An automated application method was

sought to meet these needs, she said. The

Defense Logistics Agency worked with

WKH2I¿FHRI1DYDO5HVHDUFKWRXSJUDGH

that system to an automated process.

'/$¶V5HVHDUFKDQG'HYHORSPHQW

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in response to a broad area announcement

issued by DLA.

 “DLA’s involvement came about via

IBIF funding the development of a robotic

cell for automated application of the

BattleJacket coating system,” Tsao said.

The fund, set up by the Senate Armed

Services Committee and run by the

'/$5HVHDUFKDQG'HYHORSPHQW2I¿FH

ensures investments are made to address

shortfalls in manufacturing processes and

technologies in support of the Defense

Department’s long- and short-term needs.

After the IBIF project was completed

and successfully demonstrated, a transition

to production started at a tanker truck

facility in Oshkosh, Wisc., Tsao said. The

in-progress transition will yield savings in

time and money.

37KHEHQH¿WVRIWKH'/$PDQDJHG

IBIF project to automate the coating

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million for the reported tankers currently

on order,” Tsao said.

In addition to its obvious use on

trucks carrying fuel, the system has also

EHHQDSSOLHGWRYDULRXV0LQH5HVLVWDQW

Ambush Protected vehicle fuel tanks and

numerous other potential applications

are under consideration, Tsao said.

“The ballistic protection of fuel

WDQNVEHQH¿WVWKH$UP\DQG0DULQH

Corps ground forces who must deliver

fuel to forward combat positions,” said

'RQQD'DYLVIRUPHU'/$5HVHDUFKDQG

Development chief.

Ultimately, the fuel tanker ballistic

SURWHFWLRQEHQH¿WVZDU¿JKWHUVDQGDOLJQV

well with DLA’s strategic focus area of

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improving aspects of fuel delivery to one

of the last and most dangerous links in

the supply chain, Davis said.

An Airman pulls a hose out to refuel an aircraft

in Southwest Asia. A self-sealing, composite

coating system that allows a bullet to pass

through it and the fuel tank before sealing the

puncture is now being applied to fuel trucks

in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The BattleJacket coating system consists of three different layers: a base coat applied to the

fuel tank surface that allows the other layers to stick, an “intermediate micro expansion bead

encapsulation” layer that plugs the holes, and a wear-resistant exterior. The MEB layer is

formulated to expand rapidly on contact with hydrocarbon-based fuel, sealing the hole.

In addition to its obvious use on trucks carrying fuel,

the system has also been applied to various Mine Resistant

Ambush Protected vehicle fuel tanks.

TOPCOAT

MEB ENCAPSULATION LAYER

BASECOAT

METAL SUBSTRATE

FUEL

T

M

B

M

F

THE BATTLEJACKET

Ballistic Protection for Fuel Tankers
24 www.dla.mil

T

he Defense Logistics Agency’s 

Fusion Center, an online resource 

that displays business metrics for 

the agency and its customers, will 

soon add operational data that 

ZLOOIXUWKHUIXHOHI¿FLHQWSODQQLQJDQG

decision making to its capabilities. 

In its current form, the Fusion Center 

displays real-time data on everything 

from customers’ orders and delivery 

status to stock levels and which orders 

UHPDLQXQ¿OOHG7KHLQIRUPDWLRQLV

a compilation of daily feeds from the 

Enterprise Business System and similar 

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&RPPDQGDQGRWKHU'/$SDUWQHUV7KH

goal is to add another section to the 

Fusion Center for operational data, which 

will give DLA employees and customers 

a more direct view of logistics needs in 

areas such as humanitarian assistance 

or wartime support, said Greg Wilson, 

deputy division chief of the Fusion Center 

,QWHJUDWLRQ7HDPLQ'/$/RJLVWLFV

Operations.

“It opens up another side both within 

the enterprise as well as to our external customers, because right now, it’s 

primarily metrics and business-related 

IRFXV>7KHUHLV@ORWVRIJRRGLQIRUPDWLRQ

DQG>LW@GH¿QLWHO\VHUYHVDJLYHQQHHGEXW

also having an operational side, there’s an 

added dimension that we currently do not 

have,” Wilson said. 

