LOGLINES

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY MARCH – APRIL 2015

PROVIDING SUPPORT TO

FEDERAL

AGENCIES
Lt. Gen. Andy Busch, USAF

Director, Defense Logistics Agency

is what this edition of Loglines is all 

about. In this issue, you’ll read about 

warehousing, property disposal and 

human resources support to other 

federal agencies. There is a highlight of 

DLA’s ability to provide 24/7 support 

anywhere in the country as illustrated 

by our support to the U.S. Forest 

Service Fire Protection Program. 

Additionally, you’ll read about 

providing fuel anywhere in the world to 

support agencies like the Coast Guard, 

FEMA and the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency. You’ll learn how 

DLA’s change from E-mall to FedMall 

has made the system more user friendly 

for federal agencies, and you’ll read 

about our cost-saving, environmentally 

friendly efforts to provide gases, 

lubricants and petroleum to other 

federal agencies.

I

t is an incredible honor for me to be 

back at DLA to lead this amazing 

logistics enterprise. This is actually my 

third tour with DLA, and our mission is 

incredibly important to the warfighter 

and to the disaster response apparatus 

of our national government. I believe we 

are successful in that mission because 

of the professionalism and dedication 

of the workforce. While we have seen 

great success, this is a critical time for 

the department and for the country. Our 

nation expects and demands excellence, 

and our job is to ensure continued 

logistics superiority in the face of 

continued budget uncertainty. I am here 

because I believe in what we do and I 

believe you have unparalleled capacity to 

keep having a monumental impact.

I serve for the same reasons many 

of you serve – to help make the world a 

better place through service to a higher 

idea. Here at DLA, we are committed 

to our nation’s warfighters, and we do 

amazing things for them. We are also 

committed stewards of the taxpayers’ 

money and will constantly seek to get 

them the best deal.

I believe the only way to keep doing 

these things is through a continued 

evolution to excellence – excellent 

response time, excellent delivery rate 

and excellent customer service. We are 

already doing it and we are the team to 

keep doing it.

We provide that excellent service 

to non-DoD agencies as well, and that 

Many organizations aspire to have 

an impact. We do more than aspire, 

we achieve. We have the talent, the 

resources and the perseverance. I 

couldn’t ask for a better organization to 

lead into its next chapter.

Thank you for what you do every 

day for our warfighters and for our 

nation. I look forward to working with 

each and every one of you. 

DLA Director

Air Force Lt. Gen. Andy Busch

DLA Vice Director

Ted Case 

Chief of Staff

Renee L. Roman

Director, Public Affairs

Joseph M. Yoswa

Deputy Director, Public Affairs

Patrick H. Mackin

Loglines is the authorized publication for the 

Defense Logistics Agency’s workforce of federal 

civilians, active-duty military and Joint Reserve 

Force augmentees at agency activities worldwide 

and industry customers of DLA. Contents of this 

publication are not necessarily the official views of, or 

endorsed by, the U.S. government, the Department 

of Defense or the Defense Logistics Agency. 

LOGLINES

Official Flagship Publication

of the Defense Logistics Agency

LOGLINES STAFF

Managing Editor: Phil Prater

Editor: Jacob Boyer

Writers: Beth Reece

Sara Moore

Amanda Neumann

 Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Daniel Garas

Layout/Design: Paul Henry Crank

Headquarters, Defense Logistics Agency, Office of Public Affairs 

8725 John J. Kingman Road, Suite 2545, Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-6221

 703-767-6200 E-mail: loglines@dla.mil

Loglines is prepared electronically, using desktop publishing applications; no commercial typesetting costs 

are involved. Photos not credited are courtesy of agency sources. Submissions and correspondence may be 

sent to the address below:

DIRECTOR

from the
Loglines O March - April 2015 1

A Conversation with ... 23

David Kless

A Little Bit of History 28

DLA’s Ecclesiastical Logistics Supply Program

I am DLA Back Cover

DEPARTMENTS

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

DLA ON www.dla.mil www.facebook.com/dla.mil www.twitter.com/dlamil www.youtube.com/dodlogisticsagency

THE WEB

PROVIDING SUPPORT TO

FEDERAL AGENCIES

Value Added 2

DLA is working with federal agencies outside the Defense 

Department to provide the same tailored logistics support 

enjoyed by military customers worldwide. 

The New Mall 5

FedMall, a new online ordering system, will provide a better 

user experience for customers throughout the government, 

with features that rival commercial retail giants.

Beyond Logistics 7

Based on its success providing human resources services to 

DoD organizations, DLA is looking to expand that support to 

federal agencies and provide the full gamut of HR solutions. 

Fueling Federal Efforts 10

Federal civilian customers made up almost $1 billion of 

DLA Energy’s $17 billion in sales in fiscal 2014, through 

formal purchase agreements that provide benefits and 

flexibility to customers. 

Quenching the Flames 14

In 2014, DLA took over the important mission of supplying 

the National Interagency Fire Center with specialized 

equipment, including medical supplies, firefighting tools 

and protective gear. 

From Gutenberg to Google 17

DLA Document Services has a long history of printing 

and handling documents of all kinds, including records 

management, electronic storage, print on demand, 

traditional bulk printing and special printing projects. 

Well-Oiled Machine 20

DLA Aviation’s recycled oils, gas cylinder and chemical 

programs provide civilian and military agencies with 

flexible, cost-saving support in locations around the world. 

‘Rolling’ in Sales 26

A new DLA Disposition Services contract for auctioning 

excess wheeled vehicles to the public is increasing revenue 

for DLA and ultimately saving money for military customers. 

CONTENTS

MARCH - APRIL 2015
2 www.dla.mil

Providing Support to Federal Agencies

o organization in the world 

juggles small- and large-scale 

logistics like the Defense Logistics 

Agency, and federal agencies are 

beginning to take notice. 

“A lot of organizations are starting 

to realize that what we do is not unique 

to the military. While the military is our 

primary customer today and tomorrow, 

there are things we already provide 

that other federal agencies can easily 

take advantage of,” said David Kless, 

who oversees DLA’s support to federal 

agencies for DLA Logistics Operations. 

Kless’ team and experts from all of 

DLA’s supply chains are working with 

federal agencies to demonstrate how 

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they, too, can take advantage of the same 

tailored logistics support enjoyed by 

military customers worldwide. In most 

cases, federal agencies that do business 

with DLA are able to tap into mature, 

time-tested pipelines and get better prices 

for the same material and services they 

would have purchased elsewhere. 

“The more business DLA does, the 

cheaper things get. And in these days of 

scarce dollars for both the Department 

of Defense and federal agencies, that’s 

very important,” said Bruce Neuberger, a 

logistics management specialist for DLA 

Logistics Operations.

The fact that DLA operates with 

working capital funds also gives the 

VALUE ADDED

agency flexibility to make purchases in 

cases where other agencies might be 

required to wait for funding, he added.

The agency already has a mix of 

formal and informal agreements with 

several federal agencies. It’s had a formal 

arrangement with the Federal Emergency 

Management Agency since Hurricane 

Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005. While 

the current agreement calls for DLA to 

provide FEMA 1 million meals, readyto-eat and 200,000 gallons of fuel per 

day during disaster response operations, 

agency employees saw the need for more 

following Hurricane Sandy and doubled, 

or even tripled, the amount of daily 

support to responders.

Air Force Senior Airman Hailey Haux

Many of the fresh fruits and vegetables eaten at schools throughout the nation come from DLA through a Department of Agriculture program that 

provides low-cost or free lunches to qualifying children.
Loglines O March - April 2015 3

DLA also supplies fresh fruits 

and vegetables for a Department of 

Agriculture program that gives low-cost or 

free lunches to qualifying schoolchildren. 

And when the Department of State 

assumed U.S. operations in Iraq in 

December 2011, DLA used existing 

contracts to provide food and fuel. 

“To date, a lot of this support has been 

purely dependent on a willing customer. 

But things like the school lunch program 

have become so successful that after an 

agency starts partnering with us, they 

begin to wonder what more we can do for 

them,” Kless said, citing the Coast Guard 

as a good example. 

The service has bought fuel from DLA 

since 2006, but in recent years Coast 

Guard officials have asked for support 

in other commodities. In November, 

the agency took on the responsibility of 

managing service-unique items on the 

Coast Guard’s 87-foot coastal patrol boats. 

Storage and property disposal services 

could be next, Kless added.

One of DLA’s newest federal-agency 

partnerships is with the Wildland Fire 

Protection Program, for which it oversees 

more than 300 items, such as water hoses 

and pumps, for 30,000 firefighters across 

the country.

To further expand its federalagency customer base, DLA invited 20 

agencies, including the Department of 

Veterans Affairs and the Department 

of Transportation, to a Value Added 

Opportunities Summit in December. 

The event highlighted areas in which 

DLA can potentially provide logistics 

support at lower costs, ranging from 

clothing and textiles to fuel, property 

disposal and storage.

“While some agencies have been DLA 

customers for a long time, others have 

only recently done business with DLA, 

and some have not had any interaction 

with DLA,” Kless said. “This last category 

is where there was real benefit to having 

the summit, as they heard not only from 

DLA but from other agencies who talked 

to the positives as well as where we are 

working to improve. Overall, I think 

attendees left the summit with a much 

better appreciation for what DLA does 

and how we may be able to help solve 

some of their current logistics issues.”

The summit resulted in follow-on 

meetings with such organizations as 

the U.S. Secret Service, NASA, and the 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration. And agencies such as the 

Department of Homeland Security have 

shown specific interest in warehousing 

and property disposal. In many cases, 

“The more business DLA does, the cheaper things get. And in 

these days of scarce dollars for both the Department of Defense 

and federal agencies, that’s very important.” 

— Bruce Neuberger

Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Tasha Tully

Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer James Moerls 

steers an over-the-horizon small boat from 

the Coast Guard Cutter Dallas to conduct a 

multinational vessel boarding. DLA provides 

fuel and repair parts to the Coast Guard and 

is discussing whether the service could benefit 

from using the agency’s storage and property 

disposal services. 
4 www.dla.mil

“When DHS was stood up after 9/11 

and they were given their mission in 

2001, they went out and bought all this 

protective equipment, but is it still good 

today? We already provide protective 

equipment to the services; maybe other 

customers can use the same material,” 

Kless continued.

Other possibilities: uniforms for the 

Transportation Security Administration 

and food preparation equipment for 

emergency responders who find themselves 

setting up temporary field operations.

“It’s good for the government,” Kless 

said. “Fifty years ago, when DLA was stood 

up, it was because the services were acting 

independently, not sharing information 

and competing against each other for 

resources. That same phenomenon exists 

today in the federal government.” 

Some may think DLA’s focus on 

supporting federal agencies is an effort 

to offset the decline in sales since the end 

of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but 

Kless said that’s not possible.

“It will never balance out the 

magnitude of what we were providing 

during those operations. We’re doing this 

more for the good of the government and 

to provide the same support to our federal 

partners,” he said. 

While DLA is used to providing largescale logistics and getting better prices 

using economies of scale, DLA Logistics 

Operations Director Navy Rear Adm. Vince 

Griffith has assured federal agency leaders 

that the agency can also tailor support to 

suit smaller organizations and missions.

“At DLA, the customer defines 

success,” Griffith said at the summit. 

“When we work with you, your metrics 

are how we’re going to measure [success], 

not our metrics. So the one-size-fits-all 

approach isn’t applicable here.” 

it just doesn’t make sense for federal 

agencies to perform tasks that aren’t 

included in their missions when DLA 

already has the expertise, Kless added.

“We already have the ability to 

warehouse and distribute worldwide. 

And not only can we help get material 

to the customer; we can also deal with 

excess material in warehouses that is 

either obsolete or no longer used, so other 

federal agencies aren’t contracting for that 

service on their own.”

Another opportunity could be medical 

and protective equipment for organizations 

such as the VA, DHS and the Department 

of Health and Human Services. 

Air Force Senior Airman Kathrine McDowell

Soldiers with the 20th Civil Engineering 

Squadron help each other into chemical, 

biological and radiological suits. Protective 

gear such as this is not unique to the military 

and could also be used by the Department 

of Homeland Security and the Department of 

Health and Human Services.

It just doesn’t make sense for 

federal agencies to perform 

tasks that aren’t included 

in their missions when DLA 

already has the expertise.

— David Kless
Loglines O March - April 2015 5

nline buyers within the federal 

government will begin using an 

e-commerce platform that rivals 

those of well-known companies 

like Amazon, eBay, and WalMart when the Defense Logistics Agency 

unveils the new FedMall this fall. 

A collaborative effort between 

DLA and the General Services 

Administration, FedMall is being 

designed to give customers what 

they’ve been asking for: a better 

search engine, pictures with every 

item and more competitive pricing. 

“When EMALL was set up 

over a decade ago, it was with modern 

technology at the time, but technology 

has changed, and customer expectations 

have changed. Business practices have 

also changed,” said Kevin Burke, a 

procurement analyst for DLA Acquisition. 

EMALL was created in 1998 as a 

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web-based ordering platform where 

members of the Defense Department and 

state and federal agencies could acquire 

off-the-shelf goods and services from the 

commercial marketplace and government 

sources. It has grown from just a few 

million items to more than 65 million, 

absorbing products previously available 

through such venues as DLA’s Electronic 

Catalog Ordering System. 

Officials from the three DLA directorates that run and manage EMALL – DLA 

Information Operations, DLA Acquisition 

and DLA Logistics Operations – have 

been working with GSA since fall 2014 to 

develop requirements for the new FedMall, 

which is scheduled to debut in September. 

“We recognize that by working 

together, we can build an online ordering 

tool that exceeds what either of us can do 

alone. Through this FedMall partnership, 

we can better support our customers 

while operating more effectively and 

efficiently,” Burke said.

FedMall should get customers 

excited, added Phil Deboe, EMALL 

program manager for DLA Information 

Operations, which is responsible for 

maintaining the technology.

“Customers have told us they want to 

see a better search engine and pictures 

with each item at the time of purchase. 

They also want to be able to look at 

different types of shipping options in case 

they need something sooner than other 

customers. These are some of the things 

THE

NEW 

MALL

Technology Enhancements:

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6 www.dla.mil

Providing Support to Federal Agencies

that commercial e-commerce tools do 

today that can be done in EMALL now, 

but it’s cumbersome,” he said. 

Combining EMALL and GSA’s online 

shopping tool, called GSA Advantage, 

will not only give DoD, state and federal 

customers a single place for all their 

shopping needs, but also reduce the 

information technology footprint and save 

taxpayers’ dollars, Deboe added. It will also 

be auditable.

“We’re working aggressively to 

ensure that all the audit readiness issues 

found in EMALL will be corrected and 

moved into FedMall, to include the way 

we assign access,” said 

Annette Griffin, EMALL 

integrator for DLA 

Logistics Operations. 

Griffin works with 

customers to ensure 

EMALL meets their 

needs.

DLA Logistics 

Operations Deputy 

Director Michael Scott 

said the new platform 

will bring value to 

everyone involved. 

“We are excited to 

be a part of the solution 

to modernize DoD 

EMALL into a world 

class e-commerce 

system. The benefits of 

FedMall will provide a user-friendly, 

one-stop ordering platform for our 

customer base,” he said. “It is a win-win 

for both our customer and vendor 

communities.”

One of the major benefits of FedMall 

will be the use of dynamic pricing.

“This allows customers to take 

advantage of what’s going on today in 

the marketplace, where, as supply and 

demand shifts, prices go up and down,” 

Burke said. 

The current EMALL is based on 

indefinite-delivery contracts, in which 

prices may change only with a contract 

modification. DLA Contracting Services 

Office Philadelphia is working with the 

FedMall team to increase competition 

among vendors by streamlining the 

contracting process. Under a new 

application process, a prospective 

vendor’s catalog and application is 

reviewed by government officials. If 

approved, the vendor’s items are included 

on the site through a flexible contract 

arrangement, and the vendor is free 

to adjust prices at any time without a 

contract modification. Vendor catalogs 

will be evaluated for order fulfillment and 

technical and quality assurance through a 

partnership between DCSO Philadelphia 

and DLA Headquarters.

“By creating an environment where 

multiple vendors are fairly competing 

against each other, we should see costs 

go down, especially as we attract more 

customers who are buying the same 

items,” Burke said. 

The new vendor application process 

is also intended to reduce the burden 

on vendors who say it’s difficult to do 

business with DLA via EMALL, he added. 

“And a lot of the federal agencies we 

hope to do business with in the future 

are concerned about whether suppliers 

they already work with will be able to 

participate. With FedMall, they will.”

Built-in business rules will also assure 

users that they’re complying with the policies of their organization when ordering. 

Every time a user logs on, for example, the 

system will automatically base product 

searches on such preferences as lowest 

price or quickest delivery. Customers that 

prefer to shop with AbilityOne or want to 

buy only environmentally friendly products 

can also have that programmed into their 

organization’s business rules. 

“And if the user is not allowed to 

order certain products, that business rule 

will already be there, as well. We didn’t 

have that with EMALL, so this is a lesson 

learned that we’re incorporating into the 

new system,” Griffin added. 

Additionally, customers using the new FedMall 

should find it easier to 

determine whether an item 

is what they truly want, she 

said. 

“Before, it was very 

challenging for the customer 

to determine what good 

they wanted based on the 

best price, because if you 

pull up boots on EMALL 

and one is $19 and another 

is $34, the customer is 

going to say they want 

the $19 item, because it 

looks the same,” she said. 

“However, if you look at 

the characteristics and 

intended uses of those two 

items, they’re completely different. That’s 

partly why customers’ business rules and 

requirements are being built in.”

Items in FedMall will also be clearly 

marked as commercial or military specific. 

While the new electronic mall may 

seem a lot like other commercial sites in 

regards to user experience, Burke said it 

won’t be the same. 

“What’s different is we’re going to 

have a more open marketplace than 

any other particular company would 

have. We, the federal government, 

aren’t selling anything; we’re just 

providing the marketplace,” he said. 

“Bottom line, our goal is to have the 

best site we can offer.” 

Dynamic Pricing Model

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Loglines O March - April 2015 7

lthough its name denotes its 

expertise in logistics, the Defense 

Logistics Agency has another 

service to offer to federal agencies: 

human resources support.

Since 2011, the Department of 

Defense Customers organization within 

DLA Human Resources Services has 

provided HR services to many nonmilitary DoD organizations, and the 

capacity exists to expand that support 

to federal agencies outside DoD, said 

Jill Dixon Cromer, DoD Customers 

organization director. 

“DLA Human Resources is a 

recognized high performing organization 

and HR service provider, providing 

tailored and scalable HR services based 

upon customer needs,” she said.

The DoD Customers organization 

was created in response to the 2005 Base 

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Realignment and Closure Commission, 

said Shelly Leitzel, deputy director of the 

organization. BRAC 2005 consolidated 

civilian personnel departments within the 

military services and the defense agencies 

and transferred many HR functions from 

other defense agencies to DLA. 

Made up of less than 300 employees, 

the DoD Customers organization serves 

about half of the department’s “Fourth 

Estate” agencies, those that are not 

BEYOND 

LOGISTICS

directly aligned with a military service, 

Leitzel said. 

Supported agencies include the Office 

of the Secretary of Defense, the Defense 

Advanced Research Projects Agency, the 

Competitors line up in shopping carts as they 

prepare for the supermarket scavenger hunt 

during the commissary’s 8th annual Special 

Olympics at U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Cherry 

Point, N.C. The Defense Commissary Agency is 

one of the Defense Department organizations 

supported by DLA Human Resources Services. 

