Defense Transportation Journal

The Official Publication of the National Defense Transportation Association

April 2020

www.ndtahq.com

THE TRAVEL ISSUE

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| Defense Transportation Journal | APRIL 2020

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April 2020

FEATURES

CATEGORICALLY SPEAKING 8 April 2020

•

Vol 76, No. 2

DTMO Category Management Initiatives

By Betsey Grundy & Elizabeth Blake

PUBLISHER

VADM William A. Brown, USN (Ret.) MANAGING EDITOR

Sharon Lo | slo@cjp.com CIRCULATION MANAGER

Leah Ashe | leah@ndtahq.com PUBLISHING OFFICE

NDTA 50 South Pickett Street, Suite 220 Alexandria, VA 22304-7296 703-751-5011 • F 703-823-8761

BUSINESS TRAVEL IS FLYING HIGH AT 13 SOUTHWEST AIRLINES Interview with Dave Harvey, Vice President of Southwest Business

By Sharon Lo

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DEPARTMENTS Defense Transportation Journal (ISSN 0011-7625) is published bimonthly by the National Defense Transportation Association (NDTA), a non-profit research and educational organization; 50 South Pickett Street, Suite 220, Alexandria, VA 22304-7296, 703-751-5011. Copyright by NDTA. Periodicals postage paid at Alexandria, Virginia, and at additional mailing offices.

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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Defense Transportation Journal 50 South Pickett Street, Suite 220 Alexandria, VA 22304-7296

EDITORIAL | Sharon Lo....................................................................................... 6 PRESIDENT’S CORNER | VADM William A. Brown, USN (Ret.)....................................... 7 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT | Irvin Varkonyi......................................................27 CHAIRMAN’S CIRCLE.......................................................................................28 HONOR ROLL..................................................................................................29 IN MEMORIAM................................................................................................30 INDEX OF ADVERTISERS.................................................................................... 30

We encourage contributions to the DTJ and our website.

To submit an article or story idea, please see our guidelines at www.ndtahq.com/media-and-publications/submitting-articles/.

NDTA Headquarters Staff VADM William A. Brown, USN (Ret.) President & CEO

EDITORIAL

COL Craig Hymes, USA (Ret.) Senior VP Operations

COVID-19

Patty Casidy VP Finance

By Sharon Lo, Managing Editor, DTJ & The Source

Lee Matthews VP Marketing and Corporate Development Leah Ashe Manager, Database Rebecca Jones Executive Assistant to the President & CEO For a listing of current Committee Chairpersons, Government Liaisons, and Chapter & Regional Presidents, please visit the Association website at www.ndtahq.com.

EDITORIAL OBJECTIVES The editorial objectives of the Defense Transportation Journal are to advance knowledge and science in defense logistics and transportation and the partnership between the commercial transportation industry and the government transporter. DTJ stimulates thought and effort in the areas of defense transportation, logistics, and distribution by providing readers with: • News and information about defense logistics and transportation issues • New theories or techniques • Information on research programs • Creative views and syntheses of new concepts • Articles in subject areas that have significant current impact on thought and practice in defense logistics and transportation • Reports on NDTA Chapters EDITORIAL POLICY The Defense Transportation Journal is designed as a forum for current research, opinion, and identification of trends in defense transportation and logistics. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily of the Editors, the Editorial Review Board, or NDTA. EDITORIAL CONTENT Archives are available to members on www.ndtahq.com.

Sharon Lo, Managing Editor, DTJ NDTA 50 South Pickett Street, Suite 220 Alexandria, VA 22304-7296 703-751-5011 • F 703-823-8761 slo@cjp.com

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always look forward to the DTJ’s annual travel edition. The articles it contains are relevant not just to NDTA members’ work lives, but also, in most cases, to our personal lives as well. We understand these articles because we have experienced, or will experience, many of the trends or issues discussed during our own travels.

This year’s magazine includes an article on the Defense Travel Management Office’s (DTMO) category management initiatives, an interview with Southwest Airline’s Dave Harvey who is leading his company’s expanded business travel team, and the always interesting wrap up of the NDTA-DTMO GovTravels Symposium.

While I am still incredibly pleased to bring you these articles, as I write this, we are in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic that has devastated the travel indus-

To that end, we have created a dedicated web page at www.ndtahq.com/covid-19-update/ which includes relevant COVID-19 resources, information, and news.

