Increased MTMC standards have cut moving firms.

An increase in the qualification standards required of personal property movers by the Military Traffic Management Command will result in fewer firms in the Department of Defense personal property program.

MTMC required all 1,279 currently approved personal property movers to meet new financial and electronic data submission standards by May 15. Some 953 personal property firms worldwide met the deadline and will be reviewed. About 25 percent of the firms that had been moving MTMC household goods did not submit documentation.

An added benefit is an estimated $1.6 million in annual savings, due to lowered administrative costs associated with fewer carriers, said C.J. Dabo, Lead Traffic Management Specialist.

"The firms opting not to apply under the new qualification standards include motor carriers and freight forwarders," said Dabo.

MTMC announced the new standards in Federal Register announcements in November and March. In April, all currently approved Department of Defense household goods carriers were mailed a letter detailing the increased standards and changes in submission requirements.

The companies that did not comply will be removed from the current program in the future, said Dabo. Some of the firms are expected to apply when the current moratorium ends--a date that is currently pending.

"We believe the effect of the increased standards is a higher-qualified Department of Defense carrier base," said Sylvia Walker, Traffic Management Specialist.

The new Web-based qualification process was in effect from April 15 to May 15. It streamlined the carriers qualification process for personal property carriers for the Military Traffic Management Command. Qualification time will be cut from four to six weeks, to approximately 72 hours for each application, once the initial flood of documents are processed. Four Web pages replace the 18 forms formerly required.

At the same time, MTMC increased some of its carriers standards. The new standards were developed in close consultation with, the moving industry associations, said Walker.

"Carriers must meet higher financial reporting standards," said Walker. "These increased requirements will also include higher cargo liability insurance and maintenance of a performance bond for domestic interstate moves."

"For the most part, these standards support the quality mover," said Walker. "This is supported by the majority of carriers with whom I have contact."

"The Electronic Document Management team developed the requirements for the electronic submission and made it a reality," said Walker. "They worked through time, budget and program challenges."

"We expect to see further enhancements. Ultimately, it represents a huge savings in time and money--for MTMC and the carriers."

Kitsy Young, of MTMC's Information Management's Integration Branch, led a contracted team to develop the electronic Web registration pages.

The Web registration project started at the end of 2000, said Young.

"What we saw was complicated at first," said Young.

"There were many, many file cabinets full of documents and enormous paper handling. Forms were faxed and mailed in by personal property carriers, and handled countless times," said Young.

"A major concern was the acceptance of faxed or scanned signatures. Our legal office later approved these means as a verifiable proof of consent."

Web forms were an obvious information technology solution, Young said.

"We used Web Tools commonly found in industry, such as Active Server Pages and Javascript, which is more portable than Oracle forms," said Young.

In a six-month period, the Web registration page--and the four new supporting document forms--were developed.

"The part of the project I was thrilled with was getting the Web tools to the customer and eliminating Sylvia Walker's duplicate data entry," said Young. "She no longer has to scan approved carriers' documents--which has greatly reduced her workload. The carrier now submits via the Web and all the documents can be processed electronically-thus eliminating all manual processes."