DLA Logistics Operations is still in 

the initial requirements-gathering phase 

of developing the operational side of the 

Fusion Center, but the vision is to create 

a new tab on the website’s front page that 

lets users switch from business metrics 

to operational data, Wilson said. Much of 

Adding Operational Data

Story by Sara Moore

FUSION CENTER

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY
Loglines O January - February 2011 25

the operational data will be sensitive, so 

DLA is planning to develop a high-security framework for the Fusion Center that 

will be on the Secure Internet Protocol 

Router, or SIPR, network. 

“Our regional commands – DLA 

(XURSHDQG$IULFD'/$3DFL¿FDQG

DLA Central – predominantly do a large 

volume of work on the secure side,” he 

said. “By having a secure side of fusion, it 

makes it easier for them to navigate into 

the Fusion Center and gather information 

that will be applicable to their areas.”

,QWKLV¿UVWSKDVH'/$/RJLVWLFV

Operations is working with the agency’s 

¿HOGDFWLYLWLHVDQGPLOLWDU\FXVWRPHUVWR

determine what operational data they 

would like to see in the Fusion Center 

and whether having that capability would 

be helpful for them, said Beth DiDonato, 

the Fusion Center program manager. 

Developing this new capability will be an 

evolutionary process that takes time, she 

said.

7KH)XVLRQ&HQWHULWVHOIKDVEHHQ

through an evolutionary process since its 

development in 2008, Wilson said, noting that DLA has spent a lot of time using 

FXVWRPHUIHHGEDFNWRUH¿QHWKHFHQWHUDQG

the data it includes. For example, the Fusion Center’s service dashboards started off 

including only data provided by the services 

but now include data relevant to both the 

services and to DLA overall, he said. 

“All of the services are actively involved 

in their dashboards, and we continue to 

UH¿QHWKHLQIRUPDWLRQDQGGHWDLOVZLWKLQ

those service dashboards, the intention 

being to be able to make it so we’re 

all looking at the same picture of the 

information and agree upon what the 

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\RXKDYHQRZDQGFRQWLQXHWRUH¿QH

on the business side. Inevitably, as 

we continue to move forward, we’re 

looking at similar circumstances on the 

operational side.”

Adding an operational side to the 

Fusion Center will provide a more 

complete picture of DLA’s business 

operations and will give agency leaders and customers more of the data 

they need to make effective decisions, 

Wilson said. 

37KHLQWHQWLRQLVWRKDYHWKRVH

operational tools that, just like on 

the business side, are meant to be 

enablers to help facilitate getting 

things done faster and much more 

HI¿FLHQWO\ ́KHVDLG
26 www.dla.mil dl 

Cultural

Improvements Story by Sara Moore

3, p

Denison Culture Model, which measures

four traits of culture and leadership

– mission, adaptability, involvement

and consistency – to help the agency

attain and maintain a culture of high

performance.

“The culture of DLA is one of the

VLJQL¿FDQWHQDEOHUVRIDOORXURWKHU

business-related initiatives,” LippertJensen said. “It’s the foundation for how

we do work here on a daily basis. A strong

culture will enable us to achieve all our

other initiatives.”

d

y T y p

to all civilian and military employees

and some foreign nationals in locations

outside the United States, Lippert-Jensen

said. Although the surveys are voluntary,

the agency traditionally has a 75 percent

response rate, which is virtually unheard

of with these types of surveys, she said.

This most recent survey ran from Oct.

18 to Nov. 5 and was available electronically and on paper in six languages.

Just as with past surveys, the results

from this survey will be compiled and

released in a cascading fashion, from the

DLA director down to senior leaders at

HDFKGLUHFWRUDWHRU¿HOGDFWLYLW\DQGWKHQ

to the workforce, Lippert-Jensen said.

Each activity is required to put together an

action plan based on their results focusing

on areas in which they plan to make

improvements. These action plans will

be made public and updated regularly to

show employees how their feedback is

used.

Past survey results have driven many

improvements throughout the agency.

Most projects happen at the local level,

but some enterprise-level initiatives

have their roots in the culture surveys.

