BAL HARBOUR, Fla. — Tensions remain high between household goods haulers and the military as the Department of Defense prepares to launch a new program revamping the way service personnel move.
Ongoing efforts, including test projects, at DOD are aimed at improving and lowering the cost of purchasing moving services. However, movers say the latest proposal is the worst yet from one of their biggest customers. The military accounts for 18% of the relocating business and spends more than $1.2 billion to move 650,000 people each year.
What has household haulers so riled up is a plan by the Pentagon to request bids for its Full Service Moving Project — yet another experiment in working with movers. It will cover 45,000 moves a year at military installations in Georgia, North Dakota and the Washington, D.C., area, and movers are afraid it will give third-party companies even greater control of their industry.
The military’s goal is to improve the process of buying moving services, which awards contracts based heavily on price.
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