Oct 22, 2020
— Under a decision issued Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office, the company selected to manage military moves and shipments of household goods belonging to U.S. service members has lost the contract but still may be able to bid for the job, worth up to $19.9 billion over a decade.
Oct 21, 2020
— For those of you who were on the IAM Virtual Annual Meeting Session called “An Inside Look at DoD’s Personal Property Program” there was much discussion on the USTC J9 Request for Information (RFI) put out to industry with regard to climate controlled facilities for NTS Retrograde and the removal of the 50 mile radius requirement for facilities needing to be near Oakland and Norfolk.
Oct 21, 2020
— Upsurge of COVID world-wide, and heading into cold/flu season is a stark reminder that the DoD Health Protocols are still in effect for industry and service members. These protocols will be rolled into the TOS for 2021. Read More.
Oct 14, 2020
— Last week, the U.S. Small Business Administration announced and issued a simplified forgiveness application for Paycheck Protection Program borrowers who obtained loans of $50,000 or less. The new PPP loan forgiveness application requires borrowers to confirm that funding received from the PPP loan was used for eligible costs.
Oct 14, 2020
— For yesterday’s J9 call, the read-ahead slides were covered quite quickly. Not much different in the slide content in terms of new news; however some significant inputs came during the open discussion portion of the meeting. The only real noteworthy portion of the slides is that J9 stated what they are seeing in execution and in workload projections, it looks like volume is returning to the norm; as opposed to seeing significant increases to the fall/winter volume.
Oct 13, 2020
— There are many considerations you should take into account when deciding when to submit forgiveness applications to the lender. Patience and adequate preparation might be more than just virtues in the PPP loan forgiveness context; they might lead to financial benefits for borrowers as well.
Oct 12, 2020
— Last week, the FMCSA announced a listening session pertaining to property carrier brokers. Specifically, they would like to hear from stakeholders on petitions, submitted for consideration by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and the Small Business in Transportation Coalition, which would amend certain requirements for property carrier brokers. Those interested in participating, or listening to the online session must pre-register.
Oct 12, 2020
— Military move officials did not have an update Friday on if or when troops might receive help paying to move their pets as part of a permanent change of station move. A senior Pentagon official told families in May that he would be "looking into" a pet shipping fee reimbursement. But Rick Marsh, the deputy director for strategic plans, policy and logistics at U.S. Transportation Command on Friday declined to comment on whether reimbursement was still under consideration.
Oct 2, 2020
— An issue of interest to IAM members that the association has been following since this summer, yesterday afternoon, a U.S. District Court Judge issued a preliminary injunction (aka "halt") to the June Presidential Proclamation that suspended the entry of foreign nationals via H-2B and other temporary work visas.
Sep 30, 2020
— Last week, the U.S. DoL issued a proposed rule, that would provide new factors to consider when employers are determining a worker's “independent contractor” status, under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Department's attempt to place new federal guidelines around independent contractor status comes as California and several other states are also actively addressing the matter via legislation.
Sep 28, 2020
— Nearly one-third of all airmen could continue teleworking from home after the Covid-19 pandemic tapers out, the service’s second-highest ranking officer has said.
Sep 24, 2020
— The counseling and shipment award numbers for the week remain above the average for this week. J9 mentioned they see this as reflective of the peak season shift to the right. Slide 4 shows short fuse returning to normal levels after a sustained significant increase going back to week 27 or so.
Sep 21, 2020
— IAM participated in all 4 PPF sessions with USTRANSCOM J9 and the Services/JPPSOs. Below is a “short” summary; but there were many topics covered and this is NOT an attempt to detail them all. If something gets glossed over that you are interested in, let me know and I can try to go into more detail. I did not focus on taking notes, but mostly followed along with the slides, the conversation, and the chat box.
