Evaluation begins on household goods pilot program.

The Department of Defense has begun the evaluation of MTMC's pilot program to reengineer the movement of personal property.

A review of MTMC's pilot program, which operates in North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida, by the U.S. Transportation Command, began Feb. 1.

Approximately half the moves of service members from installations in the three states to selected areas are covered by the MTMC pilot.

MTMC's pilot is one of three to be evaluated by the U.S. Transportation Command. A recommendation could come by early 2002.

The pilot has such customer features as:

* A toll-free phone number to the carrier.

* In-transit visibility of shipments.

* Full replacement value reimbursement for lost or damaged goods.

The pilot began in early 1999. So far, 41 carriers have transported a total of 17,521 shipments under the pilot--14,779 domestic and 2,722 international.

Overall customer satisfaction rate for the MTMC program is 89 percent. Data collected from June 1 to Nov. 30, 2000, will be used to evaluate the MTMC Pilot Program.

"The ultimate goal is to improve service member quality of life while providing the best value for the Department of Defense," said Frank Weber, Deputy Director for Logistics and Business Operations.

"TRANSCOM has been charged with developing a plan that will streamline and simplify policies and procedures for management of the member-arranged movement of household goods by service personnel," said Weber.

Two other pilots to be evaluated include the recently initiated Full Service Moving Project and the U.S. Navy's Service Member Arranged Move. The pilots are based on congressional directives in the National Defense Authorization Act.

The Full Service Moving Project is an expansion of an earlier test conducted at Hunter Army Airfield, adjacent to Fort Stewart, Ga., which provided transportation services through a relocation company.

The project is being conducted in metropolitan Washington, D.C., Georgia and North Dakota. Evaluation will begin in March.

Service Member Arranged Move features payment for services by credit card. It was implemented in January 1998 at Navy sites in California, Connecticut, Florida, Virginia and Washington.

U.S. TRANSCOM has hired an independent contractor to develop a methodology and metrics to objectively assess the pilot programs.

Upon completion of the evaluations, TRANSCOM will promptly forward a recommendation to the Secretary of Defense.

The recommendation may support a single program or a combination of features from multiple programs.