LOGLINES LOGLINES

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY MAY – JUNE 2010

S U P P L Y C H A I N E X C E L L E N C E
DIRECTOR

T

hese are exciting and challenging

times at the Defense Logistics

Agency. The U.S. military buildup is in full swing in Afghanistan, and

warfighters depend every day on the 

work done here at America’s only combat

logistics support agency.

From a military logistics perspective, 

Afghanistan is far more challenging an

environment than Iraq. We have developed capabilities in Iraq that we are now 

leveraging in Afghanistan, but the infrastructure is more austere and the local

economy is not as advanced. Operational 

success hinges on continuous, stable

logistics solutions, which we are working

to provide through the Northern DistriNavy Vice Adm. Alan S. Thompson, SC, USN

Director, Defense Logistics Agency

from the

bution Network. Using this route, we’ve 

been able to get construction materials,

food and spare parts into a land-locked

country. More than 80 percent of the

containers shipped through this passage

have been filled with DLA materials. 

The agency is working to sustain

operating forces in the longer term by

establishing a deployable distribution

center in Kandahar, which should be

fully operational by mid-summer. While 

it will be somewhat rudimentary, it will

have the critical reach-back capability to 

the larger DLA enterprise and access to

the full spectrum of logistics solutions.

Later on we plan to build a warehouse

to stock high-volume, cumbersome and 

heavy items to offset the need for airlift 

into theater.

Afghanistan’s punishing landscape

has tested the durability of many of

our weapon systems, and we are facing

historic demand for parts as vehicles 

and aircraft undergo continuous repair.

Headquarters, Defense Logistics Agency

Office of Strategic Communications

8725 John J. Kingman Road

Suite 2545

Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-6221

703-767-6200

E-mail: loglines@dla.mil

Facebook: www.facebook.com/dla.mil

DLA Director

Navy Vice Adm. Alan S. Thompson

Chief of Staff

Army Brig. Gen. Margaret Boor

Director, Strategic Communications

Douglas Ide

Deputy Director, Strategic Communications

Jack Hooper

Loglines Staff

Managing Editor Kathleen T. Rhem

Editor Heather Athey

Writer Beth Reece

Writer Jonathan Stack

Writer Dianne Ryder

Writer Sara Moore

Layout/Design Paul Henry Crank

Loglines is the authorized publication for the Defense

Logistics Agency’s workforce of federal civilians, activeduty military and Joint Reserve Forces 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 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 following address:

LOGLINES

Official Flagship Publication of the Defense Logistics Agency

DLA is deeply engaged with customers

to ensure helicopters and critical Mine

Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles 

remain mission-ready. All-terrain MRAP

variants, known as M-ATVs, are rolling 

off assembly lines and making their way

to warfighters on the front lines. Because 

the DLA team did such a fantastic job

planning for and sustaining the original

vehicles in Iraq, the Joint Program Office 

has asked we repeat our performance for

the M-ATV. 

More is being demanded of DLA than

at any point in its history, but we have 

the talented team necessary to complete

our mission. This is an opportunity for us

to stretch and demonstrate the flexibility 

warfighters need in Southwest Asia and 

around the globe.

As we move forward, I want to thank 

each team member for their commitment

and dedication to keeping warfighters 

mission-ready. I am truly honored to 

lead this incredible DLA team.
Loglines l May - June 2010 1

CONTENTS

Close Quarters 2

Realignment, closure recommendations help agency integrate

business practices, save warfighters, taxpayers money.

Birds of War 6

Aviation team battles rugged Afghan landscape to keep helicopters 

mission-ready.

Protection Detail 10

Land support teams work to sustain critical, priority-one protected

vehicles, keep warfighters safe. 

Futurecast 14

Supply, demand chains help agency provide full-spectrum logistics 

solutions to warfighters.

Fleet Service 18

Maritime workers help Navy plan for future demands, maintain 

aging fleet.

Good as New 22

Reutilization, marketing service finds excess goods to keep warfighters in the fight.

Dollars and Sense 24

Competitive sourcing alternatives promise to help agency meet costsavings, streamlining obligations. 

Success Prep 32

Agency team successfully completes largest, most complex personnel

transition in Defense Department.

Ten Questions with ... 28

DLA NewsWire 31

I am DLA Back Cover

DEPARTMENTS

May - June 2010

pg 6

pg 10

pg 24

pg 22

SUPPLY CHAIN EXCELLENCE

Air • Land • Sea
2 www.dla.mil

Close Quarters Story by Dianne Ryder and Cathy Hopkins

T

he Defense Logistics Agency is

continuing its work to implement

Base Realignment and Closure 2005

recommendations. Approved nearly

five years ago, the legislation, which 

aims to streamline certain Department

of Defense operations and save taxpayer

money, mandates implementation be 

complete by September 2011. 

Supply, storage and distribution management reconfiguration and depot-level 

reparable procurement management consolidation are at the forefront of BRAC

recommendations DLA is implementing

in close coordination with the military

services.

The SS&D recommendation consolidated service supply, storage and 

distribution functions and inventories in 

support of industrial depot maintenance

with DLA’s functions to create a single

provider of material and services. BRAC

SS&D also directed reconfiguration of the 

defense distribution network into four 

continental U.S.-based regions to provide 

optimal support to industrial, on-base, 

regional and global customers. 

SS&D reconfiguration goals include 

improving speed, accuracy and reliability 

of response to customers; and reducing supply chain lead times through

increased stock effectiveness, in-transit 

cargo visibility and real-time accountability. Three of the 13 DLA SS&D activities 

have not yet been activated – those in 

support of military service customers at

Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, 

Calif.; Corpus Christi Army Depot, Texas; 

and Anniston Army Depot, Ala. 

2 www.dla.mil

An Airman restocks inventory at

a service warehouse. Under 2005

Base Realignment and Closure

recommendations, the Defense

Logistics Agency has assumed

responsibility for managing certain

inventory stocks and services.

— Air Force Tech. Sgt. William Greer

Cathy Hopkins is a public affairs specialist in the Defense

Supply Center Richmond Public Affairs Office.
Loglines l May - June 2010 3

maritime vessels and military electronic

items for DLA.

“By having the new DLR and SS&D 

operations integrated with DSCC, we 

really have brought a new definition of 

‘urgent’ to our operations,” he said. 

Schulze said the concept of delivering 

parts and answers in “hours and minutes” 

to meet industrial maintenance production schedules is now part of how DLA

does business. 

He said seeing the whole picture of

requirements for consumable items and 

DLRs has increased buying leverage with 

suppliers.

“[It’s] allowed us to get better prices 

for material, expanded our strategic 

supplier relationships and allowed us to

negotiate enhanced levels of support from

suppliers, bringing better support to our 

customers.”

Also helping to streamline support is

a new inventory management tool DLA is

fielding at DLA SS&D sites that support 

Air Force and Navy customers. Inventory

Management and Stock Positioning is 

functionality in DLA’s enterprise business 

system that helps to manage wholesale

and retail inventory while allowing for

capitalization of retail stock by DLA . 

The single owner-manager concept

for stock capitalized by DLA allows DLA 

to reduce inventories, improve logistics 

support responsiveness and increase

supply chain visibility. Officials said this 

will help the agency realize greater supply 

efficiencies. 

Where IMSP has been implemented 

at DLA SS&D sites supporting Air Force 

industrial customers, capitalization gives 

DLA visibility of the stock it now owns 

and manages in the shop service centers

responsible for supplying parts directly to 

mechanics in maintenance hangars.

When the transfer of Air Forceowned, DLA-managed stock into the DLA 

inventory occurred, so did IMSP roll out. 

IMSP implementation and stock transfer 

were completed at DLA Warner Robins, 

Ga., in August 2009, at DLA Oklahoma 

Loglines l May - June 2010 3

BRAC 2005 also transferred depotlevel reparable, or DLR, procurement 

management functions and additional

consumable item management from the 

services to DLA. DLRs are parts that can

be repaired and reused throughout their 

usable life, like transmissions and vehicle 

engines.

BRAC 2005 has put DLA in the

business of performing procurement 

management for reparables used by 

maintainers to keep aircraft, ships and 

tanks running. The agency is responsible 

for getting contracts in place so the DLRs

will be there when needed by workers 

on industrial production lines and in

deployed units. To date, seven of the 

nine DLA DLR procurement operations

detachments have fully stood up.

Working with supplier relationship managers, Michael Yort, director 

of procurement management at DLA

Oklahoma City, has developed a strategic 

roadmap for DLR decision-makers.

“Trying to get our arms around all the

contracts currently in place and developing a comprehensive approach to future

support has been challenging,” Yort said.

Transferring procurement of DLRs

to the agency significantly increased the 

scope of DLA’s relationship with both 

suppliers and customers, he explained.

“BRAC implementations have

allowed us to better connect with and 

serve customers in many ways,” said 

Don Schulze, chief of the BRAC office at 

Defense Supply Center Columbus, Ohio.

DSCC is responsible for the demand 

and supply chains related to land and

maritime weapon systems and manages

2.1 million repair parts for all land and 

ship support equipment, land vehicles, 

A Navy Seaman takes inventory of aviation parts

aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in the Pacific 

Ocean. The Defense Logistics Agency is streamlining

its inventory support to customers through Base

Realignment and Closure 2005 implementation.

Navy Petty Officer Matthew J. Lanese
4 www.dla.mil

City in November and at DLA Ogden, 

Utah, in January. 

Before IMSP, Air Force mechanics 

ordered consumable parts through the 

service center near their maintenance areas. DLA didn’t have visibility of requests 

filled from that shop’s inventory unless 

stock was low or completely out.

“It was like if you went to a grocery

store and brought something home,” said 

Mary Traina, DSCR business process 

analyst in the Order Fulfillment Division, 

who trains employees transitioning into

IMSP. “Once you brought it home, the 

store lost visibility of it. They don’t know 

what is in your refrigerator.”

IMSP rollout for DLA SS&D sites supporting Navy customers is scheduled for

completion by September 2011. 

Officials said working through 

the BRAC recommendations and

implementing new tools has had a few

surprise side effects.

DLA Ogden’s progression in 

the DLR procurement management

mission has been mostly positive, said 

Mark Strawn, DLA Ogden’s director 

of procurement operations for DLRs.

DLA Ogden performs both SS&D and 

DLR procurement functions. He said

an unintended benefit of the BRAC 

realignment for DSCR is more direct 

communication with customers through a

central point of contact at all service sites

in the contracting organizations. 

“We at the forward sites already had

a close relationship with our service

customers, but until BRAC, our local 

customers didn’t really [know] who to

talk to at DLA when they had problems or 

issues,” he said.

“Now they know we are there to help

them find the right person to talk to,” he 

added. “I think it makes us all feel more

of a team instead of having that ‘us vs.

them’ mentality.” 

One of DLA Ogden’s biggest changes, 

Strawn said, is increased visibility across 

all services to work with original equipment manufacturers with “one voice.” 

Prior to the BRAC transfer, he said, 

there were various organizations in different services that approached the same

suppliers in different ways.

BRAC 2005 implementation is

allowing DLA to become a single buyer 

for a significant amount of the material 

procured from the various vendors.

“I have actually heard feedback from 

some of our suppliers that this approach

is much easier for them as they now

have a single face to the government for

the majority of their spares business,” 

Strawn said.

Lynn Taylor, chief of DLA Ogden’s 

SS&D commodities materials support, 

agreed they’ve received a positive

response.

Taylor’s job, like many other positions, transferred in place, so he performs the same job for DLA as he did for 

the Air Force prior to the transfer. He

said his customers appreciate the continuity and consistency of service.

Taylor said his team has accomplished a lot that wouldn’t have been 

possible before the transfer.

“Our support hasn’t changed. If 

anything, it’s improved because of some 

of the process changes we were able to 

implement. We’ve improved inventory

accuracy, we’ve stocked more material 

forward, [and] we’ve improved our issue 

effectiveness.”

Nanette West, hydraulics support branch chief in

Defense Logistics Agency Ogden’s commodities

material support division, stands with Lynn Taylor,

chief of the division in one of the agency’s shop service

centers at Hill Air Force Base, Utah.

Stephen Baker
Loglines l May - June 2010 5

In the first BRAC newsletter of 

2010, the executive director for DLA 

Strategic Programs, the office under 

which DLA’s BRAC implementation

is managed, commented on DLA’s 

progress. “While we are still in

the process of activating sites and

completing what was outlined in the

BRAC 2005 legislation, we are moving 

more and more toward a new normal

beyond BRAC, laying the foundation for 

the future,” Redding Hobby said.

With less than a year-and-a-half

remaining until the September 2011 

activation deadline, Hobby said, 

implementation of the BRAC 2005

recommendations continues to move

forward at an ever-increasing pace.

“Through the BRAC changes, 

the military services and DLA are

integrating similar activities across

the defense logistics supply chain and

closing logistics seams,” he said. “This 

BRAC implementation benefits the 

Department of Defense as a whole by 

reducing redundancies, streamlining 

operations and improving warfighter 

support,” he said. 

I

n early spring DLA reached a milestone by completing the Base Realignment and Closure

2005 commodity privatization recommendation.

Privatization tasked DLA and the military services with transferring the supply, storage and distribution functions for tires, packaged petroleum oil and lubricant products, and

compressed gases and cylinders to private vendors, retaining only the contracting for these

commodities.

Officials said this saves the Defense Department money by decreasing storage-facility requirements and shifting the responsibility for maintaining stocks to private vendors.

Commodity-management privatization mandates DLA assume the vendor supply contracting

functions for specified commodities from the military services.

Four privatization contracts were awarded early in the BRAC implementation process.

Michelin Aircraft Tire Company, LLC, was awarded the privatization contract for aviation tires.

Michelin North America received the contract for land tires. Haas TCM was awarded the contract for compressed and liquefied gases and cylinders, and Science Applications International

Corporation was awarded the contract for chemicals and POLs.

Patricia McMahon, deputy chief of the Aviation Commodities 1 Division at Defense Supply

Center Richmond, Va., said that prior to BRAC 2005, DLA had ownership of all processes when it

came to planning, procuring and storing supplies for customers.

 Setting up vendor contracts reduced DLA’s SS&D functions, she explained.

“We had to essentially get all of the DSCR-managed BRAC commodities out of the depots

within a short period of time and set up contracts to support all these items,” McMahon said. “The

vendors now have responsibility for forecasting, storing and filling orders.”

Buy-arounds are still taking place, she said, especially with cylinders. To address this concern, officials said, Haas has a program goal to increase their continental-U.S. customer base and

plans to meet with various customers to ascertain their specific gas and cylinder needs.

“SAIC and Haas are confronted with the same challenges DLA had in managing supplier expectations and performance,” McMahon said. “Lead times are often longer than quoted and there

is a continual decline in the number of suppliers in the packaged chemical and petroleum arena.”

She said her team is confident that both SAIC and Haas’ contract performance will exceed

fill-rate targets.

“We expect that both vendors will continue to enhance their customer support efforts, including marketing their programs and increasing order volume.”

A contract for support outside the continental U.S. was awarded to IGS in Belgium for gases

and services in Europe, Germany in particular. Another new contract for a cylinder and gas support contract will provide industrial compressed and liquefied gases in support of military forces

in Southwest Asia.

“The new jewel in the crown is the [U.S. Central Command] OCONUS contract recently

awarded to Inchcape Shipping Services for gases and services,” said Ernest Jeniolionis, DSCR’s

industrial gas integrated support team lead.

Jeniolionis said the contract includes both customer direct and DLA direct support and was

“turned on” at the end of March.

McMahon said customers should notice no difference in DLA’s support.

“I think at this point, it is transparent,” she said. “It wasn’t really [transparent] up front, ...

there was a huge transition period.”

The land supply chain at Defense Supply Center Columbus, Ohio, assumed management of

land and aircraft tires from the Army and Air Force when BRAC 2005 mandated privatization of

these commodities. Direct-vendor-delivery contracts were awarded to Michelin North America in

early 2007.

“The contracts are unique in that they call for the contractor to take over complete supply

chain functions for this commodity,” said Philip Ludwig, DSCC’s integrated supply team chief for

tires and tire products.

These functions, he explained, include worldwide planning, storage and distribution, scrap

and aircraft tire re-tread carcass retrieval, and customer engagement and training.

“Through extensive customer networking, DLA has implemented this privatization initiative

with minimal disruption to our customers,” Ludwig said.

“Feedback from our Army and Air Force customers has been extremely positive; current average performance on these contracts is 95 percent on-time delivery for land tires and better than

98 percent on-time delivery for aircraft tires,” he continued.

— Dianne Ryder

A Marine handles a helium tank in Iraq. The Defense

Logistics Agency was tasked with privatizing

management of certain commodities, including

gases and cylinders, under 2005 Base Realignment

and Closure legislation.

Marine Lance Cpl. James F. Cline III

Managing Stock
6 www.dla.mil

Birds of

WAR Story by Beth Reece

F

ly an Army helicopter in

Afghanistan or scrape it with

sandpaper – it’s all the same

to Army Maj. Allen Gnassi

because both actions have

similar effects on anything with

moving parts.

“Any time you mix rotating

components with a sandy, dusty

environment, you wear it down.

Helicopters are maintenance-intensive

to start with, and between Iraq and

6 www.dla.mil
Loglines l May - June 2010 7

Afghanistan, they’re consuming a lot

of parts. Requests for them come to us

daily,” said Gnassi, an Army aviation

readiness officer for the Defense Logistics 

Agency’s aviation supply chain at Defense 

Supply Center Richmond, Va.

Army helicopters have suffered nine

years of havoc in the Middle East. High

winds and altitudes have cracked airframes,

and the abrasive sand has gunked up or

corroded everything from filters to engines. 

Rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms

fire have also battered the aircraft.

In February, DSCR received 

57,000 requests for parts to repair

environmental or battle damage to Army

helicopters in Southwest Asia. At that

time, the fleet included a mix of AH-64 

Apaches, UH-60 Black Hawks, CH-47 

Chinooks and OH-58 Kiowas belonging

to four combat aviation brigades in Iraq

and two in Afghanistan.

Gnassi said DSCR is capable of 

supporting the helicopters deployed to

the region. While the need for repair

parts is expected to decrease as units

draw down in Iraq, he said, DSCR’s 

work will remain steady as an

additional aviation brigade deploys to

Afghanistan in the coming months.

“There will be a three-month overlap where we support an increase in

deployed aircraft, but it’s not going to

hurt us,” he said.

The 55-member Army aviation

division scours daily acquisition reports

to determine what items need to be

stocked for immediate demand, but the

Loglines l May - June 2010 7

The Defense Logistics Agency’s aviation supply chain

at Defense Supply Center Richmond, Va., receives about

50,000 requests a month for parts needed by mechanics

in Iraq and Afghanistan who conduct routine maintenance

and major repairs on such helicopters as this CH-47

Chinook.

— Photo by Air Force Staff Sgt. Clay Lancaster
8 www.dla.mil

sheer number of parts needed for a single

helicopter can be overwhelming.

“We manage more than 36,000 different parts, and there’s a demand for

almost every one of them,” said Army Col.

Laura Singer, chief of DSCR’s Army Aviation Customer Facing Operations Center.

Nuts, bolts, filters, washers, rivets 

– the demand for these common parts

is constant, she added. And while items

that are expected to withstand the beatings of harsh weather and sand, such

as helicopters’ structural frames, are in

low demand, they’re often the hardest to

supply.

“There aren’t a lot of spares made

for these items because they just weren’t

designed to need replacing. For those

things, we might have to go back to the

[original] manufacturers to have them

made,” said Army Lt. Col. Harold Demby,

executive officer of Richmond’s Army 

Aviation Operations Center.

In other cases, DSCR has had to rely

on funds from the Warstopper Program

to ensure manufacturers had the equipment needed to support the Army’s helicopter fleet. The program helps eliminate 

shortages of go-to-war items by partnering with industry to provide essential

resources that manufacturers may not

have money to invest in.

In 2005, for example, more than $1.7

million in Warstopper funds were used to

purchase a vacuum chamber that applies

a Nesatron coating to windshields. The

coating is used to defrost windshields in

place of heated wires.

“The manufacturer had no business

case on their own to invest the capital

funds for this equipment, so the program

stepped in to provide the funding,” said

Luis Villarreal, Warstopper Program

manager.

The demand for Nesatron-coated

windshields may soon be on the rise,

Demby predicted, as Army units move

to the more undeveloped areas of

Afghanistan.

“When you land a helicopter in an

unfixed landing area where there are a lot 

of small rocks and sand, the rotor wash

throws them around and it cracks the

windshield,” Demby added. “Temperature changes can also cause cracks.”

The parts DSCR supplies to customers in the Middle East are used during

routine maintenance as much as for

major repairs. Like cars, each helicopter

has a maintenance schedule that outlines

which parts get checked after a certain

number of flight hours. 

“For every so many hours you fly, you 

do a close inspection to see if things have

been scratched, if oil is leaking, etc. You

don’t want to find out you have a problem 

when you’re 100 feet in the air and going

higher,” Demby said.

Many of the helicopters being used in

Iraq and Afghanistan are 20 to 25 years

old, and some are just six months old.

Often, it’s the younger models that need

more repairs.

“For something that’s been flown for 

10 years, we’ve already worked out the

Army Soldiers assemble and test fly their Apache

helicopters prior to sending them to their final location 

in Iraq. The Defense Logistics Agency’s aviation supply

chain at the Defense Supply Center Richmond, Va.,

manages more than 36,000 different helicopter parts,

some of which are in constant demand.

Marine Lance Cpl. John A. Krake

Air Force Tech. Sgt. Efren Lopez

A Soldier conducts a safety inspection on a UH-60

Black Hawk helicopter in Afghanistan. The nature of

the country’s landscape has caused the military to

perform more frequent maintenance on helicopters

operating there. Defense Supply Center Richmond,

Va., supplies parts used during routine helicopter

maintenance and major repairs.
Loglines

l May - June 2010

9

bugs. An aircraft that’s just come off the

assembly line still needs to go through a

discovery period,” Gnassi said.

Regardless of age, a helicopter that’s

gone through the Army’s reset program

will hold up best, he added. The reset program was established in 2003 to extend

the life of Army equipment and reverse

the effects of combat stress on everything

from tanks to aircraft by restoring them to

their original capability.

Reset occurs when a unit returns from

deployment. Mechanics strip all components from an aircraft and completely recondition it. While it can take about three

months to reset a helicopter, the parts

needed are similar to those requested by

units while they’re in combat, Singer said.

Seven members of Singer’s staff are

colocated at Corpus Christi Army Depot

in Texas, where mechanics reset and test

helicopters. Another two are at the U.S.

Army Aviation Center at Fort Rucker, Ala.,

where training recently increased to speed

the delivery of much-needed pilots and

crewmembers to the battlefield. Seven of 

their staff members work alongside officials who oversee life-cycle management

of the Army’s helicopter fleet at the U.S. 

Army Aviation and Missile Command at

Redstone Arsenal, Ala.

Singer, Demby and Gnassi – like most

members of DSCR’s Army Aviation Division – are pilots who know what it’s like to

have their aircraft grounded for need of a

critical part.

“The Army division here makes a

genuine effort to bring in folks who have

helicopter experience because it gives us

credibility when we talk to customers about

what they need,” Demby said. “We understand what they’re going through.”

Marine Lance Cpl. John A. Krake

Army Soldiers perform maintenance on the tail rotor of

an AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter in Iraq. Aviation

team members at the Defense Logistics Agency are

working to ensure a steady stream of spare parts for

helicopters in Southwest Asia.

Loglines

l May - June 2010

9
10 www.dla.mil

Approximately 140 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles line up

as part of a massive convoy in Afghanistan. Defense Supply Center

Columbus, Ohio, manages 35,000 national stock numbered items in

support of the vehicle, doing its part to ensure the vehicles remain missionready and service members stay safe.

— Photo by Army Sgt. Chris Florence
Loglines l May - June 2010 11

Protection

Detail

Story by Jonathan Stack

Loglines l May - June 2010 11

the vehicles remain mission-ready and

service members stay safe.

MRAPs, with their signature Vshaped hulls and armor plating, provide

warfighters multi-mission platforms 

capable of thwarting most improvised

explosive devices, under-body mines and

small-arms-fire threats. 

DLA keeps stock on hand for more

than 17,000 actively used NSNs, at a

value of more than $430 million, to

sustain MRAPs and their all-terrain

variants, known as M-ATVs, becoming

heavily used in Afghanistan. The supply

center also coordinates required actions

across the DLA enterprise ensuring rapid

engagement of supply chains in support

of MRAPs.

“We have a pretty robust structure of

support activities in Afghanistan to do the

“T

officer 2 is scrawled across the bottom of 

a picture hanging outside Daniel Bohn’s

office at Defense Supply Center Columbus, 

Ohio.

The picture of a piece of armor from a

Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle

“says it all,” said Bohn, the former Defense

Logistics Agency MRAP project manager.

“This family of vehicles saves lives,”

he said. “This is the vehicle that has been

able to bring back [service members] alive.”

As the agency’s lead center for MRAP

support, DSCC manages 35,000 national 

stock numbered items in support of

the vehicle, doing its part to ensure

his truck saved my life, as well

as five others April 2, 2008 at 

2300 hours in Basra, Iraq.” 

This statement by an unnamed Army chief warrant
12 www.dla.mil

maintenance on the vehicles,” said John

Dreska, the newly named DLA MRAP

project manager. “If a vehicle is damaged 

it’ll be repaired.”

The agency has more than 9,000

numbered parts stocked at its Defense

Distribution Depot Kuwait, Southwest

Asia, in support of ongoing operations in

Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Four categories of the vehicles are

currently being procured, fielded and 

sustained: – M-ATV is used for combat operations in rural, mountainous and urban

areas.

– CAT I is used for combat operations 

in rural and urban terrain.

– CAT II is used for multi-mission 

operations like leading convoys,

transporting troops, and serving as an

ambulance and utility vehicle.

– CAT III is used for mine- and 

IED-clearing operations and explosiveordnance disposal.

The newest addition to the MRAP

family is the M-ATV, which is lighter

and more maneuverable than standard

MRAPs so service members can better

navigate Afghanistan’s rugged terrain

and stay off more-established, routinely

attacked routes, officials said. 

As fleet size has grown over the years, 

so has demand for parts, which raised

DLA’s inventory levels, Bohn said.

“In a little over a year, we’ve qua-

drupled the amount of parts we stock

forward in support of this endeavor,”

Dreska said.

The Army, Marine Corps, Air Force 

and Navy all use variants of the MRAP,

and fleet readiness is meeting or exceed-

ing requirements as of March 1, he said.

“The operational readiness is in the

mid-to-high 90th percentile; all services

are ‘green,’” Dreska said, referring to the

military practice of color-coding aspects

of operational readiness. Green means

Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles undergo

testing at the Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz. The Defense

Logistics Agency keeps stock on hand for more than

17,000 actively used national stock numbers, at a value

of more than $430 million, to sustain MRAPs and their

all-terrain variants, known as M-ATVs.

Yuma Proving Ground
Loglines l May - June 2010 13

mission-ready.

Bohn said he attributes the high

readiness rates to the overall success of

the MRAP program and DLA’s sustainment support of the system.

 Success can also be attributed

to having a team on the ground in

Afghanistan, Dreska said.

 As the United States’ primary focus

shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan and 

thousands of MRAPs began their journey

into the country, the agency saw the need

to expand its level of support for the

vehicles. Soon after, a five-person team, 

consisting of three DSCC representatives 

and two Defense Logistics Information 

Service employees, deployed to Afghanistan to assist the military services.

“Their main purpose is to expedite

parts and work through glitches on the

ground with distribution of MRAP parts,”

Dreska said.

The team is the focal point to customers for anything dealing with MRAPs and

DLA support, he said.

“They also have tremendous reachback capabilities,” Bohn said. “They’re at

the pointed end of the spear; they know

what’s ground-truth regarding the readiness picture for the family of vehicles.”

Team members can tell the supply

center what service members truly need

and direct procurement personnel back

in the U.S. to buy the right parts, expedite necessary parts and work with the

original equipment manufacturers to

make sure parts are correctly prioritized, 

he said.

Also working to keep readiness and

maintenance rates in the mid-to-high 90s

are another team at DSCC and a cross-DLA 

team that includes DLIS, the Defense 

Distribution Center and defense supply 

centers in Philadelphia and Richmond, Va..

Thirty different variants of the MRAP

are currently being fielded by six original 

equipment manufacturers.

“We are using a robust corporate contracting strategy within DLA to support

the vehicles,” Dreska said. “It’s important 

to have a good acquisition plan.”

The agency needs strong contract ties

with not just the original manufacturers,

but also the people that make other major

components for the vehicle, he said.

Many MRAP parts are found across

the different variants, for example the

Caterpillar C7 370- horsepower engine, 

Michelin tires, Spectrex/Firetrace

fire-suppression systems and Allison 

transmissions.

“If the Allison transmission is on 

all of your vehicles, you better have

some good contract support [with the

company] behind it,” Dreska said.

The MRAP is a $40 billion program.

In the past two and a half years, DLA 

has spent $800 million supporting the 

vehicles.

The MRAP was produced as an

initiative to replace most up-armored

Humvees in Iraq, because they were vulnerable to improvised explosive device

attacks, which were contributing to a

majority of U.S. deaths in Iraq.

The first MRAPs were fielded in Iraq 

in April 2007 and in Afghanistan in October of the same year. Military planners

expect thousands of MRAPS in Afghanistan by the end of 2010. 