For example, survey results led to the

establishment of the Enterprise Leader

Development Program.

“Your culture survey feedback

T

Culture survey feedback from DLA employees,

like those pictured here, helps the agency

improve its performance and support to warfighters.

T p ure

survey in November, and the

results are expected to help the

agency improve its operations

DQGZRUNIRUFHRI¿FLDOVVDLG DQG ZRUN

DLA has conducted culture surveys

since 1996 to assess the agency’s culture

and look for areas that can be improved.

The survey was internally developed

as a diversity survey and developed

into a climate survey in 2000, with

an emphasis on measuring areas like

trust, communication and leadership,

said Laura Lippert-Jensen, the culture

DLA Photo
Loglines L li O January - February 2011 J F b 2011 27

will drive many of the discussions and

decisions we make as we continue to

work toward sustaining and advancing

DLA in the years to come,” DLA Director

Navy Vice Adm. Alan Thompson wrote

in an e-mail message

to employees before

the survey launched in

October. “Your honest

opinions will lead to

informed actions and

improvements to our

collective efforts.”

The Denison model

gives each directorate

DQG¿HOGDFWLYLW\ZLWKLQ

DLA a culture score

based on the results in

each of the four traits,

with each trait broken down into three

indices. These scores help give a picture

of where the agency stands, but the surveys’ goal is not simply to get high scores

and make the agency look good, LippertJensen said.

“The goal is to see where we’re doing

well, see where we need improvements and

to get a reading on where some areas are

that we need improvement on,” she said.

The culture surveys are important

because they foster collaboration between

managers and leaders throughout DLA

and give employees an opportunity to

air their concerns, Lippert-Jensen said.

7KHOHDGHUVZKREHQH¿WPRVWIURPWKH

program are those who take good and bad

results to heart and accept them and use

them to make targeted

improvements to their

units. She said she’s

gotten a lot of anecdotal

UHVXOWVIURPWKH¿HOG

about units that started

out with low scores and

over the years made

real improvements and

now have a positive

UHSXWDWLRQDQGVDWLV¿HG

employees.

“I think when

management and

employees understand the intent of

the survey and use the results how

they’re meant to be used – to help the

organization perform better to meet our

customers’ needs – I think that once they

get on board, not only do they use it to

improve their organization, but they are

champions for it within the organization,”

she said.

DLA’s high rate of participation in the

culture surveys has helped the agency improve its workforce and business practices

over the years, Thompson said, adding

that the surveys remain an important tool

for agency leaders.

“Measuring our culture lets us assess

any potential problem areas, pinpoint

key challenges to DLA, check the health

of our employee relationships and the

overall health of the agency,” Thompson

wrote. “It tells us about the collective

larger good of the enterprise; and we

want to know that since that larger good

HYHQWXDOO\FRPHVEDFNDURXQGWREHQH¿W

the individuals working at DLA.”

Survey Results

2009

2010

The Denison Culture Model graphs 

above illustrate DLA employees’ 

feelings about the agency in 2009 and 

2010, according to each year’s culture 

survey. Preliminary results from this 

year’s iteration indicate improvements 

in creating change, customer focus, 

empowerment, team orientation, 

coordination and integration, vision, 

and strategic direction and intent. 

 survey, conducted every 18 months, helps DLA leaders assess the organization’s

overall health and performance in four key traits of culture and leadership. These assessments

can guide the agency’s leaders in making improvements.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Quinton Russ

55

47

42

49 43

44

44

45 36 44 51

50

55

53

46

54

49

54

58

54

42 50 58

55

“The culture of DLA is one 

of the significant enablers 

of all our other businessrelated initiatives. It’s the 

foundation for how we 

do work here on a daily 

basis.”

— Laura Lippert-Jenson
28 www.dla.mil

We are DLA

T

he We Are DLA campaign means

more than just a name change for

Defense Logistics Agency activities

located at Tinker Air Force Base,

in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Air Force Col. Richard Schwing, DLA

Aviation Oklahoma City commander,

reached out to DLA Distribution, DLA

Document Services and DLA Disposition

6HUYLFHVRI¿FLDOVWKHUHWRGLVFXVVKRZWKH

different organizations can improve communication and teamwork among their

850 employees.

