With more than 675 exhibits to visit, the 31,000 people attending the Association of the U.S. Army Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington Oct. 22-24 had many options to choose from, and many stopped by the Defense Logistics Agency booth.
The DLA Corporate Events team spent three days talking with customers, suppliers, vendors and anyone who wanted to know about DLA at the agency’s corporate booth. Team members also helped people conduct business with the agency.
“Many of the questions we get are about how to apply for a national stock number or how to sell an item on DoD EMALL,” said Les Hammond, DLA Corporate Events program manager. “A lot of people also just stop by to say they are happy with the support DLA is providing to them.”
One particular vendor was so pleased with the information provided about NSNs and DoD EMALL that he said he was going to tell everyone that they should come to the DLA booth to learn how to be a supplier on DoD EMALL,” Olivia Kortuem, a DLA Corporate Events management analyst, said.
Other popular questions included how to get a commercial and government entity code. A CAGE code is a five-digit number that identifies everything DLA does with a particular contractor, including contractor registration and awards.
“We get that question a lot,” Gregg Bale, a DLA Logistics Information Service marketing specialist, said. “We provide them literature and websites to visit and answer any questions they have about the process.”
Armed with handouts and years of logistics systems knowledge, the DLA team answered questions ranging from reverse auctions to how to get a job at DLA.
They even helped explain the procurement process to an Army warrant officer who invented a product that increases the life span of wind shield wiper blades. The soon-to-be retired Solider established a veteran-owned small business, but he said everyone he talks to says he needs to talk to DLA.
Duane Gross, of DLA Land and Maritime, explained to the Soldier that DLA could not buy the item until it was in the Army inventory, and they talked about how to make that happen.
“Several Army personnel stopped by the booth for more information about DLA,” Heidi Byers, a DLA Corporate Events management analyst, said, “We were available to provide answers to their questions and gave out copies of the DLA Customer Assistance Handbooks and Self-Help Tools flip books to help assist them with doing business with DLA.”
In addition to helping vendors learn how to sell to DLA, the corporate event team kept track of issues encountered by suppliers that sell to the agency, with assurances that the issues would be sent to the right person or organization within the agency for evaluation.
The booth had representatives from DLA Logistics Operations, DLA Document Services, DLA Distribution, DLA Troop Support, DLA Land and Maritime and DLA Logistics Information Service. Several of the agency’s senior leaders also stopped by, including Army Maj. Gen. Kenneth Dowd, DLA’s director of operations; Army Brig. Gen. Susan Davidson, DLA Distribution commander; Army Command Sgt. Maj. Sultan Muhammad, DLA’s senior enlisted leader; Army Col. Joe Hart, Army national account manager; and Army Col. Robert King, customer operations director at DLA Troop Support.
AUSA is a private, nonprofit educational organization that supports the Army’s active duty, National Guard, and reserve Soldiers, as well as its civilians, retirees, government civilians, wounded warriors, veterans and family members.
Information on where the DLA booth will be next is available on the events page on DLA’s Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/dla.mil/events.