Marine Corps Cpl. Grace Waladkewics
8 www.dla.mil

Providing Support to Federal Agencies

Gregory Huntley, the Germersheim central 

distribution facility manager with the Defense 

Commissary Agency Europe Area, gives a 

tour of a storage facility at the Germersheim 

Army Depot. DeCA is one of the Defense 

Department organizations DLA supports with 

human resources services.

Army Spc. Iesha Howard

Defense Human Resources Activity and 

the Defense Commissary Agency, among 

others. In total, the organization serves 

about 47,000 civilian employees. The 

organization operates much like a business, 

with its operating funds coming from 

customer payments for services rendered. 

“We process all personnel actions, 

to include employee benefits actions, 

for all the customers that we service,” 

Leitzel said. “We are also positioned 

to provide other human resources 

services, depending on what the 

customer has requested us to provide 

to them. For example, some of our 

customers have requested we provide 

position classification services or 

employee relations.”

DLA Human Resources could provide 

its full range of services, including 

classification, recruitment and placement; 

employee benefits; personnel records 

management; employee and labor 

relations; personnel action processing; 

travel entitlements and allowances; 

overseas entitlements and allowances; 

injury compensation; and workforce 

development to eligible federal agencies, 

Cromer said. As it does for DoD 

organizations, DLA would process all 

these transactions from a distance, but the 

lack of proximity has never affected the 

quality of its support, Leitzel said. In fact, 

having an entire staff of human resources 

specialists at their disposal means the 

agencies get quality support when they 

need it most, she said.
Loglines O March - April 2015 9

 “We have found over the course 

of time that our customers have peaks 

and valleys in their missions,” she said. 

“Luckily, they have those peaks and 

valleys at different times, so we are able to 

leverage resources across the organization 

to help when they hit.”

Servicing so many different 

organizations can sometimes be 

challenging, Cromer said. Standardizing 

support to fit within DLA’s negotiated 

service level agreement requires some 

work, because each organization has its 

own unique policies and practices and 

DLA wants to provide each with the 

most comprehensive support possible. 

However, working closely with customers 

and customizing support to fit their 

needs keep the human resources services 

running smoothly, she said. 

Working with federal agencies 

outside of DoD would potentially bring 

new challenges, like trying to grant 

these agencies access to DLA’s human 

The DoD Customers organization 

reached full operating capacity in 

fiscal 2011, Cromer said. Since then, 

it has been reaping benefits for its 

customers. Since reaching full operating 

capacity, the organization has reduced 

human resources servicing costs to its 

customers by more than $10 million, she 

said, a savings that shows potential for 

future federal partners.

“DLA Human Resources as a service 

provider has saved the Department of 

Defense over $10 million by providing 

efficient, cost-effective human resources 

services,” she said. “The expectation is 

partnering with other federal agencies 

would yield savings to those agencies 

and, in turn, the federal government.” 

resources systems, Cromer said, but 

the agency’s experience with DoD 

organizations has prepared it to find just 

these kind of solutions. 

The DoD Customers organization 

has been up and running since 2007, 

and now the support comes across 

pretty seamlessly, Leitzel said. But in 

the beginning, the office had to be built 

from the ground up, and talent had to 

be developed from within. When the 

office was established after BRAC 2005 

implementation, DLA was able to get 

some experienced employees from 

surrounding federal agencies. But for the 

most part, it capitalized on entry-level 

employees and interns who were trained 

and mentored to become the seasoned 

staff they are today. As new agencies 

brought their business to DLA, there 

was a short transition period while new 

partnerships were developed, but after 

a few months, things began operating 

efficiently, she said. 

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, left, listens 

to a briefing about prosthetics technology from 

representatives from the Defense Advanced 

Research Projects Agency at the Pentagon. 

DARPA is one of the Defense Department 

organizations DLA supports with human 

resources services.

Marine Corps Sgt. Aaron Hostutler
10 www.dla.mil

Providing Support to Federal Agencies

FUELING 
Loglines O March - April 2015 11

hen it comes to supplying 

fuel, Defense Logistics Agency 

Energy is a $17 billon sales 

machine, accounting for half 

of DLA’s total sales in fiscal 

2014 alone. While most of that fuel went 

to the agency’s military customers, almost 

$1 billion worth headed to more than 

2,000 locations worldwide to support 

federal civilian customers.

According to federal regulations, 

federal agencies are directed to use 

DLA Energy when their annual fuel 

requirements exceed 10,000 gallons 

a year, but they also use DLA Energy 

for quantities less than that amount. 

DLA Energy can offer many benefits to 

federal customers, namely lowered costs, 

transparency and agility, DLA Energy 

Commander Air Force Brig. Gen. Mark 

McLeod told federal representatives at a 

Dec. 15 summit. 

“The [Department of Defense] and the 

federal government point you towards us 

as a provider, but what we want to do is 

make this mutually beneficial,” he said. 

“Come to us and let us help. We cover 

about 75 percent of the workload from the 

federal government agencies right now, 

and I think there are ways that we can 

close that gap.”

Establishing partnerships with federal 

agencies isn’t new to DLA Energy. In 

fact, DLA Energy and its predecessor 

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 FEDERAL EFFORTS

NOAA Photo

Story by Amanda Neumann

A National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration navigation response team 

surveys the water around New York’s Liberty 

Island. In fiscal 2014, more than $1 billion worth 

of DLA Energy’s fuel sales were to federal 

agencies like NOAA, which uses DLA Energysupplied fuel for its ships.
12 www.dla.mil

Providing Support to Federal Agencies

One of the best examples of DLA Energy’s 

immediate fuel support lies with the 

Federal Emergency Management Agency, 

the lead agency for the federal government 

supporting natural and man-made disasters in 

the continental United States.

DLA Energy Commander Air Force Brig. 

Gen. Mark McLeod spoke of the partnership to 

federal representatives at a Dec. 15 summit at 

the McNamara Headquarters Complex.

“With FEMA, it’s the ability to plan forward,” 

he said. “By putting in the advanced fuel storage 

locations, if we ever get another super storm in 

the northeast, we’ve got the ability to have quick 

access to that fuel at multiple locations and 

support them in contingency operations. That’s 

the ‘new’ way of thinking about how to prepare 

across the whole of government. We’re all 

logisticians; we all think about our own collective 

responsibilities in the same way. Think of us 

though as a means of unleashing a much larger 

capability to support those sorts of things.”

The interagency agreement between DLA 

and FEMA was established after Hurricane 

Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005. The two 

agencies realized there were duplicate efforts 

and little coordination or communication for 

disaster relief support. DLA’s 18 distribution 

centers and quick turnaround times were an 

asset when supplies, equipment and especially 

fuel were needed to supplement FEMA’s stock.

In 2012, DLA continued its support on two 

more FEMA emergency disaster relief efforts. In 

August, DLA provided fuel and meals to FEMA 

in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaac. In October, 

through a ground fuel contingency contract, 

DLA Energy provided 10.2 million gallons of 

fuel to support FEMA when Hurricane Sandy hit 

the East Coast. That year, DLA provided more 

than $58 million worth of disaster relief support, 

including food and fuel, to FEMA.

In fiscal 2014, DLA’s support to state 

and local governments and federal agencies, 

including FEMA, totaled more than $183 million. 

— Amanda Neumann

Contingency Fuel Support

organizations have provided contract 

support for fuel since before World 

War II, said Marc McConahy, chief of 

the customer relationship management 

division in DLA Energy.

“Since the 1930s, we’ve accepted and 

contracted for federal agency fuel requirements with a minimum of paperwork,” he 

said. “We’ve accepted these requirements 

“There are lots of reasons we’re doing 

formal agreements now, but it’s namely 

for auditability purposes,” he said. “Plus, 

we get down to the details on who is 

going to do the work, at what level in that 

customer organization it will be done at 

and how we want to do the billing.” 

DLA doesn’t require agreements with 

all agencies, McConahy noted. Agencies 

that are funded by DoD, like the National 

Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, are 

directed to use DLA by DoD regulation 

for their supplies and services and don’t 

require formal agreements.

Agreements can last for up to nine 

years and have to be reviewed annually, 

McConahy said, adding that oftentimes, 

several agreements are in place with the 

same federal department simultaneously.

“I try to get national agreements 

signed whenever possible; however, 

federal agencies are organized much 

differently from DLA and much differently 

from each other,” he said. “Some have 

centralized processes while others, for 

example, the Department of Interior, defer 

to their bureaus, like the Fish and Wildlife 

Service, the National Park Service, 

etc. Each of those bureaus gets its own 

appropriation from Congress and allocates 

that funding further down, so basically, 

I’m following the money, and I have 

to work my way down from bureaus to 

regions and then to sites for agreements.”

So far, more than 40 agreements 

have been signed between DLA Energy 

and federal agencies that want to receive 

fuel products, McConahy said. Federal 

agencies use DLA’s external business 

web tools to place fuel orders and record 

accepted delivery, which ensures an 

appropriate audit trail for both DLA and 

its customers.

“Our largest non-DoD customer is the 

U.S. Postal Service,” he said. “We estimate 

their requirements to be around 49 

million gallons annually, supporting 200 

locations where deliveries will go directly 

to USPS-owned tanks that dispense to 

their delivery vehicles, like the ones that 

on a worksheet, by email, and by fax; we’ve 

successfully done business informally like 

this for years.”

Today, with new federal acquisition 

regulations and audit readiness responsibilities, the agency is entering into formal 

fuel purchase agreements with federal 

partners, helping firm up relationships and 

support obligations, McConahy said.

Army Sgt. Rockieve Givian, a petroleum specialist, fills a truck at a fueling point at Joint 

Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, during relief efforts for Hurricane Sandy. Thanks 

to an interagency agreement, DLA Energy can quickly supply fuel to the Federal Emergency 

Management Agency during disaster relief operations to help meet requirements.

Army Sgt. Ferdinand Detres Jr.
Loglines O March - April 2015 13

come by your house; heating fuel when 

needed; and their vehicle maintenance 

facilities around the country.” 

