After all the problems service members had getting their personal vehicles shipped during overseas permanent change-of-station moves in 2014, U.S. Transportation Command officials intend to avoid a repeat in 2015.
The command's top brass have given the contractor, International Auto Logistics, until Feb. 1 to check in with a full-blown plan to deal with next year's summer PCS surge, Air Force Gen. Paul Selva, TRANSCOM chief, said Dec. 4.
"We will do an assessment of that surge plan and determine whether or not we believe — based on what we've learned about their capacity and their ability to operate inside the contract — about whether they've put a plan in place that's sufficient to get them through the summer surge," Selva said.
Asked if he had taken any legal action — or plans to — against IAL, given the contractor's performance to date, Selva said, "not yet." But he noted he retains that option. His other options include maintaining the status quo, and recompeting or terminating the contract. He declined to say which option or options may be getting heavier consideration.
Troops reported problems with delayed deliveries, difficulty getting information about their vehicles' statuses, trouble accessing the online tracking system and difficulty reaching anyone at the company's headquarters. In August, three months after IAL took over the shipping contract, Selva set up a team of experts to address the problems and closely monitor the progress.
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.