A Soldier secures a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected

vehicle destined for Afghanistan into the back of a

C-17 Globemaster III aircraft. The MRAP is a $40 billion

program. In the past two years, the Defense Logistics

Agency has spent $800 million supporting the vehicles.

Army Cpl. Brandon Babbitt
14 www.dla.mil

FUTURECAST

Story by Sara Moore

F

our months after a magnitude 7.0

earthquake centered near Haiti’s

capital of Port-au-Prince leveled

buildings, killed and injured

hundreds of thousands of people,

and left many more homeless, teams from

around the world are still conducting relief

operations in the island nation.

But in the first hours following the 

January quake, it was immediately clear

to U.S. military planners that massive

amounts of humanitarian aid, particularly

food, water and medical care, would be

needed for the injured victims.

Because of it’s immense capability and

global footprint, the Defense Department

has become a first responder in many 

disaster-relief operations.

As part of the U.S. disaster response,

the Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort was

alerted for a deployment to Haiti. Sitting

in port in Baltimore, the Comfort was only

partially stocked with medical supplies.

While doctors and nurses streamed

aboard and prepared to conduct

the life-saving mission, the Defense

Logistics Agency – through its troopsupport leader, Defense Supply Center

Philadelphia – alerted its prime vendor

partners of an emergency requirement

for medical supplies. DSCP also sent two

supply experts to join the Comfort’s ranks

and serve as direct links between the

supply agency and the service members

administering aid to earthquake victims.

DLA notified the Navy that it could 

fully load the ship with supplies at port

in Baltimore or in Jacksonville, Fla.,

while the Comfort was on its way to Haiti.

Because of the urgency of the mission,

U.S. government leaders decided to

send the Comfort partially loaded with

supplies, with replenishment scheduled

for after it reached the disaster area.

Officials said DLA was able to fulfill 

this requirement because of the agency’s

link to the ship through staff members,

its experience and expertise in predictive

demand, and its established relationships

with prime vendors.

As the doctors and nurses aboard

the Comfort worked hour upon hour

treating badly injured earthquake victims

in Haiti, the staff at DSCP worked 24/7

writing, updating and letting contracts to

make sure the ship’s critical stocks were

replenished. They also continued to send

food, water and construction supplies

to the people of Haiti via airlift and ship

transport.

In mid-March, almost two months to

the day from its initial deployment, the

Comfort arrived back in the U.S. at Naval

Station Norfolk, Va. The ship’s crew had

treated 1,000 admitted patients and performed 843 surgeries.

DLA’s support to the Comfort’s

deployment is a good example of how

the agency uses supply chains to keep its

customers ready for any contingency, said

Army Col. Martin Binder, DLA’s chief of

supply chain operations.

At its core, a supply chain is a process

approach to getting supplies from their

origin all the way to the customer, Binder

explained. The Defense Department has

designated DLA as the executive agent

responsible for the supply chains of

14 www.dla.mil
Loglines l May - June 2010 15

subsistence, fuel and medical supplies.

The agency shares responsibility with

the military services for clothing and

construction equipment. DLA uses

supply chains every day as it works with

manufacturers, vendors and customers

to ensure warfighters get what they need 

on time, every time, he said.

In normal operations, a supply

chain is in place before a product is

manufactured, as soon as a requirement

for supplies comes in from a customer

– in DLA’s case, the military services.

But even before a requirement comes

in, DLA is often already prepared to

fulfill that requirement based on 

demand signals, Binder said.

Demand signals are predicted

requirements based on

stockage methodologies and

philosophies, as well as past

usage patterns.

This is why DLA was ready to

stock the Comfort for its Haiti mission

so quickly, officials said. Based on 

predictive demand signals, DLA already

knew what supplies would be needed for

a large-scale humanitarian mission and

had contracts in place with prime vendor

partners who would be able to provide

those supplies on short notice.

While the natural disaster in Haiti

was an unplanned event that required

immediate action, DLA also uses

predictive demand signals in ongoing,

planned operations, explained Anthony

Cosenza, deputy director of operations

at DSCP. Cosenza works with the

four supply chains DSCP manages –

subsistence, medical, clothing and

textiles, and construction supplies

and equipment – and tries to

coordinate the outcomes to create a

holistic view of troop support.

A good example of an ongoing operation that used predictive demand signals

is the troop buildup in Afghanistan,

Cosenza said.

As soon as U.S. commanders on the

ground in Afghanistan said they would

need more troops to accomplish their

mission, DSCP, as DLA’s troop-support

center, had to begin forecasting what support it would need to provide for the addition of a large number of troops to the

force already in country, Cosenza said.

Staff members there used predictive

planning techniques that went through

a number of possible scenarios, combined with experience from prior troop

increases, to determine what supplies

they would need to have in place before

the troops arrived. Officials said shelter, 

force-protection and subsistence supplies

needed to be pre-positioned to ensure

forces entering the operations area could

be fed and protected upon arrival.

DSCP spent about $25 million on

building supplies, force-protection barriers,

barbed wire, sandbags, and other

material that needed to be in place to

keep the troops safe and housed, he said.

Loglines l May - June 2010 15

Sailors man the rails as Military Sealift Command

hospital ship USNS Comfort pulls into Norfolk Naval

Station, Va. Stocked by Defense Supply Center

Philadelphia, the Comfort was an integral part of the

U.S. military response to this winter’s earthquake

in Haiti.

— Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Lolita M. Lewis
16 www.dla.mil

“That’s what a supply chain will do,

it provides the surge capacity to lean forward, so that we’re able to meet customer

or military deployment requirements

with speed and agility,” Cosenza said.

In any operation, a supply chain

would never work without the support

of manufacturers and prime vendors,

who produce the materials DLA needs

to keep warfighters mission-ready. So, 

once demand signals are created or

requirements come in, Cosenza said,

coordination with vendors is key to

keeping the supply chain moving forward.

For many of DLA’s products, the

agency has established prime vendors,

Cosenza said. A prime vendor is a

manufacturer that has a long-term,

exclusive contract with DLA to provide

material in a certain region. For instance,

DLA’s prime vendor for food products in

Afghanistan is a company called Supreme.

As a prime vendor, Supreme not only

provides all the food that DLA ships

into the country, but also stores it and

transports it using the company’s own

warehouses, trucks, drivers and ‘air force’

to reach remote forward-operating base

locations,” Cosenza said.

The key to supply-chain integration is

matching customer needs with supplier

16 www.dla.mil

Sailors aboard the hospital ship USNS Comfort store

supplies received from the Military Sealift Command supply

ship USNS Sacagawea off the coast of Haiti. Supplies

procured by Defense Supply Center Philadelphia allowed

the Comfort to support Operation Unified Response in the 

Caribbean nation.

Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Matthew Jackson
Loglines l May - June 2010 17

capacity and capability, he explained.

“That brokerage between a contractor

and a customer is the key to being able

to ensure that contractor knows what the

customer’s going to need, and then we

ensure we have the clauses in the contract

that allow him to be able to respond to

those needs as they emerge,” Cosenza said.

While DLA uses supply chains

to manage end-to-end movement of

materials, it uses demand chains to interface with customers and ensure their

requirements are being met.

Demand chains operate within DLA’s

primary-level field activities and work 

directly with customers on demand planning and requirements forecasting, and

also solve any problems the customers

may have, Cosenza said.

The construct DLA uses assigns

customers to a primary demand chain,

which is usually at the field activity where 

they get most of their material. That

demand chain handles all dealings with

that customer. Although this is how the

system is supposed to work, Cosenza

acknowledged, many times, if a customer

has a problem with a specific product, he 

will look up where the product came from

and go directly to the source, bypassing

the demand chain.

Whether a demand chain is used

in the traditional sense or a customer

contacts a field activity directly, the 

important thing is that relationships are

developed, Cosenza said. All of DLA’s

supply chains involve different types of

customers, and the knowledge of those

customer sets, combined with expertise

of different industries, is what keeps the

agency functioning at a high level.

“Product knowledge is really key to being able to satisfy customer needs,” he said.

“Young service members may not really

know what they want or need. Our job is

to know the product so well and know the

customer so well that we know what they

need to accomplish their mission.”

Binder also stressed that relationships – whether with customers,

manufacturers or other government

agencies – are what keeps supply chains,

and DLA, functioning.

In the case of supplying the Comfort

for its Haiti mission, what enabled DLA

to be so successful were the relationships

the agency already had in place with

the departments of State and Defense,

the U.S. Agency for International

Development, the Federal Emergency

Management Agency, and the military

services, Binder said.

DLA does a lot of exercises with other

agencies to prepare for emergencies and

has codified agreements in place establishing where the responsibilities will fall,

he said. So when an emergency happens,

the framework is already in place for a

quick, effective response.

“Automation is important, technology

is important, but the relationships are

key, and knowing that before you get into

a very hard, sticky problem – either Haiti

or something that involves a lot of DoD

dollars – having those relationships and

being able to come to an agreement is

absolutely essential,” Binder said.

Whereas a corporation like Wal-Mart

is looking at the “almighty dollar” and

operating in a very competitive business

environment, DLA’s business is all about

collaboration with other government

agencies to make sure warfighters get 

what they need, when they need it, while

being good stewards, Binder said.

“There’s a lot of collaboration within

DoD, and we have to work together, because if we fail, we don’t just lose money,

we could lose lives,” he said.

Marines unload water bottles delivered by a resupply

convoy in Afghanistan. The Defense Logistics Agency

uses a prime vendor to supply food items and water to

warfighters in Afghanistan. 

Marine Cpl. Daniel M. Moman

Air Force Tech. Sgt. Francisco V. Govea II

Soldiers in Afghanistan depend on the Defense

Logistics Agency’s supply and demand chains to

provide what they need to accomplish their missions,

like the force-protection materials being used here.
18 www.dla.mil

FLEET SERVICE

Story by Sara Moore

18 www.dla.mil

Advanced ships modeled after the Littoral Combat Ship Independence will be replacing

the Navy’s current aging fleet of battleships. The USS Fort Worth is currently under 

construction with delivery anticipated in late 2012. The Defense Logistics Agency works 

closely with ship-building contractors and Naval Inventory Control Point personnel to

ensure the timely delivery of crucial parts in the ship’s outfitting stage. 