The Department of Interior is the next 

largest federal agency, with 37 million 

gallons annually in direct vendor fuel 

deliveries, McConahy said, and DLA 

also supplies about 60 percent of the 

Department of Justice’s requirements, 

with plans to expand that support.

Another part of DLA Energy’s 

business with federal customers involves 

the sale of fuel for planes and ships, 

McConahy said.

“If they want to land at a military 

base, they can use the [Aviation IntoPlane Reimbursement] card to get 

fuel,” he said. “They can also use all 

of our contracted into-plane refueling 

locations, like at Chicago O’Hare 

or Dulles, and they can land at any 

commercial location that will accept an 

AIR Card for payment. Most of the fuel 

for ships goes to the Navy, obviously, but 

we also support [the National Oceanic 

and Atmospheric Administration], the 

Coast Guard and others.”

With the recent integration of DLA 

Energy into the Enterprise Business 

System, DLA’s primary financial system, 

fuel support has become easier to 

manage, McConahy said. EBS allows 

DLA to aggregate all the requirements of 

DoD and federal customers, consolidate 

federal purchase requirements, attract 

more vendors and allow for better volume 

pricing, he said, which is a “win-win” for 

all DLA customers.

“Until EBS came along, we had no 

standardized, automated mechanism 

to recover costs, so EBS is the key to 

successfully rolling out this program,” 

he said. “Now we have a more robust 

supply chain management system, and it 

gives us the ability to track the contract 

performance and sales and assess or 

optimize the supply chains that lead 

to improvements in many areas from 

execution to oversight. We can see what the 

customer is doing and how much they’re 

using the contract. [Federal agencies] 

have the same visibility at all levels in their 

organizations. So there are factors in place 

that were never there before.”

With more than 730 unique federal 

installations, each site can have multiple 

delivery locations and fuel product 

requests, McConahy said. 

“We support some sites for the 

Federal Aviation Administration in 

Alaska that are unmanned,” he said. 

“The only way you can get fuel to them 

is by plane, and the resupply is subject 

to the weather. In the Grand Canyon, 

we have multiple delivery points. Every 

site that we support, federal or military, 

is unique, so it’s crucial that we tailor 

the requirements very specifically to the 

Aone-time fuel resupply to the remote 

Midway Islands is a prime example of DLA 

Energy’s ability to provide fuel anytime, 

anywhere to federal customers, in this case the 

U.S. Coast Guard, said Marc McConahy, chief of 

the customer relationship management division 

in DLA Energy.

“We’re commonly refueling the Coast Guard, 

because they come to us for their fuel,” he said. 

“This is a long-term relationship. We’ve had 

agreements with them for more than 20 years.” 

Even though the Coast Guard is part of 

the Department of Homeland Security, it is 

supported in much the same manner as the 

military services, McConahy said. 

Up until December 2014, fuel going to the 

Coast Guard site at Midway was provided by 

DLA Energy and transported to the islands by 

the Fish and Wildlife Service via cargo barge, 

McConahy said. But when the Fish and Wildlife 

Service was unable to assist with fuel delivery, 

DLA stepped in, because distribution is part of 

its partnership with the Coast Guard, he said.

“Getting fuel to Midway is particularly 

challenging,” he said. “It’s 1,300 miles from 

the nearest source of fuel, you can only get 

fuel there using 5,000 gallon containers, 

environmental regulations limit delivery to 

42,000 gallons, and the barges capable of safely 

reaching Midway are few. So the scheduling is 

quite difficult. Plus, it takes 10 days for the barge 

to get there and 10 days for it to return. There 

is a lot of coordination needed internally and 

externally to accomplish this mission.”

The resupply, completed in January, 

brought the Coast Guard back to its normal 

inventory level and helped fulfill a unique 

mission for DLA Energy. 

— Amanda Neumann

Supporting the Coast Guard

customer’s location and needs.”

With sales to the military declining 

due to budget constraints, federal 

agencies can help DLA Energy recoup 

some of its lost business, McConahy said.

“In the next couple of years, 

[military] sales are clearly going to be 

down, but we’re getting new federal 

customers all the time,” he said. “Overall, 

the annual value of these [federal] 

contracts exceeds $670 million. So from 

that standpoint, it makes up a little bit 

for our loss of DoD sales. We tell federal 

agencies, ‘We’re here to support you.’ We 

know our EBS process works for about 

3,000 military line items quite well, so 

we’re just working to carry that success 

through to the federal agencies.” 

In January, DLA Energy made a one-time fuel delivery to the remote Midway Islands in support 

of the Coast Guard. The islands, located in the Pacific Ocean, are 1,300 miles from the nearest 

source of fuel, making delivery challenging. 

NASA Photo
14 www.dla.mil

Providing Support to Federal Agencies

QUENCHING THE FL

Story by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Daniel Garas Story by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Daniel Garas

A
Loglines O March - April 2015 15

ith 3.4 million acres burned at 

a cost of more than $1.7 billion 

in 2014, wildfires pose a serious 

threat to the citizens and 

wildlife of the U.S. The job of 

managing the national logistics for fighting 

these fires falls to the National Interagency 

Support Cache system at the National 

Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. 

The NISC provides a variety of 

specialized equipment, including 

medical supplies, firefighting tools and 

protective gear.

Ensuring the NISC warehouses are 

properly supplied with the necessary 

equipment rests with the Defense 

Logistics Agency. DLA is usually known 

for supplying the military, but by 

supplying the federal, state and local 

wildland fire agencies, the agency is 

showing new customers that it caters to 

more than the Defense Department.

“Whatever they need from DLA, it’s 

my job to find answers for them,” said 

Chris Stephens, the DLA liaison officer 

to the U.S. Forest Service. “If they have 

questions, it’s my job to walk the halls and 

make the contacts to get them solutions.”

Stephens said that the program 

began after the General Services 

Administration discontinued warehousing 

and distribution services for the Forest 

Service, other federal agencies, and state 

and local cooperators in April 2014. 

Due to a joint DLA/GSA decision, the 

NISC was in need of a supplier for the 

upcoming fire season and worked hard to 

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Firefighters work on a burning operation at the Rim Fire in the Stanislaus National Forest in 

California in 2013. The National Interagency Fire Center’s current strategy is to store most of 

its inventory in the western U.S. where wildfires are prevalent, so it can be closer to firefighters 

on the ground. These stores can be augmented around the clock by DLA’s JLOC. 

— Photo by Mike McMillan, U.S. Forest Service

facilitate a smooth transition with DLA. 

By June, GSA transferred responsibility 

for the management of more than 5,000 

items, including hoses, hose couplings, 

firefighting gear, uniforms, helmets, 

batteries and all kinds of tools to DLA.

“We never dealt with an agency with 

the size, scope and capability of DLA,” 

said Matthew Cnudde, deputy branch 

chief of equipment and chemicals for the 

NIFC. “Even though it’s difficult to make 

changes, [DLA] has the resources to do 

things that we are excited about pursuing, 

such as research and development.”

In June, Army Col. Eric Sloughfy, chief 

of DLA’s Joint Logistics Operation Center, 

said that DLA’s partnership with NIFC 

was an ideal match, because DLA provides 

24/7 support through its customer 

interaction center and the JLOC to 

respond to emergencies quickly and assist 

with monitoring high-priority requisitions.

That same month, members of DLA 

Logistics Operations traveled to Boise 

to gain a better understanding of NIFC’s 

logistical needs and tour its facilities.

David Kless, DLA Logistics 

Operations’ national account manager 

for federal and international programs, 

said the meeting was crucial for both 

organizations to plan for success. 

Additionally, he said, the process of 

transferring control of supplying and 

then integrating two existing systems 

to perform a task as complex as fighting 

wildfires was no easy assignment.

“Other federal agencies have 
16 www.dla.mil

Providing Support to Federal Agencies

DLA’s solution, while unorthodox, 

demonstrated a new level of flexibility, 

Stephens said. More importantly, he 

noted, it worked. That season, DLA was 

able to fulfill the Forest Service’s needs 

and identify several useful lessons to help 

improve the partnership going into 2015.

During the off season in 2015, NISC 

employees will begin extensive EMALL 

training provided by DLA. The training 

will allow them to navigate the system 

effectively and will give them greater 

autonomy, Stephens said. 

After working out the technical issues 

with EMALL, another challenge DLA faced 

was stockpiling equipment and applying a 

customer-service approach that would fit 

NISC’s unique supply chain model.

Cnudde said he believes the difference 

in the business model was probably the 

most difficult thing for DLA to adjust 

to. The NISC employs a use/reuse 

philosophy, meaning that what is issued 

to each incident gets returned. If items 

are serviceable, they are refurbished and 

repacked after each fire. 

“There is complexity in managing the 

internal policies that differ from those 

of the Defense Department, so making 

the cultural translation will have its 

challenges,” Kless said. “Meeting with 

the Forest Service gives us a much 

better appreciation of how they operate, 

ensuring we understand their business 

and meet all expectations.”

The process began with what Stephens 

called a logistics reassignment, where the 

stock numbers from GSA’s inventory were 

transferred to DLA’s system.

“There was quite a bit of material 

transferred from the GSA 

warehouses,” he said. “And, as can 

be expected when organizations as 

diverse as GSA and DLA collaborate, 

there were administrative and 

logistics systems challenges to 

overcome. The two organizations 

met regularly to ensure the 

reassignment effort stayed on track, 

but more importantly, to ensure 

uninterrupted support to the U.S. 

Forest Service and their critical 

mission.” 

Stephens said the U.S. Forest 

Service already operated a highly 

efficient nationwide logistics 

system that met the needs of their 

11 interagency support caches. 

However, because of the rather 

short-notice transition from GSA to 

DLA and the quickly approaching 

2014 fire season, the agency was 

not able to properly equip them 

with essential order fulfillment and asset 

visibility tools like DoD EMALL. 

