DCMA

From left: Janice Loomis, Defense Contract Management Agency Transportation Group Foreign Military Sales subject-matter expert; Larry Earick, DCMA Transportation Group Director; and Tom Loeffler, DCMA Transportation performance advocate; conduct a DCMA functional breakout to other Department of Defense transporters and industry during a Surface Deployment and Distribution Command conference. (Photo courtesy of DCMA Transportation)

Once the Department of Defense procures an item through a contract, it needs to deliver it to the warfighter. That job often falls on the more than 100 personnel across 31 different geographic offices within the Defense Contract Management Agency’s Transportation Group.

“Our teams ensure we’re doing the right thing for the agency with taxpayer dollars,” said Larry L. Earick, DCMA Transportation director. “Once an item rolls out of a contractor’s facility, we arrange the shipment through the most appropriate and economical channels.”
 
“Our motto is: ‘Nothing happens until something moves,’” Calvin Lockhart, DCMA Transportation West (Seattle) transportation officer, said. “We are the final step in the process of ensuring the product is delivered to the warfighter on time, intact and at best value to the government and the tax payer.”
 
“Our goal is to get items to the warfighter as quickly and efficiently as possible because they truly need them,” Earick said. DCMA and the Transportation Group engage in crucial work, such as providing warfighters with armored Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles. DCMA worked with the contractors to upgrade the vehicles, armor them and arrange to have them shipped overseas.
 
“We played a big role in getting those MRAPs retooled and armored to the warfighters in a timely manner,” said Tom Loeffler, DCMA Transportation performance advocate. These vehicles proved invaluable in increasing warfighter survivability against emerging threats, such as improvised explosive devices and explosively formed penetrators.
 
“It wasn’t about money; it was about saving people’s lives,” Earick said. But, Transportation moves more than just MRAPs, and its work load continues to grow. In fiscal year 2011, the group handled more than 185,000 shipments. So far, in FY12, they have moved more than 160,000 shipments and are on track to exceed 190,000 in FY13.
 
The Transportation Group coordinates with the buying commands and services. Representatives also attend working groups with the U.S. Transportation Command service elements and various Inventory Control Points. The agency also provides support for non-DOD agencies, such as NASA, Department of Energy, Department of the Interior, Department of Homeland Security and General Service Administration. In addition, they provide support for related Foreign Military Sales.
 
“With all of the buying agencies, any time DCMA is involved it is not unusual for our transportation officers to coordinate with the organization,” Earick said, including high praise for his group’s ability to solve problems and keep products moving to warfighters at a steady pace. “Our folks are adept at fixing problems as they arise, but always engage with your transportation officer as early as possible. That way we can provide the quickest, most efficient service for you and our customers.”

The group’s dedication to hard work has not gone unnoticed, with DCMA employees receiving the Surface Deployment and Distribution Command’s Excellence in Traffic Management Awards since DCMA was established. Larry Santor, DCMA Transportation Southwest Team chief, was the first in DCMA to receive the Excellence in Traffic Management award in 1999.

Recently, Santor received the DNTA Distinguished Service Award at the 2012 National Defense Transportation Association Forum and Expo held in Sept. Other DCMA Transportation team members who have received the award include Calvin Lockhart, 2009; Tony Wilson, in 2010; and Audrey Kucway, in 2011.