“We come to the table with different

capabilities, but what we’ve found is a

lot of our processes touch each other,”

Schwing said.

All four activities can either help each

other or work together through one of

their customers’ issues, he said. The main

customer at Tinker is the Oklahoma City

Air Logistics Center, an industrial depot

where the Air Force overhauls KC-135,

B-52, B-1 and E-3 aircraft. It is the only air

logistics center in the Air Force that has a

propulsion maintenance group, so a good

majority of engines powering the service’s

aircraft are overhauled at Tinker.

“We support all of the maintenance

workload for engines and aircraft going

through an overhaul,” Schwing said.

Since DLA’s activities started their

teaming efforts under We Are DLA,

OKLAHOMA CITY

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY AVIATION

Story by Jonathan Stack
Loglines O January - February 2011 29

DLA Strategic Communications

leaders at Tinker have found ways to

EHFRPHPRUHHI¿FLHQW

“Under the old ways of doing

business, customers were sending items

that were eventually going to be disposed

RIWRRXUGLVWULEXWLRQGHSRWV¿UVWLQVWHDG

of going straight to DLA Disposition

Services,” Schwing said. “We can clean up

a lot of processes like that.”

One way DLA leaders at Tinker are

working together is by coming together for

a monthly We Are DLA staff meeting to

discuss issues at the DLA level.

Schwing said the organizations come

to the table with different capabilities,

but the more they learn from each other,

the better the activities can work together

to better serve customers and help each

other out.

“The most important thing we’ve

IRXQGDVDEHQH¿WLVEHLQJDEOHWRXQGHUstand each other’s jobs and capabilities

[and] share information like what is going

on in DLA, such as programs for employees or training or other opportunities,”

Schwing said.

One opportunity that came about was

a way for DLA Document Services to help

DLA Aviation improve its record keeping.

“DLA Aviation here is working with

Document Services to come up with a

plan to digitally store a bunch of our

records,” Schwing said. “We used to

generate manual records on paper, and

they’re going to digitize it and store it in a

database for us.”

It’s a boon for DLA Aviation because

thousands of documents are generated

HDFKGD\DQGDUHVWLOOEHLQJNHSWLQ¿OH

cabinets, he said.

“It’s a huge relief of manual workload

we do right now,” Schwing said. “A lot of

the employees do research on parts and

need access on information from [the

document], which requires a lot manual

effort to actually thumb through these

SDSHUVWR¿QGWKHLQIRUPDWLRQZHQHHG ́

Now, personnel from DLA Document

Services will periodically go to DLA

Aviation’s work locations to pick up

documents and scan them into their

system.

“Each one of our employees will have

a link to the database, and it’ll be searchable,” Schwing said. “We are looking at

having the same thing happen to other

documents like pay records and facility

equipment work orders.”

Another outcome from the We Are

DLA meetings was the successful movement of DLA Disposition Services.

“We found out DLA Disposition

Services was undergoing a move because

the Navy at Tinker is expanding and

needed space,” Schwing said. “We’ve

worked with the Air Force to come up

with a plan of where we’re going to move

them.”

'/$'LVSRVLWLRQ6HUYLFHV¶RI¿FHVDW

Tinker will end up sharing a building with

DLA Aviation. Leaders also discovered

other things they can do to improve

operations in that building including

teamwork and equipment use, he said.

“If I hadn’t reached out to them

or had the ongoing communication, I

wouldn’t have known they had a move

coming up, and we wouldn’t have been

DEOHWRKHOS¿QGWKHVSDFH ́6FKZLQJVDLG

The most important thing DLA leaders

at Tinker took away from the We Are DLA

campaign was they wanted it to be more

than just a name change, Schwing said.

“We wanted to use it as a function to

increase our teamwork and change the

culture here with respect to all of our

DLA employees, increase our awareness

of DLA as a whole, and while doing

that provide better support to all of our

customers,” he said.

Maintainers ease a 30-foot-diameter

rotodome onto a Royal Saudi Air Force

aircraft at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla. DLA

activities at Tinker work together to support

their customers.

