Defense Transportation

The Defense Department (DOD) has been trying since 1994 to reengineer the personal property program by simplifying processes, controlling costs, ensuring quality by adopting best practices used by commercial businesses, and relieving carriers of terms and conditions unique to the military. Last year, the Navy began a pilot that allows servicemembers to choose a carrier and arrange their own moves. Between January 1998 and March 1999, 223 servicemembers used the pilot program to arrange their own move. Participation has been relatively low compared to the three other pilots planned or under way, which involve substantially more shipments--about 1,400 to 45,000 shipments annually. Surveys show that participants are satisfied with the pilot and would use the option again. The option of allowing members to arrange their own moves is not offered in any of the other pilots, which are broader in scope and are intended to replace the current program. GAO recommends that DOD consider testing the Navy pilot and its unique features in conjunction with one or more of the other pilots.

GAO noted that: (1) between January 1998 and March 1999, 223 servicemembers have used the pilot program to arrange their own move rather than use the current program; (2) participation has been relatively low compared to the other three pilots under way or planned, which involve substantially more shipments--approximately 1,400 to 45,000 shipments annually; (3) survey data indicate that participants are satisfied with the pilot and would use the option again; (4) because the pilot offers servicemembers a choice between the current program and arranging their own move, implementing the option increases the workload for local personal property officials; (5) the member arranged move option is not featured in any of the other pilots, which are broader in scope and are intended to replace the current program; (6) while the U.S. Transportation Command is responsible for evaluating all of the pilots to determine which one could provide better long-term results, its plan for doing so has not been finalized; and (7) in addition, the U.S. Transportation Command's draft evaluation plan proposes to collect information on the extent the Navy pilot works as an option within the current program at a few Navy sites, which may not provide adequate data to assess the Navy pilot's feasibility or its compatibility with the other pilots' results.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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