PHILADELPHIA – At the direction of the president, the Defense Logistics Agency is procuring a six-month advanced meat supply for its Department of Defense customers, to provide relief to the drought-stricken agriculture industry.
The DLA Troop Support Subsistence supply chain is asking its top three prime vendors to purchase, store and distribute beef, pork, lamb, chicken and catfish items, said Tom Daley, deputy director. He estimates purchases will amount to more than $100 million.
In 2011, Subsistence provided 95 million pounds of beef, 68 million pounds of pork, 500,000 pounds of lamb, 55 million pounds of chicken and 2 million pounds of catfish to the U.S. military services and other DOD agencies all over the world.
“Dining facility menus will not be affected by this purchase,” Daley said. “A soldier at a DFAC in Afghanistan won’t notice anything different when eating a grilled cheeseburger or baked chicken. The warfighter will continue to receive healthy, wholesome and nutritious meals.”
Subsistence officials are negotiating with prime vendors on additional storage and distribution fees, estimated to be between $2.4 and $3.3 million. As they do for all food products, the prime vendors will store the additional meat, which will be frozen to maximize shelf-life.
Purchases will be based on forecasted demand. Subsistence is also working with the suppliers to identify the specific meat items to purchase.
“We are focusing on high-demand items with long shelf-life and items that will make an immediate impact on the industry,” Daley said.
Subsistence is working with the Joint Subsistence Policy Board to keep the military services informed as it finalizes purchase details. Officials are also working with the board, made up of service food advisors, to determine standardized meat pack sizes and other details.
One of five DLA Troop Support supply chains, Subsistence ensures that service members and other DOD customers around the world have high-quality, nutritious meals daily.
As a Department of Defense combat support agency, DLA provides the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, other federal agencies, and joint and allied forces with a variety of logistics, acquisition and technical services. The agency sources and provides nearly 100 percent of the consumable items America’s military forces need to operate, from food, fuel and energy, to uniforms, medical supplies, and construction and barrier equipment. DLA also supplies more than 80 percent of the military’s spare parts.
Headquartered at Fort Belvoir, Va., DLA has about 27,000 employees worldwide and supports more than 2,210 weapon systems. For more information about DLA, go to www.dla.mil, www.facebook.com/dla.mil or http://twitter.com/dlamil.
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