Latest news with #GlobalHouseholdGoodsContract
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Pentagon targets fewer moves for troops to trim PCS costs
Military members should be moving less frequently for greater stability — and to save taxpayers' dollars, according to defense officials who have set the process in motion for those reductions. In a memo announced Wednesday, Pentagon officials ordered the military service branches to cut in half the amount of money they spend on permanent change-of-station, or PCS, moves by fiscal 2030. DOD spends about $5 billion a year on these moves, which include the physical moves of household goods as well as allowances and other entitlements related to moving. The services are required to develop plans within four months to reduce the moves, so it's not yet clear how many actual moves will be cut to achieve those savings. Officials will target 'discretionary moves,' such as PCS moves within the United States, overseas and individual service member training travel. The services are directed to reduce these discretionary move budgets by 10% in fiscal year 2027, 30% in fiscal 2028, 40% in fiscal 2029 and 50% by fiscal 2030. The reductions will be based on the fiscal 2026 budget, adjusted for inflation. 'Lower-priority PCS moves should be reduced for service members and their families seeking greater geographic stability,' wrote Jules W. Hurst II, acting undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, in the memo. The services must determine which PCS moves 'are most critical to support operational requirements and key professional development,' he wrote. About 80% of DOD PCS moves are in the discretionary category and 20% in the mandatory category, said Tim Dill, acting deputy under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, in a briefing to reporters. Reducing the frequency of moves will improve the quality of life for service members and their families, Dill said. Military families often face challenges related to making PCS moves every few years, ranging from issues with shipping their household goods to securing housing. Families also navigate disruptions in military spouses' employment, difficulty finding child care, children's school transitions and finding new providers for special needs family members. Do military families really need to move so much? Military advocates, including the nonprofit Military Family Advisory Network, have argued that the frequency of military moves must be evaluated. 'We have seen the intersection between the frequency of moves and key quality-of-life concerns ranging from food insecurity to loneliness,' said Shannon Razsadin, CEO of the nonprofit Military Family Advisory Network. 'We're encouraged by the immediate changes outlined by Secretary Hegseth,' Razsadin said, including the Pentagon's separate effort to temporarily increase the reimbursement rates for families moving themselves amid problems with the new Global Household Goods Contract. At times, Congress members have expressed interest in reducing the number of PCS moves. Various efforts within DOD have been made to study the issue, but no large-scale actions have been taken. Military officials have argued that the frequency of PCS moves is necessary to meet operational requirements and fill empty jobs. Hurst's memo also directs service officials to propose various career path changes for officers and noncommissioned officers in ways that promote geographic stability. The services are tasked with proposing changes that could allow some officers and NCOs 'to specialize in lieu of gaining generalized experience across a range of functions,' according to the memo. The services will consider how they can provide 'broadening opportunities and continuing leadership opportunities without the need for a PCS move,' Dill said. DOD isn't dictating to the services the way they should accomplish the changes, he said, and there will be room for discussion about whether the budget cuts are feasible during the time frame. 'We want them to come back and tell us if that seems like the right number for them,' Dill said. 'On top of being efficient from a fiscal perspective, the other goal of this policy … is to ensure that this works well for service members and their families.' The effort is not exclusive to service members with dependents, Dill said, and will not increase the burden on single service members. 'We understand that PCS moves affect everyone and so this is not a policy where we just think we need to take the moves away from the families and put it on someone else,' he said.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘It's only getting worse': Hegseth issues changes to fix military moving issues
Top brass at the Department of Defense is weighing in on the way the military moves its members after an Action News Jax investigation. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has directed the U.S. Transportation Command to implement sweeping changes amid the busy moving season. Hegseth issued a list of changes, starting with slashing the number of moves the new program through HomeSafe Alliance receives, saying, 'We know it's not working and it's only getting worse.' Action News Jax has been covering the military moving nightmares for months, talking to military families who wait weeks, even months, to receive their goods, movers who can't afford to work at HomeSafe's rates, and more. INVESTIGATES: After the military switches to a new company, moving issues continue 'The stress does not end from start to finish,' one Navy sailor told us. Experiences like those with are the reason Hegseth said he is changing the plan. All moves will now be split between the new program with HomeSafe at the helm and the old system with multiple vendors, like Jacksonville-based Stefan Cordeiro of Stewart Moving and Storage Memorandum directing immediate modifications to the personal property program 'Everybody has been spewing their concerns for at least the last two years now,' Cordiero, whose business took a major hit with the new program, said. Now, the DOD is taking action. Earlier this month, it relieved the program's director of his duties. Hegseth also just ordered TRANSCOM to come up with new, more competitive rates for moving companies, increasing the amount military families are reimbursed if they move themselves, and developing a task force to review the entire moving process and see how it can be improved, as well as tracking weekly progress. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] In response to the memo HomeSafe Alliance sent us this statement: 'HomeSafe Alliance is grateful for Defense Secretary Hegseth's attention to the Global Household Goods Contract and the directives he has issued, which will greatly improve moving experiences for military service members and their families. DoD raising our rates to account for significant inflation from the last four years would substantially benefit our ability to facilitate world-class moving services for our nation's heroes. We look forward to working with the PCS Task Force to demonstrate how our program modernizes and digitizes the move process and resolves decades-long issues with military relocations.' [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hegseth orders immediate changes to troops' household goods program
With peak military moving season in full swing, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered immediate changes to the system that moves troops' household goods, in light of 'recent deficiencies' in the performance of the new Global Household Goods Contract, according to a Pentagon memo. That includes increasing the reimbursement rate for troops and families who decide to move all or part of their household goods themselves to 130% of what the government would have paid under the GHC contract for personally procured moves made May 15 through Sept. 30. The rate is currently 100%. 'I take my responsibilities to our service members, civilians and their families seriously,' Hegseth wrote in a May 20 memo to senior Pentagon leaders, combatant commanders and defense agencies. The new contract, worth potentially up to $17.9 billion over nine years, is aimed at fixing long-standing problems with missed pickup and delivery dates, broken and lost items and claims. However, amid the contract's rocky rollout this year, families have reported delays in getting their household goods picked up and delivered. 'We know it's not working and it's only getting worse. We've heard your concerns about contractor performance quality and accountability. We hear you loud and clear. That's why we're taking decisive action immediately,' Hegseth said in a video posted on X. He described the process as 'a mess,' and acknowledged 'it's never been a great system.' The current GHC rates 'fail to reflect market rates,' Hegseth said. He's ordered a review of the rates being paid to movers under both the new GHC system, which consolidates management under a single contractor, HomeSafe Alliance, and the legacy system, in an effort to ensure enough companies participate in moving troops' household goods. And since the rates for reimbursing service members for moving themselves are tied to those GHC rates, Hegseth ordered the increase to 130% of the GHC rate for personally procured moves. Hegseth has directed U.S. Transportation Command to hold both the GHC and the legacy moving program 'accountable' and to provide weekly updates to the offices of the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness and undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment. He's also ordered both of those offices to form a PCS task force to 'act decisively to improve, expand, terminate or transfer GHC or [legacy program] responsibilities as needed,' according to the memo. 'We're going to fix it holistically after peak moving season, and we're going to throw the kitchen sink at it to make sure your moves work this season as well,' Hegseth said. TRANSCOM, which had been gradually ramping up the volume of the moves with HomeSafe Alliance, since April 2024, had expected to move all domestic shipments under the new contract by this year's peak moving season, but they scrapped that plan earlier this year as problems began to mount with HomeSafe Alliance's ability to provide enough capacity to pack, load, truck and unload service members' belongs. Season of Uncertainty: Many questions remain as peak military moving time approaches In the meantime, officials are continuing to use both the new GHC system and the legacy system to move people, in an effort to ensure there are enough movers. Hegseth also said he fired Andy Dawson, the civilian head of the program, replacing him with a two-star general, Army Maj. Gen. Lance G. Curtis, commander of the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, who will report directly to Hegseth. Defense officials have had multiple meetings about the problem over the past few weeks, Hegseth said. A number of moving companies have declined to participate in the new GHC system, citing lower rates than they've been traditionally paid. When GHC can't find a mover for a service member's belongings, it turns the shipment back to TRANSCOM, and the shipment goes to a mover in the legacy system. At least 5,700 shipments have had to be turned away from GHC, according to the most recent estimate. But movers have complained that legacy system rates released earlier this month are also lower than those of previous years, further contributing to a lack of capacity to move household goods. 'It's a season of instability' for moving companies, said Dan Bradley, vice president of government and military relations for the International Association of Movers. It's been difficult for moving companies to plan for the season and make important decisions such as buying more trucks and hiring personnel, especially since until recently they were under the impression that 100% of DOD moves would be made under GHC, he said. 'They want to support service members in those moves,' he said, but it's difficult to turn around at the drop of a hat. 'They're doing the best they can. They want to stay in the program.'
