Doing business with DLA Troop Support: Leadership answers industry questions at the 'Knowledge Bar'

The global defense supply chain is facing complex, evolving challenges, and the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support is making a direct appeal to industry for partnership. Whether a small business is looking to break into the federal market or an established contractor wants to strengthen its existing ties, DLA Troop Support is actively looking to expand its team to continually improve support for the warfighter.

That call for collaboration took center stage June 2–3 in Columbus, Ohio, at the DLA Supply Chain Alliance Symposium & Exhibition. Hosted in partnership with the National Defense Industrial Association, the event brought together logistics and acquisition professionals to tackle the most pressing issues impacting Department of War logistics and to focus on collective problem-solving for a long-term, sustainable supply chain. To help bridge the gap between industry and the agency, the symposium featured a unique, interactive setting called the "knowledge bar." It offered attendees a more personal opportunity to pull up a seat, network and ask their most pressing questions directly to command leadership.

Stepping up to the bar to provide a broad overview of the command and field those questions were two key figures: DLA Troop SupportExecutive Director, Contracting and Acquisition Management Bill Kennyand Director of Procurement John Fafara.

Q: Is there any push on your behalf to move some of your contracts to General Services Administration Schedule or are you going to maintain your own organic structure as a contracting command?

Fafara: That came up a little bit early on last year. We looked at everything and DoW was kind of ahead of the game, if you will, in that regard. There’s a lot on GSA Schedules in the service area that our partners and services leverage, but for the most part we’re not really moving that way. We’re sticking with our vehicles. Again, some of them were designated best in class. It’s right in line with the acquisition transformation strategy. Years ago, Department of War we were told to move away from that on the supply side because some would say the pricing wasn’t reliable. So, no is the short answer there.

Q: When I think of Troop Support, I think of the important role of whether it was Ebola or other natural disasters, as far as putting items on the Warstopper program. That’s why we were so prepared for COVID. What is your thinking about the Warstopper program today, and do you have any plans as far as adding items or Operation & Maintenance funding for that.

Fafara: The question was regarding Warstopper. We do have Warstopper folks here, so you can seek them out after. But just real quick. Warstopper is a program that was established in the late 90’s. Essentially, it was designed by Congress to, just like it sounds, prevent us from going to war without certain items. What we do is really invest in the supply chain in various areas. There is a process that we follow. We need to identify there is a problem then we identify how to fix it, and then we can make an investment. There is various ways investments can be made. It could be in raw materials. It could be in buffer stock. It could be in vendor managed inventory. It could be in just having access to material. So to your point with COVID, we had contracted with 3M for N95s. When everybody else couldn’t get their hands on them, we had access to that stock. It wasn’t our stock, but we basically paid for 3M to have it there for us. They would rotate it through their regular commercial customers, and that’s a great example of how Warstopper really saved us. Lots of masks. We were paying about 50 cents each and everybody else was paying $5-$6-$10 a piece.

So, to your question, yes. We are looking to do more with Warstopper. We have a lot of studies going now. We are anticipating getting more money in the future. Right now, DLA gets around $50 million a year. We think that’s going to at least triple in the coming years. And we’re looking a lot in the Pacific. We’re looking in that arena, and some of the things we’re looking at right now are things that would take a long time to get over there. So, think of things like aggregate and what you’d use if like an airfield gets damaged or something like that. So, gravel and asphalt and cement and things like that. But to answer your question yes. There will be more by way of Warstopper, but it is a process. So, we have to go through two tiers of studies, and once we identify what the problem is, where the bottleneck is in the supply chain, then we’ll invest in it in the most appropriate way necessary. Whether that be with raw material, or some component or some buffer, whatever it may be. And it’s appropriated funds. That’s important. Unlike most of DLA, that’s Defense Working Capital fund.

Kenny: Let me just ask before you break out. How many people received a COVID kit through the U.S. Post Office during COVID times? Troop Support sent it to you. I just want you to remember who was buying all those COVID kits. We worked with the Health and Human Services, the other federal agencies and the White House. So we’ve been down that road and we worked hard to try to develop sources domestically for that COVID material. For the Personal Protective Equipment. Not much of it is produced onshore, so it was an uphill climb. We were able to develop some sources. It’s been challenging to sustain them because of the price differences between here and some other parts of the world. And you look at gloves and some of the PPE, we are working on that.

Q: We do the Self-Contained Breathing Apparatuses for the Navy. We do see individual purchase orders from Troop Support’s division on a yearly basis. What is the best method to start a communication to perhaps put those on a long-term contract?

Fafara: We’re always looking to put more on long-term contracts. It really depends on the demand and if it makes sense to do that. If you see an opportunity there, let us know. We certainly want to hear about it, because it’s more efficient for all of us, right? We get better pricing. We’re more ready. So we always want to do more.

Q: What is the process for evaluation for form, fit, function over price?

Fafara: So classic answer, it depends. I’ll tell you, like, in our Subsistence supply chain, we need to see from our vendors that they have warehousing capabilities that can handle not only regular sustainment but also surge capabilities. That all needs to be certified. So, we will send teams out to look at that. So it could be, food might be cheaper from this vendor but this one has a better warehousing system, a better way to manage it, a better way to distribute it in theatre. But it really depends on each individual acquisition. It should be all laid out in the solicitation, that’s something we have to be really, really careful with. So what we’re evaluating will be laid out there. And obviously we look at past performance and technical proposal and things like that. Delivery is an important factor depending on what we’re buying. The sooner the better generally. How something is going to be staffed. If there is going to be dedicated resources just on that contract. The real answer is it depends and it will all be laid out in the solicitation and how you’ll be evaluated. That’s something that we have to be extremely careful with to make sure we do exactly what we say.

Kenny: Once again, if you have an interest in any of the four supply chains, our representatives are here. Small business is here. So please take advantage of the team here from DLA Troop Support from Philadelphia.