Army audit reveals inconsistencies in award of HHG tonnage at Ft Mac

By Eric Anders • Aug 27th, 2009 • Category: *RELOCATION NEWS UPDATES*, Department of Defense/Military, Military Moves

Lady Justice needed a long arm and a lot of patience to help a group of household goods movers that service the U.S. Army’s needs at Fort McPherson, Georgia.

In October 2007, a small but determined contingent of established military carriers contacted the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command about concerns that the Fort McPherson Transportation Office (T.O.) appeared to be favoring certain moving companies when selecting carriers for personal property shipments. Members of the group alleged this practice violated the ‘best value’ criteria that were supposed to be used to award traffic and may have resulted in an unequal distribution of work among moving companies providing transportation services within the T.O’s. jurisdiction.

Using information acquired under the Freedom of Information Act, the group produced a tonnage allocation analysis for the months of June, July, and August 2008 that definitively showed that two agents who represented 10 military carriers had received significantly higher percentages of tonnage than participating agents for other transportation service providers.

In response to the allegations, the Fort McPherson Garrison Commander asked for an audit of the transportation office as it pertained to personal property shipments in August, 2008. The audit was started in October 2008 and was conducted by the U.S. Army Audit Agency.

On August 14, 2009, the Auditor General announced the conclusion of their investigation and released an Executive Summary Audit Report (A-2009-0176-ALO) that detailed a comprehensive list of findings about the allegations

The summary noted that a review of 20 routes showed that transportation personnel at Fort McPherson awarded contracts for two routes to one carrier that exceeded the 40,000 pound differential between highest and lowest of all carriers at that rate level. In addition, according to the audit report, transportation office personnel:

Incorrectly coded 28 percent (216 of 782) of shipments classified as short notice shipments. We reviewed 21 of these shipments and found that contract files for 19 shipments didn’t have documentation to support the short notice classification.
Didn’t properly document 9 of 11 shipments we reviewed that were coded to indicate the initial carrier refused the shipment.
Didn’t properly document penalty weights assigned to 20 of 33 carriers we reviewed.
Didn’t cross-train its personnel to perform all required functions within the office—potentially causing workload backlogs.
Didn’t restrict access of agents and carriers within the transportation office work areas—this created the appearance of or resulted in improper influence on carrier selection.

The auditors concluded that these conditions occurred because the transportation office didn’t have established standing operating procedures and hadn’t fully trained its staff to ensure the most eligible carriers were chosen for shipments.

The report also include recommendations to the Commander at the U.S. Army Garrison Fort McPherson on actions should take place to prevent a recurrence of the same problem in the future. Those included:

Establish local procedures and provide transportation personnel frequent training on documenting carrier selection decisions, coding and documenting short notice and shipment refusals, and monitoring carrier penalty weights.
Restrict carrier and agent access to the transportation work area.
Direct transportation personnel to file disclosure statements and attend ethics and acquisition training.
Report material weaknesses identified in this report.

Those interested in receiving a copy of the complete 43 page Army Audit Agency report A-2009-0176-ALO must contact the Audit Coordination and Followup Office at 703-614-9439 or by sending an e-mail to AAALiaison@conus.army.mil. It’ll take some time to have your request fulfilled.

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archie whtie

Yes, I would not have believed the story, if I had not seen the tonnage printouts with my own eyes….a company went from startup in Feb 07 to #1 in 8 months, booking 177 shipments and 1.3 million pounds, doubling and tripling every other local booking agent, except for the other one that was involved in the scandal. And the same guy worked for both companies!
ReloRT

Looks like they're pushing for a criminal investigation now.
abby

Army could find this going on at other bases if they would just look. Lots of short notice and request shipments going to a few “select agents”, outbound counselors receiving flowers and candy from moving company reps, people in contractor side of transportation with personal ties to people at the “select agents”, NTS going to high-rate contractors who also happen to be the “select agents” for code 1's, moving company office staff inviting transportation personel to their “birthday party” at a local restaurant and paying for a night of food and drinks. Kudos to Loretta for standing up.
archie white

Ft Mac had 2 agents that got 27% of all the tonnage, and 32 agents dividing the rest of the tonnage, during Feb to Aug, 07. When you do the math, that means the other 32 got an average of 2.25% of the tonnage each.
abby

WOW. When you break it down like that it's obvious something is really wrong. Who will they be going after in the criminal investigation?
archie white

