JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. –
Team Charleston, did you know the Department of Defense spends nearly $3 billion annually to transport and store household goods for you and your family?
It's a considerable cost, but surprisingly, I have experienced poor service, excessive loss or damage to my property and high claims costs from transportation service providers throughout my career during moves.
In an effort to improve the system which manages the shipment of household goods during a move, the Air Force has been performing re-engineering efforts for more than 10 years. The result is a product derived from lessons learned during four pilot programs - the Defense Personal Property System. It is the engine of the new personal property shipping program.
DPPS is a next generation, fully integrated, centralized, internet-based system designed to manage your shipment. It provides you the convenience of 24-hour, 7-days-a-week access to your shipment information and acts as a conduit for direct interaction between you and your transportation service provider throughout the entire moving process.
This system is the focal point for all members of the personal property community, including you, transportation service providers, personal property shipping offices, the military services and others who participate in the personal property moving process. It is a customer-focused program developed to help improve your quality of life with superior personal property shipment processing.
To help reinforce transportation service provider cooperation, your shipment is awarded to a transportation service provider under a performance-based, best-value shipment distribution system. What this means is that cost is no longer the primary factor for selecting a service provider. Each TSP wishing to do business with the DOD must show their past performance clearly indicates they are capable of providing the quality service you deserve.
Other features of DPPS include a full range of customer friendly applications, such as internet-based self-counseling, online move initiation and status tracking, full-replacement-value protection and direct claims settlement with communication between you and the TSP.
DPPS can be accessed through a site which was designed to meet your needs at
www.move.mil. As a centralized service, the site provides key features with various functionalities, such as access links, newsletters, frequently asked questions and directions for submitting DPPS questions. The built-in search capability allows you to find information with ease. An additional feature allows you to subscribe to DPPS newsletters and informational products. The navigation menu is also easily accessible.
After every move, I highly encourage you to take full advantage of the customer satisfaction survey. The survey is vital - your data provides valuable feedback to help evaluate and enhance the system's performance. Most importantly, it gives us another important tool to use for awarding shipments to transportation service providers who provide the best service. Your feedback will improve the household shipping experience for the entire military and DOD community.
My personal goal is to exceed your expectations by providing timely and efficient movement of your personal property. If you have any questions, please visit the DPPS homepage at
www.move.mil or contact our Charleston Transportation Management Office at 963-2253.