DoD codifies USTRANSCOM as military's new global bulk fuel manager

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (May 12, 2023) -- The Secretary of Defense codified U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) as the Department of Defense’s (DoD) single manager for global bulk fuel management and delivery (GBFMD) in a memorandum May 10.

This new role, apppointed by Congress in section 352 of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), is critical in the changing security environment and allows USTRANSCOM to support future operations by synchronizing the efforts of multiple bulk fuel stakeholders and the regional combatant commands in support of their operational plans and emerging warfighting concepts. This synchronization will address known gaps in the joint petroleum enterprise, resulting in better processes for fuel movement and distribution before and during a crisis.

“We’re ready to take on this responsibility,” said the USTRANSCOM Commander Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost. “As a global warfighting combatant command, the TRANSCOM team is uniquely experienced and positioned to serve as the single manager for bulk fuel, which will enhance our nation’s military readiness.”

This new mission represents a decidedly different approach to managing a commodity within the DOD Joint Logistics Enterprise and will require considerable collaboration across a complex organizational system of systems. Multiple stakeholders with equities in various processes that span the DOD hierarchy will provide challenges to logistics decision-making as it ultimately affects operations. 

“The reality of contested logistics in a potential high-end conflict with global implications prompted Congress to place U.S. Transportation Command in a position of responsibility for managing bulk fuel,” said Van Ovost. “This is a revolutionary approach to DoD logistics, which injects a warfighting perspective and joint equity into what was previously a predominantly Service and Combat Support Agency-centered process.”

USTRANSCOM will continue to work closely with the Defense Logistics Agency as it carries out its Integrated Materiel Management responsibility, which includes but is not limited to the procurement, transportation, and storage of bulk fuel to the point of sale.

While DLA has successfully managed this commodity in day-to-day operations, the evolving character of warfare has led DOD to adopt new concepts of operation yet to be tested in conflict. USTRANSCOM’s oversight is aimed at improving resilience in a contested environment and near-peer conflict, and will improve how fuel is distributed, increasing deterrence and support during a crisis, while enhancing warfighting readiness.

U.S. Transportation Command exists as a warfighting combatant command to project and sustain military power at a time and place of the nation’s choosing. Powered by dedicated men and women, USTRANSCOM underwrites the lethality of the Joint Force, advances American interests around the globe, and provides our nation’s leaders with strategic flexibility to select from multiple options, while creating multiple dilemmas for our adversaries.