A lot has changed in five years: A look back at the beginnings of the DPO
But closer to home, one news item that received smaller headlines brought significant change right here at Scott Air Force Base; and its impact (delivering promises) was felt across the armed forces.
On Sept. 16, 2003, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld designated the commander of U. S. Transportation Command as the Department of Defense's Distribution Process Owner. With the stroke of a pen, Secretary Rumsfeld transformed USTRANSCOM from a command centered on strategic mobility to one focused on improving DOD's distribution operations and changed forever the U.S. military's logistics landscape.
Efforts aimed at improving military logistics were not new. USTRANSCOM's establishment in 1987 culminated decades of effort to unify all transportation functions in the DOD under one commander.
Supply functions, however, remained fragmented among the Services and defense agencies. As a result, DOD lagged behind the commercial sector, which was applying the tenets of distribution and supply chain management to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of logistics networks.
Following the lead of the commercial industry, in September 1999, Air Force Gen. Charles "Tony" Robertson, commander, USTRANSCOM, initiated a partnership with the Defense Logistics Agency's director, Army Lt. Gen. Henry Glisson "to reinvent global distribution for our customers." The effort was dubbed the Strategic Distribution Management Initiative, later shortened simply to Strategic Distribution. Its purpose was to analyze and measure distribution processes, identify areas for improvement, and implement changes.
Air Force Gen. John Handy replaced Robertson as commander of USTRANSCOM in 2001. Early in his tenure, he proposed to Secretary Rumsfeld the integration of strategic transportation and wholesale supply functions under a single manager.
The idea of a single manager for distribution generally found favor within the DOD, but, progress was stalled over the notion of ownership. Should a single manager own the organizations and/or the process? Secretary Rumsfeld decided in favor of process ownership and issued the DPO memo September 16, 2003.
The DPO responsibilities stated in the memo included improving the "overall efficiency and interoperability of distribution related activities - deployment, sustainment and redeployment support during peace and war" and serving as "the single entity to direct and supervise execution of the Strategic Distribution system."
General Handy wasted no time in delivering the value to the warfighter made possible by the new designation. Within days, he and Army Gen. Paul M. Kern, commander, Army Materiel Command, agreed to pursue a proposal to deploy a joint intermodal distribution operations center to U.S. Central Command's area of responsibility.
With the approval of the CENTCOM commander, Army Gen. John Abizaid, a few short weeks later a team of 63 expert logisticians drawn from USTRANSCOM, its component commands, DLA, and the Services was assembled, trained, and deployed. The organization would later be named the CENTCOM Deployment Distribution Operations Center. Within a couple years every geographic combatant command would have one.
The Joint 'DDOC' concept was the first of many quick-win initiatives that ignited the DPO momentum. But challenges were not in short supply. The first priority was to establish a coalition of partners. This was accomplished by developing a governance structure that gave each stakeholder a seat at the table.
According to the designation memorandum, "the DPO shall receive oversight from the Defense Logistics Executive via the Defense Logistics Board." The purpose of the DLB was to advise the DLE, who was the Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics). General Handy reported to the DLE for distribution matters and was a member of the DLB, which gave him direct access to the DOD leadership for DPO matters.
A DPO Executive Board, consisting of the USTRANSCOM commander, DLA director, Joint Staff Director for Logistics, and the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Logistics and Material Readiness, was established as the senior decision-making forum charged with advancing DPO priorities. This forum ensures collaboration within the DOD and a single view of supply chain management challenges.
A group was needed to advise the DPO Executive Board and to direct its focus on combatant command and Service requirements. One and two-star level leaders and their civilian equivalents from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, DLA, the Joint Staff, the services, and the other combatant commands met for the first gathering of the Distribution Transformation Task Force on Dec. 11, 2003. The attendees approved the top DPO initiatives and began charting a path to a common future. Today, like then, the DTTF is chaired by USTRANSCOM's deputy commander.
In the first six months, the DPO and its growing list of partners attacked the challenges of obtaining detailed asset visibility on sustainment cargo shipped to Southwest Asia, building an end-to-end distribution process architecture, creating time definite delivery standards, establishing control over direct vendor delivery, and revising supply and transportation priority systems.
General Handy provided a progress report to Secretary Rumsfeld in April 2004 and shared initial DPO successes, including $268 million in costs that had already been avoided.
In its five years, the total cost avoidance attributable to the DPO now exceeds $1.6 billion. With the governance structure in place and early initiatives proving successful, the DPO was off and running, building partnerships and transforming DOD's distribution.
Along the journey, USTRANSCOM was also designated the Distribution Portfolio Manager, received limited acquisition authority, implemented a third-party logistics freight management program, developed meaningful customer-focused performance standards to assess the Joint Deployment and Distribution Enterprise, invested in a human capital strategy, and began fielding a joint expeditionary capability to establish and operate ports of debarkation.
The past half-decade has brought leadership changes (Air Force Gen. Duncan McNabb became the third DPO, Sept. 5), dynamic challenges, and evolving solutions, but the momentum to transform and improve DOD distribution has remained steady.
A lot has changed in five years, but USTRANSCOM's unwavering commitment to deliver on its promises remains a never-ending constant.
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