— Courtesy Photo
Loglines l May - June 2010 19

The future is near for

the U.S. Navy.

I

nstead of the historical model of

Navy service, surface ships are now

required to support missions ranging

from homeland security to the war on

terrorism. In response to this changing operational environment, the Navy is

designing and building a new fleet – one 

that is more versatile and technologically

advanced, that can deploy rapidly and

respond to unanticipated threats.

But as the Navy works toward this

future force, which officials said will 

include advanced new weapon systems,

more efficient power systems and shared 

technology, it has a challenge. Sustaining

current operations means the Navy must

maintain its current fleet of aging ships, 

some of which have been sailing the seas

for more than 40 years.

At the Defense Logistics Agency, team

members are working to ensure the Navy

has what it needs to build and maintain

these new ships while keeping older ships

mission-ready.

Defense Supply Center Columbus,

Ohio, is home to the agency’s land and

maritime supply and demand chains.

DSCC’s Maritime Customer Operations

Directorate supports all Navy ships, submarines and associated maritime units,

including the projected future force.

Within the Maritime Customer

Operations Directorate, Navy Cmdr.

Kevin Cheshure, maritime readiness

officer, and his staff of weapon-system 

support managers work closely with the

Navy to monitor and maintain the health

of weapon-system platforms. One of

the newest projects Cheshure’s team is

working – the littoral combat ship – is an 

entirely new class of Navy warship that

will operate primarily in shallow coastal

waters.

The LCS program was initiated

in 2002, and contractor designs were

submitted to the Navy in 2004. Carol

Monticue, surface combatant weaponsystem support manager, has been working

on the LCS project since 2006. She saw

the first two iterations of the LCS, the 

USS Freedom and USS Independence,

delivered to the Navy in 2006 and 2008

and is working on the third iteration, the

USS Fort Worth, which is currently in the

build phase.

Since the LCS is a brand-new type of

ship, Monticue said, it requires many parts

that are also new and often unique, which

means they are committed exclusively to

that class of ship. The LCS also has many

foreign-sourced systems, and these factors

create quite a logistical challenge.

“These are items that have had low

demands or, obviously, no demands, so

that’s where the challenge comes in relative to life-cycle management. Initial support can require technical-data review and

pricing validations for these first-time-buy 

items. The goal is always to obtain the

parts in time to support the ship’s ‘sailaway,’” she said.

Navy ships are built by contractors,

and DLA doesn’t get involved until the

ship has reached the initial outfitting 

phase, when the contractor equips it with

many crucial parts, Monticue said. During

this phase, she said, the weapon-system

support managers work closely with

the ship building contractor, planning

yard, and Naval Inventory Control Point

Loglines l May - June 2010 19
20 www.dla.mil

player in this area also.

Fielding new ships comes at a high

cost, Monticue explained, so the Navy

is relying on many of its older ships to

keep it ready for ongoing operations.

This means that ships that would

normally be decommissioned at 25 years

are being extended to 30 or 40 years.

Supporting this aging fleet brings a host 

of challenges, the most prominent being

obsolescence, she said.

The issue of obsolete parts is much

more complex in the Navy than in other

services because of the difference in

volume, Cheshure said. Where the Air

Force has hundreds of F-15 fighter jets, 

the Navy only has 20 or 30 frigates and

10 carriers. Thus, a company that manufactures parts for a 30-year-old Navy ship

has less incentive to continue producing

those parts than a company that produces

aircraft engines or air frames.

“That’s not a bad reflection on them; 

that’s the reality of business,” Cheshure

said. “So that is why ... obsolescence in

the Navy is a more difficult issue. As 

time goes by and those obsolete parts

manifest themselves, it’s inherently more

complicated because we have such a small

[manufacturing base from which to draw].”

When an obsolete part does manifest

itself, Cheshure said, the staff at DSCC

has a few options. First they determine

whether the original source for the part

was the only known or authorized source.

If that is not the case, they simply have to

find another source for the part. However, if the original source was the only

known source, DSCC has to start some

“exploratory surgery” to find a solution, 

he said.

DSCC will go to the military service,

in this case the Navy, and request

authorization for a new source for the

existing part or request a new item to

replace it. Ultimately, the decision rests

with the Navy, and DSCC responds to the

service’s guidance, he said.

“A lot of those decisions are engineerMechanicsburg, Pa., to ensure those parts

make it to the ship.

“There’s a lot of coordination that

happens in the beginning, and you

develop excellent points of contact and

rapport with various entities within the

Navy and the contractor as well,” she

said. “And as we transition to LCS 3 now,

I am engaged with these individuals

in trying to ensure that those parts are

received on schedule. If there are any

challenges in the system in getting those

parts, we try to work through those.”

In addition to planning and building

its future fleet, which is slated to include 

the LCS and new models of destroyers

and cruisers, the Navy is also trying to

expand its fleet from 280 ships to 313 

ships. That expansion, coupled with current mission requirements, means that

keeping older ships in top condition is a

high priority, officials said. DLA is a key 

Navy aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson performs tactical 

maneuvers with guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill 

and an Uruguayan navy frigate during Exercise Southern Seas 2010. Defense Supply Center Columbus, Ohio, 

is working to sustain the Navy’s current fleet of ships. 

Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Ashley Van Dien

20 www.dla.mil
Loglines l May - June 2010 21

ing decisions, and the services act as the

engineering support activities,” he said.

“They make the decisions, ... and we

respond to that.”

DLA has another option when faced

with discontinued production of an item

or series of items, Monticue said. The

DLA Diminishing Manufacturing Sources

Office works with manufacturers willing to make one final production run. 

The DMS office collaborates with the 

services and pools lifetime requirements 

to forecast how many of these items will 

be required to support a given system 

through its anticipated life cycle. She said 

DLA then places one final order, knowing 

it will be the last chance to stock up on 

those parts.

To combat the issue of obsolescence 

and keep its aging fleet in service, the 

Navy is making a big push for modernization, Monticue said. Modernizing

older ships brings them in line with 

current technology and bridges the gap 

between the older fleet and the future 

fleet, she said. 

Modernization began with 

Ticonderoga-class cruisers in 2008 

and carried over to Arleigh Burke-class 

destroyers in April.

Cheshure likened the modernization 

push to someone who owned a 1957

Chevy but knew he would be getting a 

hovercraft in the immediate future.

“You probably don’t want to design, 

fund and build a new car in the interim 

to bridge the gap,” he said. “Figuratively 

speaking, instead, we’ll overhaul the 

engine, install satellite radio and replace 

the tires.”

As DSCC supports the Navy’s 

modernization of the aging fleet and 

building of the future fleet, it also 

continues to support vessels that fall 

somewhere in the middle. Something 

keeping Cheshure and his staff very

busy is the support of Virginia-class 

submarines, which are the Navy’s newest 

attack subs. 

Virginia-class subs have been in 

service for a few years and are coming

up on their first major overhaul, 

what the Navy and DLA refer to as an

extended dry-docking selected restricted 

availability, known as EDSRA. 

An EDSRA is a very extended 

maintenance availability, where the 

submarines will be in dry dock for 

about 11 to 12 months, Cheshure said. 

To support the first two overhauls, DLA 

is partnering with Naval Sea Systems 

Command to procure about 1,000 

spare parts. These are parts DLA would 

normally not procure, but the agency 

is “leaning forward” to support these 

important upgrades, he said.

“It is an understatement to say this

is a very complicated process,” he said. 

“There is a lot of planning that goes into 

this. The level of technology on board one 

of these submarines is off the chart.”

The first EDSRA, for the USS Virginia, 

is scheduled to start Oct. 1, and DSCC 

has been working for the past year to 

get the material procured and forwardpositioned, Cheshure said. This massive

effort spans all three DLA inventory 

control points and requires constant 

communication across supply chains 

and with Naval Sea Systems Command 

representatives.

“We have to get this right because 

this is the attack submarine of the 

future,” Cheshure said. “We’re taking it 

very seriously.” 

The Virginia-class submarine USS Texas arrives at its 

new home port, Naval Station Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. 

The Defense Logistics Agency and the Navy are 

collaborating on plans for the first major overhaul of 

Virginia-class subs.

Navy Petty Officer Josh Thompson
22 www.dla.mil

Good

Story by Jonathan Stack

 as New

War is expensive, and two wars

are twice as expensive.

To help save taxpayers’

money, the Defense Logistics

Agency’s Defense Reutilization

and Marketing Service is helping give

excess equipment and parts new life.

Excess equipment and parts can be

used to fill existing requisitions in two 

ways: through excess property collected

and stored at the agency’s defense

reutilization and marketing offices and 

through cannibalization.

Cannibalization is removing parts

from an un-repairable major end-item

and using those parts to get other enditems back into operational readiness.

“For example, an unserviceable

[Humvee] may be parked at a defense

reutilization and marketing office for 

a couple months, and units will come

in and take components or parts off

[it] to use on another vehicle,” said

Marlow Burns, DRMS property disposal

specialist.

The reutilization and marketing

service saves the Defense Department

money by reusing, transferring, donating,

selling or disposing of excess and surplus

property, officials said. DRMS makes all 

property in its inventory available for all

military service components to see what

is ready for re-use.

DRMS is important to military units

because it provides an avenue for units

to take property and go ahead and finish 

out their retrogrades, Burns said. Quite

often property can be re-used by another

unit even though it may be excess to the

departing unit.

“[DRMS] has helped in Afghanistan,

Iraq and Kuwait by providing more

than $600 million in property through

reutilization efforts back to the warfighter 

from U.S. Central Command DRMOs

since 2006,” said Richard Brunson,

director of DRMS’ Disposal Services

Directorate in the USCENTCOM region.

“DRMS provides property back

through reutilization to meet the

services’ requirements for material

rather than having to procure new

assets,” Brunson said. “It is essentially

an enabler in that it helps the services

by preventing the requirement for

procurement of new assets for property

that is available at DRMOs within theater

or even worldwide,” Brunson said.