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Problems with Privatized Household Goods Shipments Prompt Hegseth to Order Immediate Changes
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered immediate changes to address a multitude of problems this year with domestic military permanent change of station moves under the Global Household Goods Contract, or GHC. In a memo Tuesday to senior leaders and combatant commanders, Hegseth announced that he has ordered U.S. Transportation Command to address what he called "recent deficiencies" in performance by HomeSafe Alliance, the company that manages the $7.2 billion contract to run the department's moving process. Military families with PCS orders this year have reported numerous issues with scheduling and executing moves, such as packers who don't show up, delayed pickups and deliveries, and cancellations. Read Next: GOP's 'Big Beautiful' Bill with $8.5 Billion for Military Quality-of-Life Boost Passes House Hegseth outlined six steps Transportation Command will take to better support military personnel and their families when they move. "Relocating our personnel is critical to the military mission, putting human resources and expertise where they are needed to defend the nation," Hegseth wrote. According to the memo, Transportation Command must immediately hold HomeSafe Alliance, as well as the legacy system, known as Tender of Service, accountable in meeting performance benchmarks, providing weekly updates to senior Pentagon acquisition and personnel leadership. The command also must make sure that the GHC is fully operational and, where it falls short, moves should be transferred to the legacy program. The contract, which has been in the works for years, was designed to privatize management of troops' household goods shipments during moves -- and solve widespread dissatisfaction among military families over the handling of the shipments by Transportation Command and the military. Transportation Command must review the rates it pays to HomeSafe under the contract, and "if appropriate, implement economic price adjustments" to raise the rates, which have been criticized by industry officials as not competitive with market rates. And, most important to military families who prefer to execute moves themselves, Hegseth increased the rate the Defense Department will pay service members to move themselves -- a "personally procured move" -- to up to 130% of what HomeSafe is currently supposed to receive if the company performed the move. "As I have determined that the current GHC rates fail to reflect market rates and are in excess of 130% of current GHC rates, implement adjustments to the government constructed costs for reimbursement of personally procured moves from May 15, 2025, through September 30, 2025," Hegseth wrote. HomeSafe Alliance won the household goods contract in 2021 following a series of protests over the award by other bidders. Under the contract, the entire moving process, from scheduling, packing, pickup and delivery, is supposed to be managed by the private company. HomeSafe Alliance conducted test moves last year, and this year was supposed to handle the majority of the domestic moves. According to the publication Federal News Network, however, just 25% of domestic moves had been assigned to GHC by April and, of those, 1,600 were turned back over to the legacy system because HomeSafe couldn't handle the capacity. The DoD oversees roughly 400,000 household goods shipments each year -- 15% of all moves in the U.S. In a statement to HomeSafe Alliance officials said they were grateful for the directive, adding that it will "greatly improve moving experiences for military service members and their families." "DoD raising our rates to account for significant inflation from the last four years would substantially benefit our ability to facilitate world-class moving services for our nation's heroes," the company said in a statement. But Dan Hilton, executive director of the American Trucking Associations' Moving and Storage Conference, expressed continued reservations over the contract, which replaced a program that "continues to work well with service members." "We remain concerned over the GHC contractor's unpreparedness, due to lack of industry engagement in its program, to handle any meaningful volume during this peak season. It's been the experience of our members that the traditional ToS capacity has been unable to adequately plan for peak season due to the GHC contractor's failed implementation," Hilton