Leaders from DLA and the U.S. Forest 

Service met regularly and worked to solve 

the problems and develop a plan for a 

way forward, which included developing 

an ordering form directly out of the NISC 

inventory system that could be emailed 

for an efficient process. 

“We had them email their requirements 

to the DLA customer interaction center,” 

Stephens said. “The CIC took the 

extraordinary step of entering all customer 

orders for this program into EMALL.”

A fire crew digs a fire line near Yosemite National Park, 

California. DLA began providing supply and logistics to the 

NIFC after the GSA discontinued warehousing and distribution 

services for the forest service in April 2014.

inventory under our business model, 

but the use and reuse of equipment 

maximizes the life of every piece of 

equipment, which has a significant 

savings to the taxpayer,” Cnudde said. 

To better serve NISC’s stockpiling 

needs, DLA deals directly with supply 

chain leaders and goes through its list of 

equipment individually to verify its needs 

in a process Stephens called crucial. 

“They give us a list of how many 

[items] they want to acquire,” Stephens 

said. “They do this annual collaboration 

with DLA Troop Support and 

specify, based on their past 

history, how many of these 

items that they want us to go out 

and purchase for them.”

The stockpiles align with 

the NISC’s current strategy to 

store most of its inventory in 

the western part of the U.S. 

during wildfire season so it can 

be closer to firefighters on the 

ground. This allows the NISC to 

use DLA as a surge capacity.

With plans in place to tackle 

the 2015 fire season, Stephens 

said the challenges faced in the 

early days of the partnership 

between DLA and NISC are just 

a memory. 

Cnudde agreed, saying he 

was optimistic at the progress 

toward preparations for the 

upcoming fire season after a 

recent meeting.

“DLA Troop Support is working 

very hard to have all the contracts in 

place and all full stocks ready for this 

next fire season,” Cnudde said. “That 

meeting made me feel a lot better about 

where we are.”

Stephens said he believes DLA’s 

partnership with the NISC is a great 

match for long-term success.

“These guys are really passionate 

about the work they do,” Stephens 

said. “It’s good to be able to marry the 

passion of our workforce with theirs.” Army Pfc. Craig Philbrick
Loglines O March - April 2015 17

FROM GUTENBERG 

TO GOOGLE

efense Logistics Agency 

Document Services, part of DLA 

Information Operations, started 

in November 1949 as a print shop 

in the basement of the Pentagon. 

Over 65 years, it has evolved into a 

full-service organization that prints and 

handles documents of all kinds, including 

records management, electronic storage, 

print on demand, traditional bulk printing 

and special printing projects. 

DLA Document Services balances 

meeting customer needs with challenging 

customers to follow industry trends 

in handling documents in an effort to 

provide the best solutions to the Defense 

Department, said Steve Sherman, the 

organization’s director.

Story by Gina Napoli and Amber McSherry 

DLA Document Services

Photos Courtesy DLA Document Services

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 A DLA Document Services production 

worker crops a poster to prepare it for delivery.

 DLA Document Services produces 

documents of all kinds for its customers in 

the Defense Department and throughout the 

federal government.
18 www.dla.mil

Providing Support to Federal Agencies

“For the past decade, we’ve been 

a catalyst for change. We’ve moved 

away from the models of bulk printing 

and warehousing documents to more 

efficient solutions, (such as) electronic 

media repositories, printing on demand, 

document scanning and conversion,” 

Sherman said. 

Over its years serving warfighters and 

federal agencies, DLA Document Services’ 

mission has become part of its customers’ 

process improvement efforts. Team 

members work with customers to learn 

their businesses, improve the quality of 

their products and reduce their costs.

Headquartered in Mechanicsburg, 

Pennsylvania, DLA Document Services 

has 140 facilities co-located with its 

customers on military bases worldwide, 

allowing the organization to respond 

quickly to customer needs and offer 

customers shorter order lead times. 

“The armed services use Document 

Services to do what it does best, printing 

and implementing document solutions, so 

that its customers can focus on what they 

“The Marine Corps Ball 

programs for Recruiting Station 

New Jersey were phenomenal! 

Once again, thanks for the great 

work – well ahead of our deadline, 

and very good looking results.”

Customer Testimonials

“I have been working on Keesler 

AFB since 1992 and using DLA 

Document Services through 

all those years. I have always 

received great service. Lately 

over the last year or so, the service has risen to an outstanding 

level of service! Please recognize and commend the team for 

their quality work and quick 

response time. They have been 

top-notch!”

“I have used several DLA 

Document Services shops, and I 

have been very pleased with the 

level of professionalism, support 

and service.”

“I have had great support from 

DLA Document Services at 

Ramstein Air Base. They have 

gone the extra mile to assist 

and make sure my jobs get done 

HIÀFLHQWO\VRPHWLPHVZLWKD

very quick turnaround. Kudos 

to them.”

“[Our points of contact at 

DLA Document Services] 

have provided excellent 

service to the MA205 team 

this semester. Every print 

request has been completed 

and ready for pick-up in 

a timely manner, and they 

have been wonderful to work 

with. Keep up the good work 

and support you provide us. 

We greatly appreciate it.”

th

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w A DLA Document Services production worker 

at the Travis Air Force Base, California, facility 

creates a sign using a large-format printer.

The DLA Document Services White House production facility workers put together copies of 

President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address to Congress. DLA Document Services 

printed 2,200 copies of the address in saddle-stitched, blue-bordered covers for distribution to 

Capitol Hill. 

U.S. Military Academy

Army 409th Contracting Support Brigade

Navy Strategic Systems Programs

Air Force 333d Training Squadron

Marine Corps
Loglines O March - April 2015 19

need to do,” Sherman said. “Documents 

are a common requirement throughout 

all DoD organizations. As the needs of 

federal agencies have changed, Document 

Services has progressively increased the 

insertion of technology, with always the 

same reliable customer service.”

Customer policies from all branches 

of the military drive DLA Document 

Services’ large business initiatives, 

including a partnership with the military 

services to provide all-in-one office 

document devices for copiers, printers, 

scanners and fax machines.

“Working with Navy program 

managers, early adopters are optimizing 

equipment inventories and saving 

money,” said John Peterson, DLA 

Document Services Business and Field 

Division director. “We’ve already saved 

the Navy, which includes the U.S. Marine 

Corps, an estimated $30.5 million over 

the last three years. We have completed 

200 assessments for the Navy. By the 

time we’re 100 percent, we forecast 

a savings to the Navy of $183 million 

through 2019.” 

Serving the military presents a unique 

For more information about DLA Document Services, 

call the 24-hour DLA Customer Support Center at 1-877-327-7226. 

set of requirements, Sherman said. Many 

of DLA Document Services’ print products 

are specifically designed to accompany 

troops wherever they deploy. Specialty 

items are printed on waterproof paper 

with sturdy binding and lamination.

“For our troops, having the most 

up-to-date information is critical. Printing 

maps on demand is a good example of 

this,” Sherman said. 

DLA Document Services has 

also been working with the National 

Geospatial-Intelligence Agency 

to develop products and baseline 

specifications for the aeronautical, 

topographical, digital and hydrographic 

maps the military needs. Other major 

partners in the initiative include DLA 

Aviation and DLA Distribution.

One high-visibility aspect of the 

support offered by Document Services 

is the print production shop located 

on the White House campus, which 

serves as “The President’s Printer”. For 

36 years higher-visibility documents, 

including the State of the Union address, 

presidential travel itineraries, formal 

invitations, ceremonial programs and 

presidential proclamations have been 

printed by DLA. 

DLA Document Services provides these additional services:

Document Services Online

— provides an online customer ordering interface allowing users to 

design job specifications, submit document files, proof jobs before final 

submission and receive cost estimates prior to finalizing orders. 

The Electronic Document Management Program

— uses electronic libraries to process, store, retrieve and manage 

information. DLA Document Services provides clients with server or 

web-based EDM solutions as part of customer solutions packages.

These solutions offer numerous capabilities including records 

management, email archiving, workflow, knowledge management, 

document management, indexing, search and retrieval, security, 

distribution, and document scanning. 

Equipment Management Solutions 

— offer all-in-one multi-functional devices that serve as copiers, 

fax machines, printers and scanners. These devices eliminate and 

consolidate unneeded standalone devices, reduce energy consumption 

and space, and use common toner replacements.

ONLINE DOCUMENT

MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS
20 www.dla.mil

Providing Support to Federal Agencies

eeping DLA customers supplied 

with the proper oils, lubricants 

and gases can be a slippery job. 

Few people understand this as well 

as James Beasley, the integrated 

supplier team leader of DLA Aviation’s 

recycled oils program and manager of the 

gas cylinder and chemical programs.

The programs, open to civilian 

and military agencies, organize and 

manage various contracts to ensure oils, 

petroleum, gases and cylinders get to DLA 

customers around the world. 

“Working in the program, you 

understand the importance of it,” Beasley 

said. “None of those aircraft or vehicles 

could operate without multiple items on 

this contract.” 

The programs are a result of a 

recommendation from the 2005 Base 

Realignment and Closure Act, which 

advocated the privatization of the supply, 

storage and distribution for chemicals, 

packaged petroleum, oils and lubricants. 

The report determined that privatizing 

these functions would allow DLA to focus 

its logistics infrastructure and extend 

its support to customers outside of the 

Defense Department.

“All of the storage and overhead 

costs are now managed by contractors,” 

Beasley said. “They’re responsible for 

the demand forecasting, transportation 

and warehousing.”

Having private firms absorb these 

costly and time-consuming tasks allows 

DLA to concentrate on more direct 

customer support, Beasley said. The 

variety of the products available in the 

program allows for customers in a variety 

of industries, he added.

Story by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Daniel Garas

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“With these types of items, it’s 

really for any customer located in any 

location,” he said. “This program supports 

all military services and also includes 

support to the FBI and post offices.”