Recently posted items appear at the top of The Source newsletter each week, and we have published several articles in the online version of the DTJ related to the pandemic, with more to come.

try. GovTravels took place February 24-26, 2020, just before a majority of the US started to feel the effects of COVID-19.

The stark difference between then and now is astonishing, and I could not publish this issue without addressing the situation.

Our minds are very much on our members right now—those of you who have been furloughed or laid off, those of you working tirelessly to move supplies and keep our grocery stores stocked, those of you directly supporting the military and government response, those of you working to keep your businesses operating, and, most especially, those of you who have been personally touched by this virus. We are thinking of you constantly.

The NDTA headquarters staff is committed to supporting and serving the needs of everyone in our community. There is no organization, and likely no person, within the greater transportation and logistics industry that has not been adversely affected by this crisis.

During this time of national emergency, NDTA has focused on communication, response to requests for assistance, and ensuring the capabilities of our industry is available and leaning forward to assist our Nation.

To that end, we have created a dedicated web page at www.ndtahq.com/covid19-update/ which includes relevant COVID-19 resources, information, and news.

Recently posted items appear at the top of The Source newsletter each week, and we have published several articles in the online version of the DTJ related to the pandemic, with more to come.

Led by our President, VADM Brown, NDTA remains in regular contact with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), US Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), DTMO, Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), and industry to advise and assist the pandemic response.

As part of this line of effort, we participate in twice-weekly conference calls with offices from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and FEMA. NDTA memSee Editorial pg. 30

PRESIDENT’S CORNER Keep Moving Forward

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VADM William A. Brown, USN (Ret.) NDTA President & CEO

W

ow, if we all thought this would be a peaceful and prosperous spring—we were wrong. Greetings and I hope all are staying safe. Much has changed due to the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. Most agree that things have probably changed forever in many ways. I hope we are not inundating you too much with information, but communications are important these days. Many thanks to the Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD), US Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), Defense Travel Management Office (DTMO), and industry for leading the Defense Industrial Base to a new realization of a future we are going to need to redesign in many ways. While I have had reservations that DOD should have played an even more prominent role in the supply chain side of the crisis recovery, I am grateful that much of the military’s readiness could be preserved should our adversaries test our will. Those clouds don’t go away.

Given our 2020 crisis, I am pleasantly amazed NDTA and DTMO were able to host the GovTravels conference here in Alexandria in February. The event has grown over the past few years from 400 attendees

in 2017 to 800 attendees this year. It was an privilege to have The Honorable Lisa Hershman, the DOD Chief Management Officer and #3 ranking official in the department as a keynote speaker. She spoke about how DTMO is leading the way in DOD to adopt off the shelf technology for adaptation to reimagine the current defense department travel system. Subse-

More details from the meeting are included in this issue of the DTJ. Slides and videos from many of the presentations are available on the NDTA website.

quently one of DTMO’s millennial tech gurus walked the entire audience through the handheld application. The value of face-to-face interaction was evident. Can we get back to it?

Other GovTravels highlights included the awards ceremonies, Travel Academy sessions, the exciting exhibit hall, and the

always electrifying panel on the future of travel, led by Mr. Tony D’Astolfo. Dr. Chelsea Bright, data science expert, of Qualtrics portended that we are on the front edge of data utilization and that many future breakthroughs regarding the “customer experience” can be expected through data analytics. More details from the meeting are included in this issue of the DTJ, and slides and videos from many of the presentations are available on the NDTA website. We are thankful to all who attended and participated in the planning and execution of GovTravels—well done to all for a great event.

Due to the pandemic, the communications by the Government Passenger Travel Advisory Council (GPTAC), through the NDTA committee process, have been critical to keeping industry informed. Going forward, both DTMO and the General Services Administration (GSA) are beginning to assess the readiness of the government travel enterprise as we pull out of the COVID-19 crisis.

With optimism, I hope you set your calendars for July 28-30 at Christopher See Pres. Corner pg. 30

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Categorically Speaking

By Betsey Grundy & Elizabeth Blake, Defense Travel Management Office (DTMO)

T

he President’s Management Agenda lays out the long-term vision for modernizing the federal government. That vision prioritizes outcomes, service delivery, and effective stewardship of taxpayer dollars (www.performance.gov/PMA/Presidents_Management_Agenda.pdf ). An important cog in achieving

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| Defense Transportation Journal | APRIL 2020

that vision is category management, which focuses on procuring goods and services by applying an approach that buys smarter and leverages the immense buying power of the federal government as a whole. As a procurement strategy, category management has been around in the private sector for decades and the government is finally catching up.