Reutilization efforts from these

DRMOs save the services not only the

cost of procuring new items, but also

prevent a delay in getting many assets

back to full-mission-capable status faster

because warfighters avoid waiting the 

time it takes to ship these parts and

items to their location, he said.

In order for a unit to request an

item from DRMS, there must be a letter

of authorization from an organization

allowing personnel to withdraw property

from a DRMO. The unit then will

identify what it needs by looking at

inventory lists available on DRMS’ Web

site or by contacting disposal service

22 www.dla.mil

Personnel prepare to unload excess and scrap tires,

and equipment at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, with the

support of the Defense Reutilization and Marketing

Service. Excess parts and equipment can be used to

fill existing requisitions for military goods, thereby 

reducing customer wait times.

Courtesy Photo
Loglines

l May - June 2010 23

representatives. If unit officials find what 

they need available at a DRMO, they can

requisition it for official use. 

DRMS acquires excess property from

military units that deem the property

no longer needed. All U.S. government

excess property managed by DLA is

turned into a DRMO. The services turn

property back into their supply systems

or equipment representatives, and

those staffers direct the turn-ins to the

DRMOs.

The services aren’t the only ones

DRMS benefits; DLA benefits from 

DRMS because it demonstrates the DLA

director’s intent of stewardship and

support to warfighters by ensuring the 

agency does what is fiscally sound in 

helping DoD get the most bang for its

buck from an ever-tightening budgetary

standpoint, Brunson said.

“DRMS plays an integral role

in providing materials that help

warfighters sustain equipment and 

ultimately helps keep our troops safe

by enabling them to have the best

functioning equipment available for

mission requirements,” he said.

Loglines

l May - June 2010 23

A Humvee is power-washed before being inspected

and repaired in a retrograde lot at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait.

Unusable vehicles stored at defense reutilization and

marketing offices provide troops access to spare parts 

that can be quickly removed and used to get another 

vehicle back in mission-ready condition. 

Courtesy Photo
24 www.dla.mil

Dollars and Sen
Loglines l May - June 2010 25

N

ew plans are in place to ensure the Defense Logistics 

Agency meets a savings target of $127 million 

through streamlined operations over the next seven 

years in response to recent statutory restrictions 

that limit the use of competitive sourcing through 

the A-76 Program. 

The 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act prohibits 

use of fiscal 2010 funds to conduct new public-private 

competitions that could move to private industry commercial activity jobs being performed by federal employees. 

The 2010 National Defense Authorization Act temporarily 

suspends new public-private competitions while the Office 

of the Secretary of Defense completes a formal study of the 

A-76 process. 

“The A-76 Program still exists, but the 2010 NDAA 

restrictions and the 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act 

funding moratorium have made our plan to announce 15 

new competitions through 2017 unexecutable for the foreseeable future,” said A-76 Program Manager Ken McLain, 

Acquisition Programs and Industrial Capabilities Division, 

Acquisition Management Directorate.

Agency activities with previously scheduled A-76 

competitions are: the Document Automation & Production 

Service, with projected savings of $2.97 million; Defense 

Distribution Center, $46.17 million; DLA Enterprise Support, $37.86 million; DLA Human Resources Center, $3.87 

million; Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service, 

$34.74 million; and Defense Supply Center Columbus, 

Ohio, $1.23 million.

McLain’s office partnered with officials at all six 

DLA activities that were part of the previously scheduled 

competitions to create alternative plans aimed at helping 

the agency reach its $127 million savings goal. The plans 

involve a variety of tools. Some fall under the new Federal 

Services Management Program run by McLain’s office, 

which involves the strategic management of federal commercial services enterprise-wide to improve productivity 

and drive down agency costs. The rest involve businessprocess re-engineering, continuous process improvement, and managed reductions, an approach that typically 

reduces overhead costs through a combination of employee 

se Story by Beth Reece
26 www.dla.mil

buyouts, early retirements and hiring 

freezes. 

Federal Services Management tools 

reduce costs by utilizing DLA-designated 

high-performing organizations, in-sourcing and direct conversions, in addition to 

public-private competitions. FSM tools 

are rigorous, disciplined and accountable, 

using best business practices gained from 

more than a decade of experience with 

A-76 competitions and OSD-designated 

HPOs. Under FSM, DLA-designated HPOs are similar to “most efficient organizations” created by and 

composed of DLA employees to bid 

in A-76 competitions, McLain said, 

but unlike MEOs, HPOs are not 

subjected to competitive bidding 

by private industry. 

“We still create a statement of 

requirements, a letter of obligation, 

and a quality-assurance surveillance plan for HPOs,” McLain said. 

HPO plans also undergo independent reviews by auditors in the 

DLA Accountability Office prior 

to implementation to validate all 

requirements, costs, and workload 

forecasts and to assess that the 

plan can realistically be carried out 

to meet savings goals without negatively 

impacting performance. 

Direct conversions are formal acquisitions that outsource work performed by 

federal employees without using publicprivate competitions. Direct conversions 

are restricted by law to AbilityOne contracts under the Javits-Wagner-O’Day Act 

to provide work opportunities for Americans who are blind or have other severe 

disabilities, and to Native Alaskan, Native 

American and Native Hawaiian contracts. 

The alternative plans to the A-76 competitions do not currently include any direct 

conversions, McLain said.

The third Federal Services Management 

tool, in-sourcing, involves moving work that 

is currently contracted out to private industry back in-house. This is usually done 

when the work a contractor is performing 

can be done cheaper by federal employees 

or if the work is found to be inherently 

governmental or, while considered 

commercial in nature, should be 

exempt for continuity of operations 

or other reasons, McLain said. 

DAPS and DHRC have elected 

to use the FSM DLA-designated 

HPO tool. Both have already been 

designated as Office of the Secretary 

of Defense HPOs, so they will simply 

convert to DLA-designated HPOs, a 

process McLain said will be transparent to employees and customers. 

The DHRC conversion is slated for 

April 1, 2012, and the DAPS’ conversion is slated for Oct 1, 2014.

DSCC

DAPS

DHRC

DRMS

DES

DDC

$1.23M

$2.97M

$3.87M

$34.74M

$37.86M

$46.17M

Previously Planned 

A-76 Competitions

Defense Supply Center 

Columbus, Ohio....................... 1

Document Automation 

& Production Service ............... 1

Defense Logistics Agency

Human Resources Center........ 1

Defense Reutilization and 

Marketing Service.................... 2

Defense Logistics Agency

Enterprise Support.................. 2

Defense Distribution Center.... 7

Projected savings using alternative 

measures to the current A-76 program will 

provide the Defense Logistics Agency with 

more than the target dollar savings planned 

under the A-76 plans. DLA Enterprise 

Support savings helped push the agency 

past the target based on additional savings 

projected in the coming years.

Reducing Costs and Maximizing Warfighter Support

Document Automation & Production Service 

employees will use the Federal Services 

Management Program to streamline operations 

and save $2.97 million by 2017.

Beth Reece

Graphic illustration by Paul Henry Crank

$126.84M

Total Projected Savings
Loglines l May - June 2010 27

The choice to become a DLA-designated HPO works well for DAPS for 

two reasons, said Shawn Magill, DAPS’ 

corporate projects director. 

“First, the ‘HPO’ label is very prestigious, and it reflects the hard work and 

dedication of our DAPS employees,” he 

said. “Second, we can market this performance designation to our current and 

potential customers to instill confidence 

in their choice of DAPS [to provide] document production services.”

DRMS officials are still determining 

what tools to use in lieu of two previously 

planned competitions that involved more 

than 700 employee positions and a small 

contingent at the service’s headquarters. 

“Over the next 12 months, DRMS will 

do a business case analysis to look at its 

existing operation and what its customer 

requirements are, then develop a ‘to be’ 

state and decide which of the FSM or 

non-FSM tools will help DRMS get to its 

desired end-state,” McLain said. 

DDC, DES, and DSCC plan to use 

non-FSM tools: business process re-engineering, continuous process improvement, and managed reductions.

“All the activities were allowed to 

choose the tool, or set of tools, they think 

will work best for them, so those that 

don’t want to use FSM tools have been 

able to pursue other methods of meeting 

their savings targets,” McLain said. 

DDC officials plan to conduct a 

managed reduction initiative 

along with a study of labor 

and infrastructure for 

their next generation 

distribution network in 

lieu of seven previously 

planned A-76 

competitions.

“Although DDC has 

chosen to use non-FSM 

tools, they’ll still be 

using all the staffing 

model best practices 

they picked up through 

previous A-76 competitions and applying them across the 

distribution network to include those 

depots that have not gone through A-76 

competitions,” McLain said. “They expect 

to be able to do a managed reduction over 

a period of time that will enable them to 

meet their savings targets. And having 

worked with DDC all these years, I’m very 

confident that they will succeed.”

The Columbus supply center was 

originally scheduled to do an A-76 

competition for its test labs, but will now 

use a combination of business process 

re-engineering and continuous process 

improvements. 

The only DLA activity to have 

already achieved its savings 

goal is DLA Enterprise Support, which used managed 

reductions to eliminate 54 

vacant full-time equivalent 

positions – five more than 

originally programmed 

under its cancelled A-76 

competition – from facility 

maintenance in October 

2009. 

“With a managed 

reduction, you’re typically 

reducing numbers [of 

employees]; but we were 

able to do some rebalancing and no 

one lost their job,” said Mark Melnyk, 

DES headquarters deputy site director. 

“A large part of what we did was move 

people to areas where we either had new 

requirements or needed more [staff].”

The savings achieved by DES will 

actually enable DLA to beat the $117 

million savings target originally projected 

under A-76 plans, McLain said, because 

the FTE savings are taken a year earlier 

than programmed and, when combined 

with the extra FTE cuts and the 

elimination of programmed investment 

funds for future A-76 competitions, 

are projected to save an additional $10 

million in the coming years.