Closed Loop,

Re-Recycled Oil Program

DLA’s closed loop re-recycled oil 

program, in which the pick-up and delivery 

of the oil is all handled by the agency, is one 

example of this directed support.

“Whether it’s a Mine Resistant Ambush 

Protected vehicle or anything else, it’s going 

to have oil in it,” Beasley said. 

Beasley explained that the idea behind 

the program is to provide a pick-up 

service that will re-refine oil so it can be 

used over again by customers, thereby 

cutting costs and saving on waste.

“When the used engine oil is 

picked up, it’s returned to the vendor’s 

production facilities for re-refining 

purposes, and then used as part of 

the new engine oil, which is required 

to contain a minimum of 25 percent 

re-refined content,” Beasley said. 

“Basically, it’s recycling oil.”

The program is specifically designed 

for stateside customers and includes 25 

different engine oils. 

Due to the massive amount of 

vehicles used by DoD and DLA’s civilian 

customers, the savings for the program 

can be significant, Beasley said. 

Twenty-five percent of the oil 

contains recovered material, and aside 

from the environmental benefits, using 

private firms for the collection and 

storage of the oil takes the burden off 

the customers.

WELL-OILED MACHIN
Loglines O March - April 2015 21

INE

Army Spc. Richard R. Pacheco, a member of the 602nd 

Mechanic Company based at Fort Hood, Texas, changes 

the oil in a Humvee. DLA’s closed loop re-recycled oils 

program provides customers a pick up service that will 

refine the oil so it can be used over again, cutting costs 

and saving on waste. 

— Photo by Army Sgt. Brian Barbour
22 www.dla.mil

Providing Support to Federal Agencies

Chemical/Petroleum Oils 

Lubricants Program

Another chemical, petroleum and 

oils support contract performs a similar 

service in which customers can order 

more than just motor oil. 

Under the Chem/POL contract, 

customers worldwide can order thousands 

of items, including antifreezes, weapon 

lubricants, dust control agents, de-icing 

fluids, screen cleaner and detergents.

“On the chemical petroleum contract, 

there are over 4,600 items on it,” 

Beasley said. “It has an order volume of 

approximately 10,000 orders per month.”

While not a closed loop program, 

customers around the world are 

still able to place orders and receive 

them within one to three days, 

he said. Last year, out of 133,000 

requisitions, DLA was able to fill 

more than 96 percent of all orders 

within that timeframe. 

Gas Cylinder Program

DLA customers ordering compressed gas and cylinders receive 

similar benefits.

Like the re-recycled oils program, the gas cylinder program is 

closed loop and provides a variety of 

gasses used in industrial applications, such as nitrogen or oxygen, 

and chemicals such as refrigerants.

“A benefit to the program 

is that it reduces a customer’s supply 

management tasks and their storage 

footprint,” said Marie Harrison, DLA 

Aviation’s contracting officer for the gas 

cylinder program. “The deliveries are fast, 

and the pricing is better.”

Customers benefit from higher 

quality products, Harrison said, because 

commercial products may be unreliable or 

substandard. For example, several years 

ago some refrigerant on the market had 

contaminants that could explode under 

certain conditions, she said. 

To ensure the safety and quality of 

DLA stock, refrigerants used by agency 

customers pass quality control inspections.

“If you’re going outside [DLA], who 

ask the customers to check up on it,” 

Harrison said. “They’re good at keeping 

track of the demands of the customer.”

With such a variety of applications 

and service options, Harrison said, the 

program is in widespread use with the 

Army, Navy and Air Force. The service 

isn’t exclusive to the military, however. 

Any federal customer can simply sign 

up for the service on the DLA Aviation 

website, she said. 

“Anybody can order it,” Harrison said. 

“It’s just a matter of if they want to get on 

board and use the service or not.”

Beasley said the same of the closed 

loop re-refined oil program and chemical 

and petroleum contracts, where 

customers simply log on to the 

DoD Electronic Mall, or EMALL, 

and order the service with the 

same process they use to order any 

item off the system.

Supporting multiple customers 

around the globe requires a vast 

support network, Beasley said. For 

problems that can’t be resolved 

over the phone through customer 

support, DLA solves the issue 

with site visits. DLA has provided 

site visits to assist customers 

supporting U.S. Central 

Command as far away as Dubai 

when requested, he noted.

“If we get a customer that has 

questions about the program, it’s 

not uncommon for us to set up a site visit 

and have somebody from DLA go there, figure out the problem, resolve it and answer 

whatever questions the customer has,” 

Beasley said. “So we definitely have a pretty 

extensive customer outreach program.”

Both Beasley and Harrison said that 

providing world-class customer support 

is just part of the DLA mission. Despite 

providing what Beasley called the “less 

glamorous” items, he maintains that he 

can sense the importance of what his 

team delivers to the mission during times 

of emergency. 

“Everybody here knows what they do 

and understands the impact,” he said. 

“We definitely try our hardest.” 

knows what you’re getting?” Harrison said.

DLA’s gas cylinder program also 

provides a solution for a major problem 

facing many customers: inventory 

warehousing and management.

One of the program highlights is the 

pickup and delivery of cylinders, which 

is designed to be mutually beneficial, 

Harrison explained. 

Cylinders owned by the government 

and used by customers stay in circulation, 

and their collection allows businesses 

to side-step the storage fees and costs 

associated with ownership, she said. 

Because the cylinders are government 

property, they are available without 

rental fees that are common in the private 

sector, she noted. 

“If they return the cylinders, they 

don’t need to waste space housing the 

empty ones,” she said. “And it reduces the 

need to have safety stock on hand.”

Harrison added that this system 

eliminates the complexity of managing 

hundreds of cylinders and spending vast 

sums of money to acquire stockpiles. 

The firms using DLA’s program even 

learn customers’ requirements and note 

unusual order discrepancies that could 

lead to incorrect orders or expensive 

mistakes, she said.

“If they see something that’s very 

unusual, they’re going to come back and 

Bruce Cummins

Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Clint Guernsey, leading petty officer 

for the Hyperbarics Department at Naval Aerospace Medical 

Institute, moves gas cylinders during a research project. DLA’s 

gas cylinder program provides a variety of gasses and chemicals.
A Conversation with . . .

Loglines O March - April 2015 23

How have you seen DLA’s partnerships with federal agencies outside 

DoD grow and expand since starting 

in your position?

DLA’s partnerships with federal 

agencies outside of DoD have grown 

significantly since 2011. Initially, DLA’s 

primary federal agency customer was 

the Federal Emergency Management 

Agency and, to some extent, the U.S. 

Coast Guard. DLA has had a great 

relationship with FEMA since Hurricane 

Katrina in supporting disaster relief 

victims with food and fuel. The Coast 

Guard has been a customer of DLA for 

David Kless

David Kless

Dla Logistics Operations’ National Account Manager for Federal and International Programs Discusses the Agency’s 

Partnerships with Federal Agencies.

several years, but limited primarily to 

ordering repair parts common to our 

DoD customers.

I guess you could say success 

breeds success, because since 2011, 

DLA has expanded support far beyond 

these two agencies. Within FEMA, 

we are starting to look at additional 

capabilities that DLA can provide to 

ensure FEMA is successful, to include 

providing additional commodities such 

as water. In addition, we are looking at 

warehousing and distribution solutions 

enabling FEMA to focus on its core 

competencies. For the Coast Guard, 

we are in the process of transferring 

inventory management of all serviceunique consumables, leveraging DLA’s 

existing capabilities. In addition, we see 

several other opportunities that may 

benefit the Coast Guard.

In addition to these two 

partnerships, DLA now has formal 

agreements with the U.S. Department 

of Agriculture, the General Services 

Administration, the Department of 

Homeland Security, the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers, the Department 

of State, and the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration. We are 

also finalizing an agreement with the 

Department of Health and Human 

Services to support its medical caches 

and other medical requirements. 

Additionally, our customer base has 

expanded, and DLA is now the source of 

supply for the Veterans Administration, 

the U.S. Forest Service and the FBI. 

We are also working closely with the 

Transportation Security Administration, 

the U.S. Secret Service, Customs and 

Border Patrol, the American Red Cross, 

and the Environmental Protection 

Agency for opportunities to help them 

become more effective and efficient. 

What do you think are the most 

important or relevant capabilities 

DLA can bring to non-DoD federal 

agencies?

DLA has a lot of logistics capacity 

and capability that is applicable to 

more than just our traditional DoD 

customers. What we are finding 

through our engagements with the 

Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Daniel Garas
A Conversation with . . .

24 www.dla.mil

federal agencies is that they have 

similar logistics issues. Using a whole 

of government approach, we focus on 

leveraging existing DLA capabilities 

wherever possible to avoid duplicative 

processes and independent solutions. 

DLA’s core competencies include 

acquisition, cataloging, inventory 

management, warehousing, 

distribution and disposition. In today’s 

fiscally constrained environment, it 

only makes sense that we leverage 

this expertise and these competencies 

across the entire federal government. 

What is the greatest success 

story you have seen in DLA’s 

partnerships with and support of 

federal agencies?

Everyone remembers the 

unparalleled support DLA provided 

the survivors of Hurricane Sandy. DLA 

provided fuel and commodities support 

to survivors in the impacted area and 

worked closely with FEMA and other 

federal agencies on providing multiple 

commodity support to first responders, 

crisis action teams, etc. The efforts 

during Sandy demonstrated DLA’s 

capabilities far beyond the traditional 

support and have been a catalyst in 

expanding DLA’s customer base. 

Recently, we transferred via logistics 

reassignment over 5,000 line items 

of hazardous material and Wildland 

Fire Protection Program items from 

GSA to DLA. We were able to meet an 

accelerated timeline because of a lot 

of hard work and coordinated effort 

across the entire agency. The successful 

transfer enabled GSA to meet all their 

milestones associated with closing 

their western and eastern distribution 

centers. Additionally, in concert with the 

logistics reassignment, we established 

a customer account manager position 

and assumed overall Wildland Fire 

Protection Program management from 

GSA. Today, DLA is responsible for 

supporting over 30,000 firefighters 

around the country.