The video links on the other part of the story, criminal investigation, shows the whole story in 3 brief installments. My guess is, they will go after the 2 companies involved, plus the individual who was representing both companies at the same time.
abby

What about the Transportation Office? Shouldn't some responsibility fall on them for allowing this to occur?
archie white

Yes, I'm sure they will be involved too. Ft mac used to be a well run, professional transportation office, but it has declined over the last 5-6 years to where it's not very good. They currently owe us for non temp stg for over 2 years…we've cut them off, but can't collect.
Loretta Horton

The criminal investigation has been going on for two years. I went to them at the same time that I went to FOX, after having gone to the I G, JAG, IMCOM, the Garrison Commander, SDDC, two Congressmen, and one Senator. After they denied everything, implied that I had lost my mind, and even acused me of beating my children, I knew I needed to take all the steps I could take, and for the record, I'm still stepping. They have not told the story yet about the chief of personal property having a personal vendetta against both my companies, and shutting us down over and over again, and that he could not even so much as get SDDC to back up his actions, but hopefully that will come out. The Chief Of Personal Property was relieved of his duties on August 12, 2008 as a part of the criminal investigation. I did a corporation search under Secretary Of State and found that he had a consulting company that started in 2005. Rumor is, he worked for the higest booker in 2006. Makes sense to me, considering they were awarded far more tonnage than any other company.
Hopefully the criminal investigation will result in indictments. We know its there. They just have to find it.
abby

Loretta, you are my hero. This stuff is going on at so many bases but the movers are too scared to stand up and try to stop it. They complain amongst themselves but won't do anything for fear of being blackballed. I'm glad to see you have some movers down there that will stand up to this bull.If they're gonna put you out of business, take a few of them down when you go! Keep up the good work and know we're pulling for you and taking great pleasure in your victories.
YOU GO GIRL!
Loretta Horton

Abby,
Thanks, but I didn't set out to be a hero or gain fame or anything except to make them do what is right. Believe me, I know that the other movers are afraid to do or say anything because that is the answer that I got when I went to my competitors and told them about the tonnage descrepancies. I don't blame them. It was disheartening, but not discouraging. Only one had the nerve to go to Ft McPherson with me. Of course the complaints that we filed were dismissed as unfounded and unsupported. Thus, this lead me to CID and to FOX. And I hope and pray that the criminal investigation will bring indictments and arrests. Ft McPherson will be closed in two years, and I imagine that I'll be standing at the gate when they put the padlock on, but hopefully, this will make a difference in our industry, and hopefully more movers will get the nerve to fight against this type of govenment-can I say corrupution on here? No, I'll say 'apparent corruption'. We must be careful of our words!
ReloRT

Sorta reminds me of a stubborn but determined ol’ Jack Russell goin after a fox. Hope you can hear all the silent applause comin' from the sidelines Loretta. Nice job! With the base closing, when do the authorities expect their investigation to be concluded?

It's been suggested that there are a lot of your colleagues who share some of the same experiences with irregularities in tonnage distribution at their base transportation office or government service agency nationwide. If neither the SDDC nor Congress has any interest or control over how the Defense Personal Property Program is being administered, who does?

What advice do the government administrators who are lurking about have for those in the industry that find their company in a similar situation?
Loretta Horton

I know this is widespread throughtout our industry, and the big problem is it takes thirty days or longer to get a response from SDDC, Congress, and those guys, and in a lot of cases, we just don't have thirty days. My last thirty days turned into three months. SDDC never discouraged me. They never supported anything that was being done here, but again, it takes time going through that channel. I would suggest going through the FOIA office at the local installation, and request copies of the GBL register. This will tell who got what. And, I'll say it again, power is in numbers. If the local agents will just get together and say they've had enough, and stand up to it, start writing letters, go to Congress, go to the Post Commander like I did. You have to be persistent. And if there are more than just one or two, surely it won't take the amount of time that it has taken with Ft McPherson. Trust me, they bank on us backing down. Send out the link to the video they've just done here. I actually considered sending it to every Transportation Office that I could get an email address for. If nothing else, it would make them stop and think for a minute.
In my research the other day, I came across a site to report such activitity, but I have forgotten where I found it since I have already reported this. If I come across it again, I'll post it.
And my friends that work in the government supported me in what I have done, so I believe had they been able to suggest to me, they would have suggested just what I've done. I'll say it again, it was a JAG officer in the United States Army that told me to “make them do whats right”. That was his advice.
Hopefully we can get more feedback from government administrators that read this site.
The criminal investigation? Hopefully they will bring that together soon. They have brought in two more investigators from D C to assist with that. I keep in close contact with them, and I have confidence in them. I believe that we'll see indictments. I pray for that after all they've done to me personally and to my competitors. You'll know if they do. You'll hear the shouts of joy all the way from Atlanta………….
It took me two hours to read the audit, and I'm a fast reader. I kept having to pause to jump up and down and scream with excitement! Finally, they can quit saying I was wrong and that we were treated fairly………………
Qcjoda69