Margo

Wright

Air Force Master Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol

An Airman from Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., works on an aircraft’s engine in Southwest Asia.

The main customer for DLA activities at Tinker is the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, where

the Air Force overhauls KC-135, B-52, B-1 and E-3 aircraft.
30 www.dla.mil

Ten Questions with . . .

1. DLA is involved in operations

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DLA Logistics Operations Director Discusses Agency’s Efforts to Efficiently Support Warfighters Worldwide

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Loglines O January - February 2011 31

Collyar

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Loglines O January - February 2011 33

DLA NewsWire Compiled by DLA Strategic Communications 

A

recent agreement cemented the

partnership between the Defense

Logistics Agency and U.S. Africa

Command.

DLA Distribution Europe routinely

supports U.S. Africa Command’s exercises throughout the continent. The regional

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Exercise Support Highlights Partnership Between

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DLA Distribution Europe has supportHGVHYHUDOVXFKH[HUFLVHVLQDQGLV

expected to support four more. It supports

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and barrier materials for the construcWLRQRIWKHH[HUFLVHVLWHV86$)5,&20¶V

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control between joint military forces in

preparation for peacekeeping or antiterURULVPPLVVLRQVRI¿FLDOVVDLG

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to respond to humanitarian emergencies.

DLA Distribution Europe has shipped

four containers of material in support of

the exercise.

“It’s extremely gratifying to know that

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DLA Distribution Europe commander.

“We look forward to continuing support to

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be ready when winter weather hits

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contract for snow plow attachments to

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The team ensured the plows were

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ahead of time.

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Strategic Communications

Airmen assigned to 11th Civil Engineering Squadron use a snow plow to clear streets near the

Defense Intelligence Agency at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C. DLA Troop Support

Construction and Equipment recently awarded a contract for plow attachments that will work

with Humvees and Light Medium Tactical Vehicles.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Brian M. Boisvert
34 www.dla.mil

Money Matters

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A Sailor grinds steel used for aircraft support

equipment repairs aboard a ship’s jet shop

while under way in the Atlantic Ocean. DLA

launched the Value Engineering Savings

Tracking and Reporting Applications System

to monitor DLA Aviation savings for the

Defense Department’s Value Management

Program.

Navy Seaman Apprentice Jared M. King
Loglines O January - February 2011 35

DLA Strategic Communications

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A Sailor repairs a throttle assembly in an

SH-60H Sea Hawk helicopter aboard an

aircraft carrier. DLA Aviation’s Engineering

and Technology Division recorded more than

$118 million in total value engineering savings

in fiscal 2010 using the Value Engineering

Savings Tracking and Reporting Application

System.

Navy Seaman Apprentice Tyler Caswell
GREEN LIGHT

Story by Sara Moore

 two proofs of principle,

conducted by U.S. European Command

in the fall, consisted of movements

by two trucks carrying two 20-foot

containers each to Bagram, Afghanistan.

These movements were executed

by International Import Export, a

transport company that used drivers and

equipment from several of the transited

countries to move the cargo.

The success of the route, which has

been dubbed E2A, led U.S. Transportation Command to formally approve it for

the transport of goods from Germany to

Afghanistan, said Glenn Paxton, a DLA

distribution specialist at USEUCOM. In

late October, new goals were established

to move 75 20-foot equivalent containers

per week over the E2A route. As of early

November, 10 movements had taken

place. These used a total of 58 trucks and

moved 168 containers of construction

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two more transportation companies for

these movements and have other companies available if required.

The initial test movements took 49

days and 39 days, respectively. Those

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times than current NDN routes into

Afghanistan and highlighted some areas

for improvement for further reductions

in delivery times. The route was largely

successful, as the NDN has been since its

inception, Summers said.

“We have been very successful on

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the big important point from our

perspective here is that any commercial

transportation option that helps connect

Afghanistan to Western Europe is good

for all countries along the way and

certainly for Afghanistan, so we really

Northern Distribution Network route gets the

36 www.dla.mil

T

wo recent trial runs that carried

cargo over land from Germany

to Afghanistan proved the value

of a distribution network that

connects Western Europe to

Central Asia.