What challenges does DLA face in 

working with customers outside 

of DoD? 

DLA has a long history of success 

and is recognized throughout DoD as 

a world-class organization, providing 

logistics support to the military for 

over 50 years. What we have found 

in working with federal agencies 

is the culture is different, not only 

compared to DoD, but also among the 

various agencies. Internally to DLA, 

that has forced us to think differently 

and question current processes and 

solutions to see if there is a better, more 

efficient way of doing business. We have 

built a 50-year relationship with the 

military services. However, our current 

models do not always work for new 

customers, and it’s not as easy as just 

expanding our customer base. We have 

had to change processes to ensure we 

can provide the same level of support to 

non-DoD customers that we do to DoD 

customers. At the same time, we have 

to ensure we continue to provide the 

same level of support to our traditional 

DoD customers, meeting all their 

requirements. Our overarching objective 

is to leverage existing capabilities 

wherever possible without any impact to 

DLA’s primary missions.

Additionally, we have faced 

challenges externally as we learn about 

each agency and they learn about DLA. 

Again, the solution is not always forcing 

the new customer to do things the DLA 

way. Sometimes, certain agencies have 

processes and procedures unique to 

their mission, requiring changes on 

our side. The most important thing 

we have found over the past few years 

is developing an initial level of trust 

through open communication and a 

willingness to take the time to learn 

about each other. While initially it may 

appear this new customer is just like our 

traditional customer, the majority of the 

time that is not the case. 

What are the most important 

initiatives you are working on 

with federal agency partners?

We are working many initiatives 

with our federal partners that are 

producing great results. For example, 

the joint GSA-DLA memorandum of 

understanding concentrated on six 

big initiatives focused on leveraging 

the core competencies from each 

organization, avoiding duplicative 

effort wherever possible to ensure a 

more efficient and effective national 

supply system. In addition to the 

transfer of items and the integration of 

the eastern and western distribution 

centers, we are looking at DLA 

direct vendor deliveries as a best 

practice for them to model as well 

as developing a single government 

electronic mall, FedMall. Finally, we 

are reviewing the 1971 agreement 

between DLA and GSA to ensure roles 

and responsibilities are aligned with 

today’s environment, again focused 

on providing the best logistics support 

possible to our customers.

Another initiative is the FEMA 

and DLA joint training agreement 

that enables DLA Distribution’s 

expeditionary capability to train 

multiple times throughout each year on 

the incident support base and forward 

staging areas mission and needs. 

The training provides DLA a better 

understanding of what competencies are 

required during catastrophic events and 

DLA support to FEMA. 

Similar to the GSA’s distribution 

center consolidation into DLA’s 

distribution network, DLA provided 

FEMA a statement of work to 

consider infrastructure consolidation 

with their Moffett Distribution 

Center. There is promising potential 
DLA Public Affairs

Loglines O March - April 2015 25

to incorporate FEMA distribution 

centers into DLA’s distribution 

network as well as consolidation of 

additional FEMA distribution centers 

into DLA infrastructure. 

What is the future vision for DLA’s 

work with federal agencies? Have 

you seen viable progress toward 

that goal?

Our vision moving forward is to 

look at federal agencies the same way 

we look at military services, providing 

them the same level of support by 

leveraging DLA capabilities to solve 

their logistics gaps and issues. Wherever 

possible, we want to avoid duplicate 

effort across the federal government 

and enable each organization to focus 

time and resources on their respective 

core competencies. As I mentioned 

earlier, we have to also ensure there is 

no impact to our primary DoD missions 

or to our DoD customers. 

We recently completed the first-ever 

Value Added Opportunities Summit at 

DLA, where 18 different federal agencies 

attended the all-day event to learn more 

about DLA. The purpose of this event 

was not to sell DLA, but to inform these 

agencies of what DLA does and generate 

a discussion on how DLA may be able to 

solve some of their current problems. 

Historically, what we have found 

is a federal agency will have some level 

of familiarity with DLA and approach 

us with a problem they need help with. 

However, after a couple of meetings and 

in-depth discussions, the customers find 

out more about DLA and realize there 

are other areas where we may be able to 

help them. 

The summit proved to be very 

beneficial to both the federal agencies 

and DLA. The briefings initiated a good 

dialogue that enabled some potential 

new customers to hear from existing 

federal agency customers ways that 

DLA has collaborated with them to help 

develop more efficient and effective 

solutions. It also enabled DLA to hear 

how the federal agencies operate, 

understand their culture and generate 

ideas on how DLA may be able to 

support them, clearly understanding 

current process and policy barriers.

We will continue to strengthen our 

existing relationships with our current 

federal agency partners while also 

reaching out to other federal agencies, 

ensuring they are aware of what DLA 

does and that while we are a DoD 

agency, we have the ability to support 

them. In some cases, it may turn out 

that DLA is not the best solution, but 

until we have that dialogue and discuss 

what is possible, we will never know 

for sure. 

Besides providing supplies and 

equipment, what are some of the 

other ways your office supports 

customers outside of DoD?

In addition to being the source 

of supply for many federal agencies, 

we’ve successfully supported them in 

other ways. For example, we’ve been 

working closely with DHS in support of 

their “Freeze the Footprint” initiative 

to see if they are able to use our excess 

warehouse capacity for many of their 

sub-agencies. Similarly, Customs and 

Border Patrol is looking to DLA as 

a potential option for warehousing 

equipment.

Distribution is a big area of 

opportunity, and we are working 

with several agencies to leverage our 

worldwide distribution capability to 

deliver material to their customers. In 

most cases, the items are still managed 

by the federal agency, but they leverage 

our distribution network instead of 

contracting out individually. 

Recent meetings have also identified 

several opportunities in the area of 

disposition. Federal agencies have 

obsolete or excess equipment, or 

sometimes damaged equipment beyond 

repair. Instead of contracting out to a 

commercial company, we are looking at 

providing that service at a much lower 

cost to the government.

Cataloging and document services 

are other areas where DLA can support 

the federal agencies. Last year, DLA 

assisted the Coast Guard with cataloging 

more than 2,000 items impacting audit 

readiness. In addition, the Coast Guard 

is looking for opportunities to leverage 

DLA Document Services’ capabilities to 

reduce internal costs.

Finally, while DLA Energy provides 

fuel to a large percentage of federal 

agencies, there is interest in expanding 

support to other areas like electricity 

and natural gas. 

How has working with non-DoD 

federal customers benefited DLA?

You would think the answer would 

be increased sales and revenue to DLA. 

While this is true, it is not the biggest 

benefit to DLA. Where I believe the 

biggest benefit to DLA has been is in 

forcing us to look at how we do business 

and see where we can make changes to 

be more efficient and effective. Again, 

most of what we do is in support of 

our DoD customer, the warfighter. 

However, our core competencies and 

logistics solutions are not limited to this 

traditional customer base. I believe we 

owe it to the federal government and 

the taxpayer to do whatever we can 

to reduce overall costs and help make 

federal agencies as efficient and effective 

as possible. 

Over the past three years, I have 

seen this agency change its perspective 

and use the approach of expanding 

our existing capabilities to customers 

throughout the federal government, 

ensuring they have the same level 

and quality of support that our DoD 

customers get, without any impact to 

our DoD customer. 
26 www.dla.mil

new Defense Logistics Agency 

Disposition Services contract 

for auctioning excess wheeled 

vehicles to the public is 

increasing the revenue DLA 

brings in when it sells those vehicles. 

Commercial Venture 4-Rolling Stock, or 

CV4-R, returned more than $3.2 million 

to the agency during its first two months 

of online public auctions.

“The CV4-R contract returns about 

triple the revenue to the government 

than did the previous contract,” said 

DLA Disposition Services Director Mike 

Story by Jake Joy

DLA Disposition Services Public Affairs

n

D

f

v

i

b

A

i i

Cannon. “It is a well-written contract, 

which allows us to leave less money 

on the table for those assets that our 

reutilization, transfer and donation 

customers don’t want.” 

The new contract provided immediate 

dividends when the very first auction of 

“self-propelled, ground-related” items 

with wheels, or rolling stock, in midNovember brought in nearly 450 percent 

more revenue to DLA than it would have 

received under the previous commercial 

venture contract. In total, 95 percent 

of the 167 available items were sold, 

Story by Jake Joy

DLA Disposition Services Public Affairs

‘Rolling’ in Sales

producing 3,400 bids and returning more 

than $750,000 to the agency.

The success continued into December, 

when Humvees were authorized for 

sale to the public. While representing 

a relatively small portion of the rolling 

stock auctioned in December, Humvees 

immediately proved popular, generating 

almost $600,000 from the sale of just 

25 of the rugged off-road vehicles, which 

fetched prices between $21,500 and 

$41,000. Off-roaders and military vehicle 

collectors have made a big deal of the 

Humvee availability. With the potential 

DLA DISPOSITION SERVICES
Loglines O March - April 2015 27

Tom Hamilton

of thousands more Humvees available 

in future auctions, enthusiasts expect a 

cottage industry to spring up around the 

legendary vehicles. 

An estimated 97 percent of the 

available rolling stock items offered 

during an early January auction sold. 

Those 333 items generated revenue of 

$1.6 million, more than $1.3 million of 

which was returned to DLA. As of midJanuary, more than 4,250 items worth 

$250 million had already been transferred 

to the contract holder for auction.

“What this means for us is that we 

are operating way more effectively. What 

this means for the services is that they 

will have to pay us less to dispose of 

assets,” Cannon said. “We’ll continue to 

work with the services and the contractor 

to synchronize our disposal efforts to 

maximize our return from this contract. 

We’ll get lots of cooperation because when 

we benefit, everybody else does, too. It’s a 

beautiful thing.”

