DOD Self-Promotion of GHC Leaves Out A-Lot

The DOD’s misleading new puff piece about the GHC program, “DOD Kicks Off Improved Household Goods Shipment Program” is laden with inaccuracies and off-base industry criticisms that will hardly woo professional movers who have been reluctant to sign up under the new system, given low reimbursement rates and layers of new regulations. 

When did the moving industry, which has been a dedicated partner with DOD and TRANSCOM to support military families – the same one that will be needed whether we are in the current program, GHC, or some other program – suddenly become the problem to be fixed?

The article attacks the moving industry from its very first words – “Stressful station-to-station moves due to poor quality service and broken or delayed household goods could soon be a thing of the past.” – and then goes on from there. A few claims really jumped out at us: 

DOD article: 

The existing program to move service members and their families has been around for almost two decades, Dawson said. But in recent years, DOD recognized it’s no longer serving customers the way it should. Last year, for instance, only about 77% of service members reported satisfaction with their household goods move.”  

What we know: 

The way TRANSCOM uses this 77% figure is really misleading. A customer satisfaction rate is the percentage of customers who report the service was satisfactory, good, or excellent. Their 77% figure is instead the percentage of possible customer satisfaction points earned by the industry. So, even if a customer reported they had a ‘good’ move, TRANSCOM would report that as a 75% satisfaction rate. They would say that a customer who reports a ‘satisfactory’ move is a 50% satisfaction rate. That’s disingenuous at best. TRANSCOM’s own public dashboard reports the true customer satisfaction rate for 2023 was 89%, and 93% so far this year. Good thing we got screenshots since the dashboard has recently been taken down for a conveniently “scheduled data refresh.”

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DOD article: 

During the peak season for permanent change of station moves — mid-May through Labor Day — the Defense Department began moving some service members under the new GHC contract, which was awarded to HomeSafe Alliance. 

What they didn’t say: 

While they acknowledge that there will only be 50 moves per month at 15 installations, they don’t mention that these are all local moves – less than 50 miles away. Moving a shipment less than 50 miles down the road requiring no use of short-term or long-term storage doesn’t test the program’s infrastructure. And with about 1% of peak season moves happening under the GHC, next year’s peak season will be a true baptism by fire – placing at risk the unsuspecting military families who depend on these services. These local moves don’t even test the issues we foresee with the Service Contract Act when shipments are driven across state lines by drivers who will be all over the country for weeks at a time. 

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DOD article: 

“Around the late [2010s], in 2018 really, was the pivot point where we started to see cracks,” [Andy] Dawson [TRANSCOM DPP Director] said. “What service members started to see was poor communication with industry, poor customer service, frustrations with how their personal property was being handled, and a general lack of accountability of industry’s performance.”

What we know: 

A lot of good changes to the current system have been implemented since 2018, and military families seem to be overwhelmingly satisfied. In fact, a recent independent scientific survey and TRANSCOM’s own data both show that satisfaction was at about 90% and has grown to about 93%. This shows that TRANSCOM and moving professionals have put in the work to improve the current system together – so why are we throwing this away? 

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DOD article: 

There was also a lack of satisfaction with how claims were being handled after a move was completed. 

What they don’t say: 

TRANSCOM created the claims process, and plays an integral role. TRANSCOM previously shared that its own claims satisfaction level for the Military Claims Office was 25% – significantly below industry.

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DOD article: 

A big change, he said, is that under GHC there will be vastly improved communication between service members and the contractor responsible for making their move happen.  

What we know: 

TRANSCOM recently required TSPs to offer extended hours of customer service, and they have. In fact, moving companies that handle military shipments now already provide customer contacts, with many offering 24/7 customer service. TRANSCOM could have simply required 24/7 customer service access in the current system. 

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DOD article: 

Through training of subcontractors, Dawson said, the moving experience should be standardized… “Under GHC, what should happen is when you move it should be a very similar if not exactly the same experience as your last move (under GHC), ” [Dawson] said. 

What they didn’t say: 

The contractor training is only for training movers how to use HomeSafe’s software – not actually how to service the military move. Nothing in the contract standardizes how the job is done. HomeSafe may not even have an adequate base of subcontractors to train, given low reimbursement rates and new bureaucratic red tape. And TRANSCOM’s new customer satisfaction scale will only show if customers are satisfied to some degree, not how satisfied customers are.  Right now, companies with high satisfaction ratings get more jobs. That’s the benefit of competition. The HomeSafe monopoly eliminates that – along with any incentive to deliver excellent service.