Sep 10, 2020
— With the help of key Government/Military related committees in IAM, we put together comments for the proposed 2021 DP3 Business Rules. Feel free to use as a reference, use as your comments, provide your own expanded comments, or some combination. Whichever way you go, it’s important to provide comments to USTC J9 by this Friday, 11 Sep, 1630 CDT (4:30pm CDT)
Sep 9, 2020
— A month after drafting began, yesterday, Senate Republicans leadership released S. 178, their legislative proposal for the next round of COVID-19 relief discussions. The bill does not include many of the Democratic House leadership's key priorities, (additional funding for state and local governments and targeted stimulus payments among them). However, the scaled down relief package is largely viewed as an opportunity to break long-stalled negotiations with House leadership.
Sep 3, 2020
— Tuesday’s J9 call with industry and the Services followed a recent trend of very little change in data presented on the J9 slides, and very little interaction in terms of questions, answers and issues during the main portion of the brief. IAM took the opportunity, along with a few TSPs to ask questions and raise concerns with some of DoD’s proposed 2021 business rules. Specifically, the proposals to move Hawaii, Okinawa, and Spain to a winner-take-all Special Solicitation for COS 4; and the requirement for TSPs to provide a customer service capability on Saturdays.
Aug 27, 2020
— We are in week 35…the last historical week of peak season. The calls are getting more subdued. We’re hoping to see continued volume into the fall well beyond the historical numbers of the past.
Aug 26, 2020
— The 25 August USTC J9 call with industry and government representatives was the shortest of the season. No major issues or sticking points between industry and JPPSOs arose. several items were addressed.
Aug 13, 2020
— Much of today’s Peak Season call again centered around projections of workload into the fall. Refusals are extremely low; blackouts are extremely low; suspensions are low; offer handling time is low. The projected increased volume into the Fall is yet to materialize in a meaningful way that TSPs can see.
Aug 12, 2020
— The General Services Administration’s (GSA) Employee Relocation Resource Center (ERRC) held their Centralized Traffic Management Household Goods Program (CHAMP) virtual pre-bid meeting on 10 and 11 August.
Aug 12, 2020
— The August 11, J9 Conditions-Based Movement Call included inputs from the USTC Deputy Commander, VADM Mewbourne, the J9 Director, Rick Marsh and representatives from JPPSOs, Service Headquarters and industry participants.
Aug 6, 2020
— Before getting into details on this week’s Peak Season call, IAM received an email from the USTC J9 Director, Rick Marsh with regard to latest status on Sec 889 of the NDAA; and TSP certification. Per Mr. Marsh, as of COB 5 August, they had only received compliance certifications from roughly half of the HHG/UB SCACs and just under 20% of the NTS SCACs. The deadline for sending in certifications is 9 August.
Jul 31, 2020
— Due to the lengthy correspondence IAM put out on Sec 889 of the NDAA that came from Tuesday’s J9 Conditions Based Movement call, the following inputs cover other topics from that Tuesday call below, along with the Thursday Peak Season call.
Jul 28, 2020
— USTC J9 just released the attached email/advisory on Sec 889 of the 2019 NDAA. It has significant implications on your ability to remain on the TDL and receive shipments in DP3 for HHG and NTS shipments, beyond 13 August of 2020. Please read it thoroughly and comply by 9 August.
Jul 28, 2020
— 13 August, 2020 marks the date where provisions of Section 889 of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) take effect. Section 889 could potentially have an impact on your business. It’s time to start assessing if it does.
Jul 20, 2020
— Have you heard about Section 889 of the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)? The legislation was passed to combat national security and intellectual property threats that face the United States and contains two prohibitions: Part A and Part B.
Update Number 20-0104
Jul 20, 2020
— USTRANSCOM J9 posted Advisory #20-0104 today (20 July) with notice that it is extending TSP’s ability to refuse shipments without punitive action for shipments with a requested pickup through 31 August. This does NOT authorize TSPs to turnback any previously accepted shipment. The advisory also states that short fuse expansion to 10 days will remain in effect until 24 August, where it will begin contracting one day at a time until back to 5 days on 28 August.
Jul 16, 2020
— Have you heard about Section 889 of the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)? The legislation was passed to combat national security and intellectual property threats that face the United States and contains two prohibitions: Part A and Part B.