 The previous contract — which 

allowed DLA to sell used and excess goods 

that DoD, federal and state agencies, and 

qualified recipients didn’t want — expired 

in December. Agency officials began 

planning for a contract transition two 

years prior. Then-DLA Director Navy 

Vice Adm. Mark Harnitchek directed an 

evaluation by an outside government 

consulting firm. The study recommended 

ways to structure future contracts to 

increase competition and return more 

money to the government, including the 

splitting of rolling and non-rolling stock 

into two contracts, CV4 and CV4-R.

DLA Disposition Services hosted live 

auctions for those separate contracts at its 

headquarters in Battle Creek, Michigan, 

in early April. The auctions were the first 

of their kind in DLA’s 16-year history 

of usable property term sales, and they 

represented just one way the agency 

continually improves its contracting 

processes, said DLA Disposition Services 

Customer Support Director Tina Aldrich.

IronPlanet Inc. emerged as the 

apparent high bidder for CV4-R with its 

offer to return 75.29 percent of rolling 

stock gross proceeds back to DLA, in 

addition to paying a percentage of the 

original acquisition cost of rolling items 

upon receipt. The firm was awarded the 

contract in July.

The company said it performs 

a 70-point inspection, provides an 

abundance of pictures and gives a 

guarantee to potential customers on the 

condition of equipment.

“They stand behind their description, which really raises the value of 

an item,” said Keith Jepsen, DLA sales 

contracting officer.

According to contract officials, CV4-R 

will remain in effect for two years, with 

another four 1-year extensions that DLA 

may offer and IronPlanet must accept. The 

firm will receive either 9,000 individual 

items or items whose total original value was 

at least $200 million during each contract 

year. There is no maximum limit to the 

item count or value of stock the firm can 

receive, and there are no contractual time 

requirements for the firm to sell the items.

IronPlanet has handled online 

auctions of used heavy equipment for 

more than a decade and created an online 

marketplace, GovPlanet, to exclusively sell 

the rolling stock it receives from DLA. 

DLA Disposition Services sites 

receive pre-delivery orders each week 

indicating which rolling stock items are 

authorized for transfer to IronPlanet. 

In cases where IronPlanet is allowed to 

sell in place, items are not required to 

be transported before they are sold at 

auction. When items cannot be sold in 

place, DLA personnel prepare them for 

shipment, and IronPlanet arranges to 

have the property transported. 

Greg Grolemund of DLA Disposition Services in Jacksonville, Florida, checks the condition of 

a Humvee that was turned in at Camp Blanding, Florida. The vehicle was among a group that 

were then turned over to IronPlanet to be sold.

Since becoming available for public auction 

in December, Humvees have proved popular, 

generating almost $600,000 in the first round 

of sales.
28 www.dla.mil

he Defense Logistics Agency 

Headquarters Command 

Chaplain’s Office, led by Army 

Chaplain Col. Richard Quinn, is 

known for providing religious 

ministry to employees throughout the 

agency, but it also has a long tradition of 

supporting military chaplains through the 

Ecclesiastical Logistics Supply Program.

“Military chaplains do two things: 

we perform in our faith group tradition 

and we provide for the religious needs 

of our personnel,” Quinn said.

h

H

C

C

T k

The first DLA chaplain, Chaplain Ralph 

Benson, joined the agency in September 

1996 at the request of Army Maj. Gen. 

Ray McCoy, who was the agency’s deputy 

director. An Army billet with the rank of 

colonel, the position and office were created 

to provide ministry to the employees in the 

McNamara Headquarters Complex and the 

thousands of DLA employees worldwide. 

Additionally, the chaplain’s office 

would take responsibility for managing 

ecclesiastical items for the armed forces, 

Quinn said.

At the time, chaplains from each of 

the services purchased supplies from 

various faith group providers.

“We had our own vendors, and we 

were buying commercially,” Quinn said. 

“We weren’t integrated into the system, 

we were outside the system.”

Some chaplain-specific items did 

already have national stock numbers, 

because World War II and Vietnam 

chaplains had specific kits they were given 

to use to minister to troops, Quinn said. 

“There was even an old field pumporgan that we’d had for years and years 

and years in the system,” he noted.

However, it was a big change for DLA 

to take over the Ecclesiastical Logistics 

Supply Program, he stressed. The effort 

included consolidating all branches of 

military chaplain supplies at one location. 

The consolidation allowed the 

chaplains to more easily perform or provide 

for their troops, because they could branch 

DLA’s Ecclesiastical

Logistics Supply Program

Story by Chrissie Reilly, DLA Historian

Lance Cheung

Air Force Rabbi Capt. Sarah D. Schechter leads the evening le’il shabbat service at Lackland Air Force Base’s Airmen Memorial Chapel. DLA Troop 

Support Clothing and Textiles manages about 750 ecclesiastical or religious items for the U.S. military.
Loglines O March - April 2015 29

DLA History Program

and it’s a big kit that contains everything 

needed to hold a Seder meal.” Clothing 

and Textiles puts those together as an 

added service to the armed forces and the 

chaplains who minister to them.

Quinn explained that one of his goals 

for the DLA Headquarters Command 

Chaplain’s Office is to improve the 

ordering system for military chaplains. 

“The ecclesiastical supply piece is 

something that I have an interest in,” 

Quinn said, adding that his office is 

looking to provide “what the current 

generation really needs, as opposed to 

what we’re offering.” 

Charged with maintaining the 

spiritual well-being of troops, as well as 

managing the automated ecclesiastical 

ordering system, the DLA Headquarters 

Command Chaplain’s Office is constantly 

seeking improvement to better serve 

military religious personnel stationed 

around the world. 

out into other faiths, Quinn said. DLA 

became a one-stop shop for registered 

Department of Defense customers to order 

various ecclesiastical and religious supplies. 

That service continues today, and services 

and products are constantly reviewed 

and updated to meet the diverse needs of 

members of the armed forces. 

Since the redesignation of the 

Defense Supply Agency to the Defense 

Logistics Agency in 1977, additional 

modernization, reorganization and 

automation efforts have taken place. One 

of the important commodities managed 

and supplied by DLA to warfighters is 

religious support items. DLA Troop 

Support Clothing and Textiles employees 

ensure service members have everything 

they need for religious observances.

DLA Troop Support Clothing and 

Textiles supplies the uniforms America’s 

warfighters wear every day when they’re 

on duty. The supply chain buys all 

clothing and military equipment for the 

military services and the Coast Guard, 

and their support ranges from socks and 

underwear to body armor and combat 

helmets. This supply chain also provides 

ecclesiastical

items used by 

military service 

chaplains. 

DLA Troop 

Support Clothing 

and Textiles 

manages about 

750 ecclesiastical 

or religious 

items, including 

Christian, 

Jewish and 

Muslim perishable 

items; books; religious medals; and 

clothing. Congregation pews, lecterns, 

religious books and Torah scrolls are 

other examples of the ecclesiastical and 

religious items the supply chain provides. 

Items that are especially critical 

include Jewish and Christian items for 

Passover and Palm Sunday. Preparations 

for spring religious holidays begin months 

in advance. DLA Troop Support Clothing 

and Textiles begins taking orders for 

Easter and Passover activities as early as 

October each year. Employees from DLA 

Troop Support work directly with prime 

vendors to ensure 

orders are processed, 

shipped and delivered 

on time. 

“Kosher and 

Halal meals are 

often thought of as 

ecclesiastical supply 

items by consumers, 

because religion is 

attached to it, but 

they are Class I, 

subsistence,” Quinn 

said. “However, the 

Seder meals, and the Seder kits, which 

one might think is Class I, are still 

provided by Clothing and Textiles. The 

Passover kit has non-edibles along with it, 

Navy Lt. Luke Dundon, a chaplain assigned to 

the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme 

Richard, celebrates Mass for the crew aboard 

the ship in Sasebo, Nagasaki prefecture, 

Japan. Religious support items for the military 

are managed by DLA.

Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Ty C. Connors

Jamie Pitcher

Since 1996, DLA Headquarters has had 

responsibility for managing ecclesiastical 

items for the armed forces.
I AM

My name is: 

Ketwana Wright

I am: 

A contract specialist with DLA Aviation Supplier Operations Directorate, Original 

Equipment Manufacture Division II, Lockheed Martin Integrated Supplier Team.

Describe your job in a sentence: 

I negotiate contracts for sole-source items from Lockheed Martin. This involves 

evaluating alternate offers and ensuring the items procured meet the needs of the 

customer.

How long have you worked for DLA? 

I have been working for DLA for almost three years as a contract specialist. 

What is your favorite thing about working for DLA? 

My favorite aspect about working for DLA is the mission and the people. In this 

environment, you get the total package. My previous Air Force experience taught 

me the importance of DLA and the impact it has on daily missions, and now I see 

it firsthand. Every aspect of DLA has a positive impact on the warfighters’ ability to 

complete the mission. I have a part in that. My leadership is also amazing and very 

much an extension of my family. They make every bad day better and provide the 

motivation to push hard to do your very best. 

What are your best memories of working here? 

Ironically enough, it was a family moment within my division. We were singing 

“Happy Birthday” to my division chief. Because of his height, he stood on a picnic 

table for us to see him. We almost had a slip, trip or fall to report. 

That was a DLA family moment. While deployed to Liberia, I 

interacted with the citizens from a distance. To hear children 

singing, “We love America,” when walking or have individuals 

tell you “thank you” warms the heart and soul. DLA provided 

that opportunity. All of my happy memories come from situations 

like that,where being a part of a team such as DLA, that is also 

family, enables enjoyment, making every moment memorable.

,ŽǁĚŽLJŽƵŵĂŬĞĂĚŝīĞƌĞŶĐĞ͍

I make a difference by holding myself accountable to my 

team. There is no “me” in DLA. I am a part of something larger. 

Keeping my team in mind, I report to work with the mindset of 

doing my best daily to accomplish the mission for the warfighter.

Ketwana Wright