The Northern Distribution Network,

a series of rail, road and water supply

lines to Afghanistan, has been called the

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it connects Central Asia and Western

Europe, said Air Force Col. Bill Summers,

chief of the European Deployment and

Distribution Operations Center.

Northern Distribution Network

The Northern Distribution Network, a series of rail, road and water supply lines to Afghanistan, has been

proven as an efficient route for supplies into Central Asia. U.S. European Command successfully tested

an NDN route from Germany to Afghanistan recently.
look at this from an infrastructure and

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Having this connection helps boost

trade between the countries, Summers

said, noting that a recent study found

a $12 billion annual increase in trade

between two countries along the route.

While improving economies and

relations between countries in the region

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of having this particular over-land supply

route from Germany to Afghanistan is

providing another way to support war

Iightersin the latter, Summers said.

Prior to the route’s development, the

only supply transportation options

besides over land through

Pakistan, which is fraught

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air and sea, Paxton said. Transporting

goods by sea takes a long time, and

transporting via air is very expensive, he

said.

“This is kind of a bridge that gives

us more control to kind of breach that

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actually go by truck. It’s cheaper, and it’s

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The NDN was developed in 2008 as

an alternative means to deliver supplies

over Afghanistan’s rugged terrain to

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and DLA Distribution Europe worked

with USTRANSCOM to develop new

business processes and expand the network to include a route originating in

Europe, Paxton said.

The cargo moved on these

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material that was needed in

theater, Summers said. “It’s

the kind of stuff [that] if you were to try

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would greatly outprice the value of the

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Due to its recent success, the E2A

route has been getting a lot of attention,

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changes that would create a more direct

route and reduce cost and delivery times,

Paxton said.

Used as an alternative route for

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connect and bolster the economies of

Central Asia and Western Europe, the

Northern Distribution Network is an

important tool for the United States

and its allies as they stay involved in the

region now and for the foreseeable future,

Summers said.

“I believe everybody’s top priority

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redundant system that allows materials

to get to the people who need them

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a USEUCOM perspective, certainly,

we’re also interested in helping that

infrastructure improvement ... and then

infusing and connecting the economies of

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Loglines O January - February 2011 37

A Soldier sets up a portable satellite system at an

observation point in Southern Wardak, Afghanistan.

The Northern Distribution Network, a series of rail,

road and water supply lines to Afghanistan, gives

the Defense Logistics Agency another route to

deliver supplies to warfighters.

— Photo by Army Spc. De’Yonte Mosley
I AM

My name is:

Tami “T.J.” Hooker

I am:

One of a small, professional, loyal and absolutely wonderful group of

dedicated special agents (i.e., Criminal Investigators) who work hard for

DLA in the Accountability

ag

e

 Office’s Investigations

Inves g

 Division in Texarkana,

Texas.

Describe your job in a sentence:

We conduct investigations worldwide to support stewardship

excellence by identifying

inves g

 fraud,

at

g

 crime and vulnerabilities and recommend

risk mitigation practices

dent y g

 to ensure DLA’s continued support to serve

and protect

mit g

t our heroes, American warfighters.

How long have you worked for DLA?

34 years.

What is your favorite thing about working for DLA?

Knowing that the foundation to everything we do is based on the

premise of

g

e f “Doing what is right for the armed forces

g

 and DoD.” There’s

a trust placed in our agents

g

r

 to successfully address difficult and

complex problems throughout the DLA enterprise.

What is your best memory of working here?

The matchless character and authenticity of my fellow

agents. The camaraderie built by spending long hours together

in difficult

age

t conditions working hard for

sp

r a common goal –

to find and prove the truth – can bond you like no other

g

experience.

How do you make a difference to warfighters?

With the help of our fellow DLA employees, Our agents have

never conducted a successful investigation without

g

t help from the

workforce. We depend on them to report

es g

t incidents of wrongdoing

or waste and help us understand the things we investigate.

g

e

Without the eyes, ears and integrity of a unified

g

 workforce,

investig

 our

ability to make a difference to our w

y

r

me

of a uni

warfighters is

to our w

degraded.

warfighters is degrad