 An annual report to DLA’s senior 

leadership will be done by McLain and 

the FSM Working Integrated Product 

Team to track savings and performance 

metrics as each A-76 alternative is executed.

“This will give us a level of transparency and accountability and help ensure 

that the savings we get is not at the 

expense of performance,” he added. 

The Defense Logistics Agency saved 

more than $815 million through A-76 

competitions and OSD-designated HPOs 

between 1998 and 2009. 

“In today’s environment if we don’t 

continue to streamline our operations 

and provide high performance to our 

customers, we’ll become irrelevant,” 

McLain said. 

Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service officials have 12 months to determine whether they will use tools that 

fall under the Federal Services Management Program or such non-FSM tools as business-process re-engineering 

to achieve $34.74 million in savings by 2017.

Continuous Process Improvement is 

an example of a non-Federal Service 

Management Program tool being used 

by primary-level field activities to reduce 

operational costs while maintaining highlevel warfighter support. Beth Reece
28 www.dla.mil

TEN QUESTIONS WITH. . .

1. What did you know about the

Defense Logistics Agency prior to

assuming command of its land and

maritime support operations?

As a career Army logistician, I

was keenly aware of DLA’s role in

sustaining operations and spent

many hours considering that role –

particularly the critical mission of

providing fuel to operating forces.

I probably underestimated the

challenges and complexities DLA

confronts to manage its eight supply

chains. Thousands of customers

operate hundreds of weapon

systems. Some are in combat with

the enemy and require immediate

and undivided attention. We face

enormous obsolescence-management

challenges to support aging

weapon systems and contend with

considerable variation in demand

patterns, both of which complicate

demand-planning processes.

The past six months have been

a real eye-opener – I’ve learned a

great deal and developed a deep

appreciation and respect for the jobs

DLA professionals perform every day.

2. Warfighter support is a DLAwide focus, but it hits closer to

home for you – not only are you a

warfighter yourself, but your son 

is also serving in Iraq. How do

warfighters drive Defense Supply 

Center Columbus, Ohio’s daily

operations?

My son is an Army staff sergeant,

but every Soldier, Sailor, Airman

and Marine deployed overseas is

Brig. Gen. Thomas 

Columbus Supply Center Commander Tackles Hot Topics in Land, Maritime Support

Land and Maritime Support Operations Demand-Planning Processes Weapon Sy

dear to someone. Dozens of DSCC

staffers have family members, friends

and co-workers involved in current

operations. The strong personal

and family connections between

employees and warfighters help the 

workforce understand and appreciate

the direct relationship it has on

warfighter support. 

3. The secretary of defense

has named the Mine Resistant

Ambush Protected vehicle and its

all-terrain variant priority-one 

weapon systems for support. As

DLA’s home for MRAP and M-ATV 

support, how does your team

sustain these critical systems?

Sustainment of MRAP and

M-ATV systems is our most

important support initiative at

DSCC. We’ve worked with the

MRAP program manager, Defense

Logistics Information Service, Army,

Marine Corps and others to ensure

we succeed. Because the program’s

chief goal was to field these lifesaving vehicles quickly, the normal

lead-time to provision repair parts

Defense Logistics Agency Photo
Loglines l May - June 2010 29

s Richardson

ystems Support Readiness and Reliability of the Navy’s Nuclear Fleet Storage and Distr

by DLA Strategic Communications

typical of other weapon-system

introductions was missing, and we

had no real history of repair-part

demand. MRAP is actually a family

of similar vehicles with a number of

configurations made by six different 

manufacturers, so understanding the

scope of the repair-part requirement

was a challenge.

Once DLIS assigned national stock

numbers and cataloged parts, DSCC

got inventory flowing rapidly into 

DLA depots, particularly readiness

drivers like parts for suspensions, firesuppression systems, wiring harnesses

and air conditioning/heater systems.

In just over one year, the number of

MRAP NSNs in the supply system

doubled, depot stock-on-hand

tripled, and forward stocks in Kuwait

quadrupled. DLA now stocks more

than $400 million in MRAP parts in

its various depots.

Operational readiness of the

MRAP fleet is the real test of our 

efforts, and readiness rates are

high – more than 90 percent are

operationally ready.

4. As the responsible drawdown

continues in Iraq and operations

increase in Afghanistan, what

challenges do you see for DSCC’s

continued support of warfighters 

in Southwest Asia?

We have planned for a decrease

in operations tempo of specific 

vehicles and other weapon systems

from Iraq that are not deploying to

operations in Afghanistan. We have

dialed-back demand forecasts for

parts that support those vehicles.

We will also manage the impact

of Army- and Marine Corpsowned inventories of repair parts

that had been sent forward to

support operations returning to the

continental U.S. As this material is

returned to CONUS service depots, we

foresee them living off that inventory

for a period of time for industrial

repair and overhaul production. We

will adjust our buys and are working

with the services on this issue.

We’re poised to support

any increase in OPTEMPO in

Afghanistan. We maintain a

continuous dialogue with Army and

Marine Corps logisticians to discuss

weekly readiness rates, potential long

lead times and ways to prevent or

correct issues.

5. One of your top priorities is

support for the Navy’s nuclear

propulsion program. What is the

most important component of

DSCC’s support and how does the

center sustain this program?

Our success in supporting the

program is based on teamwork

between the customers, suppliers

and employees who interact with

them daily. We ensure sustainment

by including nuclear customers in

every decision, and we continue to

work to improve our relationship.

The endgame is the readiness and

reliability of the Navy’s nuclear fleet. 

We believe in that mission and are

willing to do whatever is necessary to

see it through.

6. Under 2005 Base Realignment

and Closure legislation, DSCC

gained the tire supply and support

mission for almost all of the

Defense Department. What are

some of the associated challenges?

Overall, the tire privatization

initiative has been a monumental

success. Customers have been very

satisfied with DLA’s performance, 
30 www.dla.mil

TEN QUESTIONS WITH. . .

 Weapon Systems Support Readiness and Reliability of the Navy’s Nuclear Fleet Storag

seeing on-time delivery levels

consistently higher than 95 percent.

We had a few challenges, and

there were some initial challenges for

customers. Even though the contract

resulted in a net decrease in costs for

tires to DoD and taxpayers, it shifted

some transportation costs down to

the individual ordering units. This

required some adjustments in service

budgets to get the ordering units

properly funded. We also discovered

commercial tire practices do not

always meet the needs of military

customers, so we’ve adjusted the

contract to palletize tires for shipping

and handle return of tire carcasses.

7. BRAC 2005 legislation also

directed certain military service

components integrate into DLA

to achieve operational and cost

efficiencies. How have the changes 

impacted DSCC’s mission?

Among other things, BRAC

directed us to assume responsibility

to procure depot-level repairable

assemblies from the services. That

means leveraging DLA’s huge

buying power and going to market

with consolidated requirements for

consumable and repairable items. We

now have detachments at Warren,

Mich., Mechanicsburg, Pa., and

Aberdeen, Md., and we’re finding 

opportunities for joint and combined

contracts to drive prices down and

efficiencies up.

BRAC also directed us to assume

responsibility for managing supply,

storage and distribution functions at

the services’ large industrial depots,

where they perform heavy equipment

maintenance and overhaul. We now

operate detachments at Norfolk

Naval Shipyard, Va.; Puget Sound

Naval Shipyard, Wash.; Marine

Corps Logistics Base Albany, Ga.;

and Tobyhanna Army Depot, Pa.

The future will bring more

integration as we incorporate

additional SS&D activities at Pearl

Harbor Naval Shipyard, Hawaii;

Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, N.H.;

MCLB Barstow, Calif.; and Anniston

Army Depot, Ala.

8. You have created a five-year 

plan aimed at charting details

of the center’s manpower and

mission. What opportunities does

the plan provide DSCC in the near 

and long terms?

I’ve directed a selective hiring

freeze to slow execution of our labor

budget, so we can achieve the DLA

director’s mandate to maintain our

current cost-recovery rate in fiscal 

2010. In the Army, we operate under

a table of authorized strength, so

I’ve directed DSCC managers do the

same. We’ve developed a detailed

baseline of personnel to document

current and desired future states.

Beyond this, I’ve told DSCC

directors to model cost reductions

of 5 percent per year between fiscal 

2011 and 2016, for a total reduction

of 20 percent over seven years. Later

this spring, directors will brief me on

their detailed plans and we’ll make

decisions on how to proceed.

 9. The agency director has said

to expect lean years ahead in the

defense budget. How does your

five-year outlook help DSCC plan 

for the future and make the most

of scarce resources?

We foresee a reduction in military

OPTEMPO in the future and a shift

in national priorities, so preparing

for the future is the basis of this fiveyear effort. I believe sales will remain

fairly strong in the medium term,

particularly as land-force equipment

returns to CONUS and undergoes

repair and refurbishment. After

that I believe we should prepare for

declines. The key is to make those

plans now.

10. What do you see on the horizon

for DSCC?

Predicting the future is difficult, 

but I see DLA as a growth area within

DoD. BRAC 2005 extended DLA’s

responsibilities, and it can extend

further to achieve additional savings

through centralized and consolidated

buying power, storage and distribution,

and inventory efficiencies.

DSCC will continue to expand to

detachments colocated with major

customers. This will eventually scale

to 12 detachments, representing

almost a third of its workforce. I see a

bright future for DLA and DSCC, and

it’s an honor to help create it.
Loglines l May - June 2010 31

DLA NewsWire Compiled by DLA Strategic Communications

J

oining 350 million people already

on the popular social media site, the

Defense Logistics Agency has launched its

official Facebook page at http://www.

facebook.com/dla.mil.

The page is available for viewing by 

anyone in the world, but DLA’s primary 

audiences for the page will be customers 

and suppliers, Department of Defense

leadership, media representatives, other

DoD organizations and DLA employees.

“Knowing that thousands of people 

now turn to social media sites for 

information was a primary factor in 

adding a Web 2.0 initiative to my 2010 

Director’s Guidance,” DLA Director Navy 

Vice Adm. Alan Thompson said.

Content posted on the page will 

inform fans of DLA news and milestones, 

highlight extraordinary employees and

provide a calendar of DLA events as well 

as photographs and videos.

Taking advantage of Web 2.0 

technology, DLA officials said they hope 

to receive comments and feedback on 

postings and create an active dialogue.

The Facebook page joins the agency’s 

public Web site, http://www.dla.mil,

and the agency’s internal communication 

site, DLA Today, as methods to communicate with employees, customers and 

other stakeholders. 

— Defense Logistics Agency

Strategic Communications

DLA Launches Facebook Page

Depot to Receive DoD Award for

Installation Excellence

The Defense Logistics Agency’s Defense 

Distribution Depot Susquehanna, in 

New Cumberland, Pa., has been selected 

to receive a Commander in Chief’s 

Annual Award for Installation 

Excellence, Defense

Department officials 

announced April 9.

DDSP is one of five 

2010 winners of the 

prestigious award.

The distribution 

depot, under the

command of Navy Capt. 

J.G. King, was recognized 

for its service in providing

commodities to all armed

forces, federal agencies and other

defense depots in the eastern half of the

United States, as well as Central and 

South America, Europe, North Africa 

recognizes the outstanding and

innovative efforts of the people who 

operate and maintain U.S. military 

installations,” according to a DoD news 

release. “The five recipients of this highly 

competitive Presidential award were 

selected for their exemplary support of

Department of Defense missions.

“Installation excellence enables 

better mission performance and 

enhances the quality of life for military 

men and women and their families. 

Each winning installation succeeded in 

providing excellent working, housing 

and recreational conditions.”

An awards ceremony honoring the 

recipients of this year’s award is slated 

for May 5 at the Pentagon. 

— Defense Logistics Agency

Strategic Communications

and Southwest Asia. 

As the Defense Department’s largest 

distribution center, the depot last year built 

more than 28,600 air pallets, filled 

more than 9,990 sea containers

and loaded more than

6,300 trucks for delivery 

to more than 50

military installations,

officials said. At the 

same time, the depot

completed “massive

re-warehousing” in 

preparation to receive

material repositioned

from the Base Realignment

and Closure process, giving it

stewardship of more than a million 

different stock items. 

“The Commander in Chief’s Annual 

Award for Installation Excellence 
32 www.dla.mil

S

Success Success Prep

Story by Sara Moore

S

trong leadership commitment

and a concentrated effort by

many agency employees are

what enabled the Defense

Logistics Agency to successfully

transition 5,141 employees out of the

National Security Personnel System and

back into the General Schedule system

about a month ahead of the Defense

Department’s schedule, DLA human

resources offi cials said.

The transition happened March

28 and included all of DLA’s NSPS

employees except those who were

deployed at the time, said Stacey Salo,

staff director for human resources

policy. Deployed employees covered

under NSPS will be transitioned out of

the system upon their return or no later

than Jan. 1, 2012, the latest possible date

for conversion as mandated by the fi scal

2010 National Defense Authorization Act,

she said.

At the time of its transition, DLA

was the largest defense agency to have

successfully transitioned out of NSPS, said

Brad Bunn, director of human resources. It

also accomplished the quickest transition,

moving forward even before DoD fi elded

an automated transition process, which

was planned for late April.

One of the main reasons DLA moved

forward quickly was the nature of the

agency’s workforce, Bunn said. Unlike

other defense agencies, DLA did not have

all its employees covered under NSPS, he

said, and therefore had NSPS employees

and GS employees working side by side.

This situation was not ideal and was not

the way DoD envisioned NSPS working,

Bunn said.

“I call it reunifi cation, if you will,”

he said, referring to the transition out of

NSPS. “It basically reunifi es our NSPS

and GS workforce so that we’re now

back to operating under one set of rules

for pay, classifi cation and performance

management.”

Agency leaders understood that

making such a quick transition, and

doing each personnel transaction

manually, would involve a lot of work and

might come at a cost to normal human

resources business, Bunn said. To offset

that cost, DLA human resources leaders

made sure the workforce was prepared so

the agency’s mission was affected as little

as possible, he said.

“The mission impact was felt by the

[human resources] organization, but

I think the way that we planned and

executed it ensured that we minimized

the impact to DLA overall,” he said. “Our

support to warfi ghters and customers,

our core mission areas, those were

paramount in our planning, in terms of

ensuring no impact to them.”

Within the fi rst week of the transition,

most employees received a notifi cation of

personnel action, including their grade,

step, pay and position description under

GS, Salo said. Key to the success of the

transition, she said, was a commitment

by agency leadership to do the work

necessary to make it smooth and orderly.

“From the time that we were asked

to transition to when it actually was

effected was a really short window of time

to accomplish all the tasks and take care

of all the steps that needed to happen to

make that successful,” she said. “It took a

concentrated effort and a commitment on
Loglines l May - June 2010 33

the part of the leadership to review all the 

position descriptions of the employees

that were affected, make sure that those

job descriptions were reflected accurately, 

and then commit to a communications

change-management plan to explain to

employees what was going to happen

during the transition and how their pay

would be affected.”

Bunn also cited the commitment

by agency leadership as paramount to

the transition’s success. DLA’s 

senior leadership had been

planning and working

for months to ensure

a smooth transition

and had been

communicating with

the workforce from

headquarters down

to each primary-level 

field activity to make 

sure employees knew

what to expect, he said.

“That has been an absolute key to

success – from the director and the

senior leadership team, throughout the

field organizations that have people in 

NSPS, we had a level of engagement and 

attention that was essentially the same as

when we spiraled into NSPS,” he said.

Another key to DLA’s successful

transition out of NSPS was the agency

human resources staff, who did all the

planning and coordination, and then

executed the transition, Bunn said.

“I’m extremely lucky to have the 

best human resources operation in the

Department of Defense working here

in DLA,” he said. “They were absolutely 

committed and dedicated to making this

successful.”

Now that the transition is complete,

DLA is focusing on sustaining the

momentum of the cultural change and

contributing to the development of the 

DoD-wide performance-management

system, which also was mandated by the

fiscal 2010 NDAA, Salo said. 

Bunn is participating in a senior

advisory group that is forming a way 

forward for DoD in the performancemanagement arena. He said that as he 

works with DoD, he is committed to

making sure the good aspects of NSPS

– such as aligning individual objectives 

and goals with agency objectives and 

goals and increasing communication

between employees and supervisors 

about performance – are sustained and

integrated into the new performancemanagement system.

“As NSPS gets smaller in the rearview 

mirror, I don’t want to lose touch with 

what NSPS did for DLA,” Bunn said. 

“I’m interested in the future 

in working with senior

department leaders as

they plan and design

the performancemanagement system

that will comprise all

of those things, and

I want to make sure 

DLA’s voice is heard 

in that process and that

we’re able to embed those

good practices into the

whole enterprise, across DLA.”

Bunn said he is also committed to

sharing the lessons DLA has learned from

its transition process with other defense

agencies as they conduct their own

transitions. The most important lesson 

agency leaders learned was to develop a 

strong communications plan and keep the

transition process transparent, he said. 

DLA used several avenues, such as 

the NSPS transition Web site, a dedicated

e-mail inbox for employees to submit

questions about the transition, and

updates at town hall and executive board 

meetings, to keep its workforce informed

and engaged in the transition. 

Bunn said he plans to share this and

other lessons, such as the importance

of planning and coordination before the

transition, with other leaders in formal

and informal settings.

“I’ve already committed to my 

counterparts in the services and defense 

agencies that once we complete our

transition, we’re going to do after-action

reviews and share our lessons learned 

across the DoD enterprise with the NSPS

transition office,” he said.

While the transition so far has

been successful, both Bunn and Salo

recognized that employees will continue 

to have questions about the change and 

how it affects them individually. All 

of DLA’s transition resources are still

available to assist employees, Salo said. 

The NSPS transition Web site,

http://www.hr.dla.mil/nspstogs/

facts.html, is still up and running and 

is being updated as issues arise or as

DoD provides new guidance, she said. 

Employees can also still e-mail questions

to the NSPS to GS transition mailbox at

nspstransitiontogs@dla.mil, and answers 

to those questions that could apply to the

workforce as a whole will be added to the

frequently asked questions section of the

Web site. For employees new to the GS 

system, DoD is also still offering a GS 101 

online course to familiarize them with the 

system.

“As long as employees have questions 

and concerns, we’re ready to help address

them,” Salo said.

Because DLA was one of the first 

defense agencies to transition out of

NSPS, there wasn’t a standard to measure

its success by, Bunn said. However, 

he said he believes it was a successful 

process.

“My definition of success is a smooth 

conversion process in terms of the 

transactions processing correctly to

payroll ... and that the impact to our 

primary mission in DLA is minimal if not

unnoticeable, and I think we’ve achieved 

that so far,” he said. 

“From the time that we were asked to transition to when it actually was

effected was a really short window of time to accomplish all the tasks and

take care of all the steps that needed to happen to make that successful.”

— Stacy Salo
I AM

My name is:

Joe Long

I am:

Deputy commander of the Defense Logistics Agency, Norfolk Naval

Shipyard, located in Portsmouth, Va.

Describe your job in a sentence:

As the deputy commander for DLA NNSY, I ensure the people who

repair Navy vessels for NNSY receive the right material, at the right

place, at the right time.

How long have you worked for DLA:

I have worked for DLA just under a year. I became part of the DLA

team as result of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure legislation,

but have more than 30 years of experience with the military.

What’s your favorite thing about working for DLA?

The professionalism this organization demonstrates is second

to none, which makes my job easier as I support warfighters. When

obstacles arise, we work quickly to determine a solution and

get results.

What’s your best memory of working here?

As I am fairly new to DLA, my most memorable moments

to date involve the people. Everyone I have dealt with, from

administration to human resources to logistical support, has

been stellar and a pleasure to work with.

How do you make a difference to warfighters?

I support the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for the materials required

to repair Navy vessels. This ensures our warfighters are ready to

defend our country. It makes me proud to know I make a small

contribution to this effort.