The Pentagon has stood up a new operation to focus solely on permanent fixes for the decades-old problems of damaged and lost household goods encountered by service members and families moving to new duty stations.
With military moving season just around the corner, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday announced the establishment of the Personal Property Activity, elevating the importance of oversight of military household goods moves as a key mission. In a Jan. 21 memorandum, he stated the PPA will report to him through the under secretary for acquisition and sustainment.
The new group’s mission will be to “guarantee high quality, reliable and efficient household goods and vehicle shipment services for the more-than-300,000 warfighters worldwide who move somewhere every year,” Hegseth said.
If there are failures in the process, “our job is to correct it and make it right, not deny that it happened,” he added.
For decades, military families have experienced problems with missed pickups and deliveries, broken and lost household goods and a cumbersome claims process. In his video, Hegseth described examples of dressers missing a leg, couches looking like they had been dragged down the street and a service member’s family’s belongings that were packed upside down in boxes, spilling out and getting crushed.
“We listened to the concerns of our warriors,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth fired the director of the personal property program last summer, and directed the formation of a task force to find solutions. That task force is headed by Army Maj. Gen. Lance Curtis. Hegseth also named Curtis as the PPA’s first commander.
“When our warfighters are worried about their household goods, they aren’t focused on their mission,” Curtis said in an announcement of the reform. “We are ending that distraction. Mission readiness is non-negotiable.”
Over more than 30 years, defense officials have made several attempts to reform and improve the government’s handling of the household goods move process.
The most recent was a massive effort to privatize the management of the moves under the $6.2 billion Global Household Goods Contract. DOD terminated the contract in June, citing inadequacies by the contractor, HomeSafe Alliance.
Hegseth’s designation of PPA as a special activity removes the responsibility and oversight of the personal property program from the U.S. Transportation Command.
Here are some of the changes the task force has already implemented, according to PPA spokesman Army Maj. Matthew Visser:
- This year, service members moving during peak moving season — generally May to September — can start booking moves March 20 (if they have orders to move), one month earlier than booking started in previous years.
- There have been increases in per diem paid when a family is inconvenienced because of a mover’s delays. In addition to the service member, per diem is allowed for dependents — up to 75% of what meals and incidentals would be. The inconvenience claims are paid by the moving company.
- Personal property business rules have been updated to provide more competitive compensation for industry. After listening to movers’ concerns about lack of competitive rates, the task force identified this issue as a limiting factor in getting the best movers.
- A call center has been established for troops and families to communicate directly.
End to end
The PPA will oversee the personal property process end to end — from the time the service member books a shipment to the claims process, if required — Hegseth said.
The new group will also have capabilities that commands have, such as acquisition, legal and resource management.
“This is enduring,” said Visser. “No longer will the Defense Property Program not receive the attention and oversight that’s needed. There will be a commander who will be responsive and responsible for the program.”
PPA will be headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, and there will be a “small growth” in the number of personnel, Visser said.
Hegseth directed that PPA be established by May 1 and fully operational within one year. The task force will continue to issue guidance for the Defense Personal Property Program until the PPA reaches initial operational capability, according to Hegseth’s memo.
The military services’ shipping offices will remain on installations, helping service members with their moves, but they will report to and be accountable to the PPA, instead of the individual service branch, Visser added.
Movers for America, a coalition of companies, moving professionals and independent owner-operators that move military families, issued a statement applauding Hegseth for “taking decisive action to fix the military’s Permanent Change of Station system and for elevating this mission to the highest levels of leadership within the Department of Defense.”
“Treating military moves as a priority and placing direct responsibility under the secretary sends a clear message that the readiness of service members and their families matters to America’s national security,” the group said.
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book “A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families.” She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
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