Seven more military bases will begin participating in a new household goods shipment program this week, as the U.S. Transportation Command continues to ramp up domestic shipments in the new system that officials hope will improve the movements of service members.
The seven additional installations participating in the new program will only involve local moves within a 50-mile radius – typically installations moving to or from the base for various reasons.
That brings the total to 38 participating installations, with additional bases in 22 states expected to come online by the end of the year.
The new program’s contractor, HomeSafe Alliance, also began picking up the first interstate shipments from a limited number of bases the week of September 23. Current interstate shipments are from Norfolk., Virginia, to and from Seattle, Jacksonville, Florida or San Diego. It also includes shipments between San Diego and Seattle.
TRANSCOM will also soon begin ordering a limited number of interstate shipments between Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and Camp Pendleton, California.
5 bases to test a new private household goods shipping system
The additional bases that will begin local movements Monday are Fort Eisenhower and Fort Moore, Georgia; Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley, Kansas; Fort Knox, KY; Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri; and Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota. If service members are eligible to be included in moves within the new system, they will automatically be placed there when they plan to move their belongings.
The new process, designed to resolve long-standing issues with service member moves, essentially outsources the management of household goods shipments but retains ongoing oversight from TRANSCOM. But instead of dealing directly with the hundreds of movers participating in the existing system, TRANSCOM has outsourced this function to HomeSafe Alliance. It consolidates all these steps under a $6.2 billion Global Household Goods Contract, which could be worth up to $17.9 billion over nine years.
TRANSCOM officials expect to fully implement the new domestic moving system by the spring. They will begin the transition of international moves in September 2025.
The domestic phase of the contract “is going well, with shipment requests being successfully fulfilled,” Andy Dawson, director of the Defense Personal Property Management Office, told reporters on September 24. TRANSCOM has received positive feedback from the customers whose household goods are shipped. moved, as well as the transportation offices of the military departments, he said.
The new system will provide a single point of contact for troops as they move, and the digital ability to manage and track their shipments. It places responsibility for the quality of the moves in the hands of HomeSafe.
As of September 30, DOD sent orders for 244 shipments to HomeSafe, including 63 interstate shipment requests. Of the 181 local moves at the 31 facilities participating in a phased rollout since April, 141 have been completed. TRANSCOM officials did not have an estimate for the increased number of shipments this month with the seven additional bases.
TRANSCOM officials are working with HomeSafe and local military transportation offices to ensure locations are ready to transition to the new system. They are conducting a slow rollout to avoid risks to the system, which carries about 300,000 shipments of household goods a year.
“Soldiers have gone under in all military services and the U.S. Coast Guard [the new contract]but based on the original locations where we started, the Navy has been a huge supporter of our transformation efforts,” said Dawson. About 64% of these movements were sailors.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we believe GHC will deliver a better moving experience for our service members and families,” said Dawson.
TRANSCOM officials declined to provide information on the percentage of on-time collections and deliveries of household goods, citing “proprietary information.” Under the old system, movers are rated based on customer satisfaction surveys, on-time pickup and delivery, and claim ratios.
Some movers in the current system have urged lawmakers to force a pause on the contract and require the Government Accountability Office to conduct an audit. They cite questions about how the new system’s federal regulations will affect those involved in the military moving industry, potentially causing movers to leave the military moving industry, resulting in less capacity to move military families.
One concern is the wage requirements under the federal Service Contract Act. The new household goods contract takes into account “any wage determination update made by the Ministry of Labor,” TRANSCOM said. Once a DOL wage determination is made, HomeSafe may request compensation updates to the contract to increase compensation for employees working under GHC in that wage category.
Dawson said officials have been working with representatives from the Department of Labor to get more clarity for moving companies on how the rules will affect them.
It is HomeSafe’s responsibility to get the necessary capacity into the moving industry to support the home goods program, Dawson said. The contracts are between HomeSafe and the movers who will become part of the network, not TRANSCOM.
“As we continue to move forward, I expect HomeSafe will have the capacity needed to support our service members and families,” Dawson said.