Jul 15, 2020
— On today’s J9 call (14 July), J9 started out by walking through the read-ahead slides. The data showed an increase in unpaid invoices. The J9 briefer noted the increase and stated it might be due to Syncada problems in the recent past; and due to the increase in the overall volume of invoices to process.
Jul 13, 2020
— At West Point and according to the Director of Emergency Services, if crew members meet the standard requirements for access to the installation and have official business, they will gain entry. They understand the criticality of the service being provided.
Jul 9, 2020
— The DP3 peak slides are for week 27, but depict week-26 data (21-27 June). The data shows we’re at 41% of the three-year average for pickups; and between 55 – 67% week to week over the past 5 weeks. Code 2 data reflects 7.9% of domestic shipments during the current peak season.
Jul 7, 2020
— U.S. Transportation Command has provided new details to support the highly-unusual decision it made last week when it re-awarded its $7.2 billion Global Household Goods contract (GHC) to the same vendor — just two weeks after had it pledged to take corrective action on the contested procurement.
Jun 30, 2020
— U.S. Transportation Command has re-awarded the potential $7.2B Global Household Goods Contract to American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier Groupafter the Government Accountability Office denied a protest of thecontract award and Transcom completed its assessment.
Apr 30, 2020
— On Tuesday, TRANSCOM J9 held their latest Stop Movement call with Services and industry representatives. A number of different issues were discussed.
Apr 22, 2020
— USTC J9 held their Stop Movement Update call on April 21. USTC Deputy Commander, VADM Mewbourne was on the call, along with the J9 Director, Rick Marsh, and a number of the J9 staff.
Apr 10, 2020
— GAO released their long-awaited report on their assessment of DoD’s Personal Property Program (DP3) and implications of transitioning to a single move manager under the Global Household Goods Contract (GHC).
Apr 7, 2020
— IAM and AMSA signed a joint letter to the USTC Commander, GEN Stephen Lyons, asking for any advocacy/assistance he could provide for this industry to work with DoD to get financial support.
Apr 7, 2020
— For companies whose operations have been curtailed or otherwise impacted by COVID-19 related restrictions, several clarifying guidance and forms were issued over the weekend, connected to programs created under the first three legislative relief packages to pass the Congress.
May 24, 2019
— This is the eighth in a series of op-eds that IAM is running to shed additional light on problems associated with privatizing the household goods program to a single source contractor.
May 17, 2019
— This is the seventh in a series of op-eds that IAM is running to shed additional light on problems associated with privatizing the household goods program to a single source contractor.
May 10, 2019
— This is the sixth in a series of op-eds that IAM is running to shed additional light on problems associated with privatizing the household goods program to a single source contractor.
May 3, 2019
— This is the fifth in a series of op-eds that IAM is running to shed additional light on problems associated with privatizing the household goods program to a single source contractor.
Apr 26, 2019
— This is the fourth in a series of op-eds that IAM is running to shed additional light on problems associated with privatizing the household goods program to a single source contractor.
Apr 19, 2019
— This is the third in a series of op-eds that IAM is running to shed additional light on problems associated with privatizing the household goods program to a single source contractor.
Apr 12, 2019
— This is the second in a series of op-eds that IAM is running to shed additional light on problems associated with privatizing the household goods program to a single source contractor.
Apr 5, 2019
— This is the first in a series of op-eds that IAM is running to shed additional light on problems associated with privatizing the household goods program to a single source contractor.
Mar 29, 2019
— USTRANSCOM Public Affairs published a press release highlighting GEN Lyons’ meeting with CEOs from various moving companies who support DoD household goods movement, and a separate meeting with moving industry trade associations. The press release is not an accurate account of the events of those meetings. Industry attendees believe the tone of the press release implied industry’s support to the general’s decision to award a contract to a single provider. To be clear, most of DoD’s current household goods service providers do not support this initiative.
— Please see attached letter from Ms. Ellen Lord, Under Secretary for Acquisition and Sustainment, thanking industry for their commitment and focusing on maintaining the Defense Industrial Base. Also, please see the emails below which contain links to a short video from Secretary Esper, regarding them same.