said in a statement Wednesday. Megan Harless, an Army veteran and military spouse who has become an advocate for military families undergoing PCS moves, called the memo and the increases for do-it-yourself moves "a step in the right direction." "It's what we've been asking for since January. This, accountability and transparency," Harless said in a statement on her LinkedIn page. As part of the order, Hegseth also created a PCS Task Force to review the process and make recommendations for improving, expanding, transferring or terminating the contract or responsibilities of HomeSafe or the legacy system. In their statement, HomeSafe officials said they "look forward to working" with the task force to show how their program modernizes the move process and "resolves decades-long issues with military relocations." As part of the ongoing concerns with the PCS process, Transportation Command also relieved Andy Dawson, director of the Defense Personal Property Management Office, this week. He has been temporarily replaced by Army Maj. Gen. Lance Curtis. Hegseth said that the measures will help ensure that "our warriors and their families receive the best PCS move available." "The department owes them nothing less, and getting this right is part of restoring their trust in our military," he wrote. Related: Army Pulls Back Household Goods Shipments as Privatized Moving Contract Leads to Widespread Issues
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Military moving issues: Rates for service providers ‘not favorable' under new program
May is the start of the busy military moving season, and thousands of local service members could be caught in the fallout of a new program. Action News Jax has been investigating the military's rollout of the Global Household Goods Contract. Investigator Emily Turner talked to military members whose goods were late or lost. As a result of all the issues, the military dialed back the new program and its company, Homesafe Alliance. Now, she's talking to local business owners who are caught in the breakdown as well. Usually, this is the time of year when Stefan Cordeiro with Stewart Moving and Storage would be ramping up and running his crews hard. This year, he said, that's not quite the case. 'Last year in April, we hauled roughly about a million and a half, one million five hundred thousand pounds of furniture,' he said. 'This April, we hauled just a little over 500,000 pounds.' [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] That's a significant drop and a big difference to the bottom line. Military moves, the bulk of his business, are supposed to be sent to a new company, Homesafe Alliance. As Action News Jax has already reported, that decision launched a lawsuit, a petition, and a bevvy of complaints within the community the new program was supposed to help. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] 'The stress does not end from start to finish,' Jacksonville Navy member Olivia said. As a result, the military scaled back the rollout of GHC, but the fallout continues. The problems have gotten so bad, Action News Jax has obtained a copy of a notice the Army issued, delaying new GHC moves with Homesafe. Cordeiro chose not to work through Homesafe because he said the rates it sets are unsustainable. 'You either take the work and what they're offering,' he said, 'and their contract is not favorable in any means to the actual service provider.' And even though he can still move military members outside of that program, it's still costing him money. He said rates he was able to charge the military just last year are now being rejected, slashing the number of moves he can make and the revenue he gets from them. Letter to Transcom 4 by ActionNewsJax on Scribd Letter to Transcom by ActionNewsJax on Scribd Letter to Transcom Round 2 by ActionNewsJax on Scribd Letter to Andy Dawson3 by ActionNewsJax on Scribd Cordeiro has written the head of the United States Transportation Command several times and met with them once, hoping to effect change before things get worse. He's had no luck, though, saying, 'Everybody has been spewing their concerns for at least the last two years now, and it's just falling on deaf ears.' We reached out to Transcomm almost a week ago for a comment and data on how the Homesafe rollout is going. We were told they're working on the data and that they are 'anticipating some new information soon.' We'll let you know what that is when they tell us. Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
