ALEXANDRIA, Va. (USTCNS) --- All motor carriers carrying freight for the Military Traffic Management Command must use PowerTrack in the near future.

MTMC is mandating USBank's PowerTrack automated payment system must be used by motor carriers by Sept. 30.

"At this point, we have over half our motor carriers using PowerTrack," said Tom Hicks, implementation director for MTMC.

"The program has produced great efficiencies and economies for us - now we want to expand its use throughout our motor carrier freight shipments.

The on-line software system PowerTrack is used to speed payments to over 300 commercial carriers.

Most transportation companies are now compensated within three days -- in the past, they would wait 30-to-90 days to be paid via the paper intensive payment process of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service.

"The reaction of our motor carriers is very positive," said Hicks. "The carriers tell us they are now assured of fast and accurate payments."

This is an initial phased expansion in the use of PowerTrack by commercial transportation firms.

Currently, some freight payments are being made via PowerTrack to air, sea, barge pipeline and rail transportation firms.

"We are going to expand PowerTrack to these carriers by Nov. 30," said Hicks. "We are already testing the implementation of the system now with many of these firms."

MTMC notified motor carriers of the mandatory use of the automated payment system in the June 9 issue of the "Federal Register."

PowerTrack is an electronic commerce system developed by USBank.

For the service, USBank charges carriers a fee on a sliding scale up to 2 percent of the freight bill.

The adoption of PowerTrack is part of Management Reform Memorandum #15, a Department of Defense initiative to use electronic systems to automate and standardize military processes with the commercial world.

"It is a another significant step forward for the Management Reform Memorandum #15 initiative," said Ken Stombaugh, assistant for travel and traffic management policy, Office of the Assistant Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Transportation Policy.

Motor carriers have been very supportive of PowerTrack use, said Stombaugh. Currently, over 90% of Department of Defense motor freight movements are made by the system.

"The mandatory sign up date allows us to bring the remaining 10% of our motor carrier partner business under the PowerTrack umbrella and get to a single, standard way of paying our motor carriers."

Qualified carriers may obtain more information from PowerTrack by calling (800) 417-1844 or writing USBank PowerTrack, 1010 South Seventh St., FBTT0508, Minneapolis, MN 55415. Additional information is available on the Web at www.usbank.com/powertrack

(FROM MILITARY TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS).