A Look Back at FSMP: How It All Started
October 24, 2011 
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Note: It was 10 years ago this month that brought an end to the Full Service Moving Project, commonly known as FSMP. In a series of guest posts by Daycos founder John Day, we take a look back at the FSMP program. Today we examine the start of the program, Wednesday we will examine the problems that developed, and Friday we will review what can be learned from the FSMP program.
FSMP: If those four letters bring a certain chill to your bones, then you are obviously a survivor of the Full Service Moving Project. FSMP was an attempt by the Department of Defense to contract out the entire DoD personal property program to Third Party Relocation companies to administer. It began in January, 2001, and was shut down by October of the same year.
In the 1990’s, under the business philosophy called “Re-Engineering”, there were numerous test programs and pilot programs tried by the Services and DoD itself to radically change the entire DoD moving program. FSMP stemmed directly from the Army Hunter Field Re-Engineering pilot program. Hunter AAF, a base in Savannah, GA, was the site for Army’s pilot program in this on-going effort, and involved a limited number of shipments using one relocation company to replace the Personal Property side of the base Transportation Officer. It was pronounced a success when they cut the ribbon on the first day in operation and before they moved a single shipment!
A program sponsored by DoD itself, FSMP’s philosophy was one the carrier/forwarder industry could admire. The Third Party Relocation companies would, in addition to replacing the PPSO, also offer the Service Member traditional relocation services: home purchase or rental, home selling marketing, mortgage services, etc. An independent company would complete and compile the customer satisfaction surveys.
For carriers, there was a lot to like. They were to provide a premium moving services at rates that were comparable to National Account rates. Following a short period of round-robin shipment distribution, their competitive scoring was to be computed using a matrix of 70% for quality and 30% for the rate, instead of lowest rate awards. Quality carriers would rise to the top and be rewarded for their service. They were told to reflect this quality emphasis by adjusting our rates to compensate for the additional costs this entailed.
FSMP involved only outbound shipments from the DC area, Georgia, and North Dakota, to all destinations, and contracts were to be awarded to ten Move Management contracts. Obviously, the choice of locations used provided a large location (the DC area – second largest in CONUS), a medium area (all bases in Georgia) and a small area (Minot AFB in North Dakota). A new term for military moves, the Commercial Bill of Lading (CBL) replace the GBL, and each carrier could use their own system of registration – which they gave to the move manager at time of the awarding the shipment.
Payments were to be paid through the PowerTrack system from US Bank, using the Matching Model system, where each side, a Buyer (the move manager) and a Seller (the carrier) entered their rated CBL into PowerTrack separately. If they matched exactly, the invoice was automatically paid (with some exceptions). If not, they went into Audit Exception status and the two parties had to negotiate what needed to be changed to reach a Matched status required for payment.
After the ten move manager contracts were awarded to three Relocation companies and four Carriers (some would have offices at multiple locations), it was time to start the program. Since it started during the slow season, it took a while for the problems to become apparent, but by peak season, it was clear there were many issues with FSMP.
Our next article will cover the problems associated with the FSMP program. Please return on Wednesday to view the article, or click here to register to be notified via email when new articles are posted.
Related Posts
- A Look Back at FSMP: What Can Be Learned - October 28th, 2011
- A Look Back at FSMP: Problems Develop - October 26th, 2011
- TSP Teleconferences Re-Started - March 27th, 2006
Sometimes History is our best teacher. And as the adage goes – “Those that forget the past are doomed to repeat it.”
Thankfully the company that is conducting the current BCA analysis for outsourcing DOD personal property are aware of and are looking at both the Hunter and FSMP pilots. Let’s trust that they draw the right conclusions from both those experiences.