I being following this story since I moved to to Fort Mcpherson over a year ago because the Transportation Office (TO) sure was trying to screw me around with my household goods. After reading the Army Audit I see how bad the situation was and the more I read about it the more it smell like fraud to me.
I believe there are a lot more installations with this same problem. And personally I don't think this has much to do with lack of training or lack of Standard Of Procedure (SOP). It has more to do with the leadership.
But I have one question, I believe there were ONLY ONE person with ballls big enough to stand up to Fort McPherson, that was Ms. Loretta Horton and nobody else, NOT a group.
By the way I am not associated to Ms Loretta Horton except that she was the one who got my household goods to my house on time after fighting with the TO. Thanks Ms Loretta Horton, You are my hero…
Loretta Horton

Rick, I can make it easier and faster. Anyone wanting a complete copy of the audit can simply send me an email, and I will forward it to them. I downloaded it on my computer the day that I received it from The Army Audit Agency.
My email a1hortonsmovings@bellsouth.net
ReloRT

Loretta, there are two reasons I suggested that anyone interested in seeing the AAA report file their own Freedom of Information Act request.

First, although the document I was sent is marked unclassified, there is a caveat attached to my copy that it is For Official Use Only (FOUO), which is government generated protective marking. This is included, I believe, to prevent unauthorized public disclosure. http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2000/04/fouo.html I don't know that for sure – just being cautious. Don't want to break any laws you know!

The second reason is that U.S. Army Agency FOIA Officer that sent me the information copied my request to two other parties tied to the AAA investigation. I think the more FOIA requests that the AAA processes, the faster they'll realize the amount of interest that their investigation is receiving from the public and other TSPs in the industry. If you forward the info, they don't know how many folks are lookin' at it.

You can use the 'Share This' button blow the post or the one included in the Disqus comment feature to forward the information to as many other interested parties as you want. The more the merrier, however, I don't want this post to become a gathering place for a lynch mob. Those involved are entitled to their own due process. As me pappy used to say “What goes around comes around”.

I do hope, however, that this venue is used as a stump by others to express some of the same concerns that you did two years ago.
Loretta Horton

Makes sense! I didn't think of it that way.
Joseph

Rick, thank you for posting this story. It is certainly one that needs to be told over and over again, and that hopefully will make a difference for us, the movers, and for the miitary service members. After all, they deserve to get the best possible mover, and not just one that is perhaps part of the good ole boy gang.
I think that what Loretta has done took great courage, determination, and passion for not only her business, but for our industry as a whole. She put her neck out there for all of us.
And while I certainly am not trying to turn this into “Lorettas page”, I would like to say that there was not a group that went to the criminal investigators, and it bothers me that not one other agent nor carrier serving Ft McPherson would stand up and say or do anything. If we learn anything from this, it should be that we learn to stand up for what is right, and perhaps we should start standing together for positive change in our industry. I also work for an agency that serves Ft McPherson, GA.
Again, thank you Rick for allowing us to use this this page to vent and discuss. I think we can all learn something from this.
ReloRT

Welcome to RELORT, Joseph, and thanks for your support. I hope this venue will become a convenient gathering place where relocation industry professionals and service providers can discuss new ideas, introduce new products or services, post their own industry related articles or press releases, and exchange information like what Loretta discovered. ~ Rick
http://www.americanautomovers.com/car-transport/ car transport

It's not a surprise that the transportation office didn’t have established operating procedures. Most the time, these offices are in complete dishevelment. So it also doesn't surprise me that their staff weren't fully trained. It's just a shame that certain moving carriers were receiving preference, and a waste of tax payer money.
Loretta Horton

Amen!
Loretta Horton

Amen!

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