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model that combines strategy, operations, policy, governance, programs, and systems in order to reduce the cost of travel. Having all of these functions under one organization is somewhat unique within the government. The result is a unity of command and level of cross-functional collaboration that facilitates initiatives like category management. This integrated approach also requires customer input and relies on data science capabilities to drive evidencebased decision-making to improve programs, modernize technology, and strategically source travel services, driving down the costs of travel.

DTMO embraces the governmentwide category management mandate to more fully employ strategic sourcing and other methods to better meet requirements while generating savings for the DOD. It continues to expand its use of category management strategies in the procurement of travel and travel-related services, working in collaboration with GSA and other agency partners to create value for its customers and stakeholders.

More than 60 percent of the federal government’s travel spend is attributed to the travel of DOD service members, civilian employees, and their families.

Leveraging that substantial buying power has been integral to its strategy since the inception of DTMO in 2006.

In 2019, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued OMB M-19-13, “Category Management: Making Smarter Use of Common Contract Solutions and Practices” (www.whitehouse.gov/ wp-content/uploads/2019/03/M-19-13. pdf ), which provides guidance on implementing category management, including the increased use of Best-inClass (BIC) procurement solutions.

One of the “categories” identified by OMB for improved management is travel.

The Director of Travel and Transportation Services at the General Services Administration (GSA), Mr. Timothy Burke, serves as the OMB-designated Government-wide Category Executive for Travel and Lodging. Mr. Bill Mansell, the Director of the DTMO, has forged a partnership with Mr. 10

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Burke to further a government-wide approach to procuring travel with this “buy as one” tactic. The results of this growing partnership reflect both the vision of the President’s Management Agenda and OMB’s direction to make smarter use of common contract solutions and practices, which includes some OMB-designated BIC solutions.

DTMO’S APPROACH

The Department of Defense’s (DOD) $10 billion travel enterprise packs quite the punch in leveraging buying power to deliver value to its customers. More than 60 percent of the federal government’s travel spend is attributed to the travel of DOD service members, civilian employees, and their families.

Leveraging that substantial buying power has been integral to its strategy since the inception of DTMO in 2006. By centralizing travel functions under one organization, the Department is able to standardize management practices, leverage economies of scale, reduce administrative costs, and work towards a common set of goals with an established governance framework for managing travel. As a result, DTMO is able to bring to bear DOD’s buying power to avoid costs, secure traveler amenities, and deliver an overall better travel experience.

DTMO manages its DOD travel programs through an integrated management

BEST-IN-CLASS

OMB defines BIC as contract solutions that satisfy key criteria and are available for government-wide use. BIC contracts are well-managed procurement solutions that include mature, tested business processes and data sharing. When used across government, these solutions create efficiency by reducing the number of contracts needed and minimizing the administrative overhead to manage them.

They enable standardization in business processes and facilitate the collection of data. Better data enables evidence-based decision-making and the creation of business intelligence to further leverage the government’s buying power to avoid costs.

DTMO has two programs that are under the BIC umbrella—DOD Preferred Commercial Lodging, which is part of the government-wide lodging contract, a GSA-DOD joint effort, and the US Government Rental Car Program.

DOD Preferred Commercial Lodging

DOD Preferred uses extensive market analysis, rigorous duty of care requirements, and annual site inspections to ensure participating commercial lodging locations are above standard. DOD Preferred is known for exceptional quality—83 percent of the participating ho-

tels are three or four Diamond rated by AAA, and all hotels must meet stringent quality standards. Hotels are required to bid at least 10 percent below per diem rate in order to participate. The 2020 program’s average negotiated rates is 85.6 percent of the per diem allotted to travelers. In Integrated Lodging Pilot sites that include DOD Preferred commercial hotels, DOD travel systems are designed to direct travelers to DOD Preferred commercial hotels and, by policy, limit travelers’ lodging reimbursement to what it would have cost the government if travelers choose to stay elsewhere (unless an exception applies and is approved by the authorizing official). Hotels must reapply every year for acceptance into this competitively sourced program. For quality assurance, DTMO collects direct feedback from travelers about their stay and DTMO personnel conduct in-person site visits. Customer satisfaction with DOD Preferred properties remains high at 87 percent. DTMO estimates the DOD Preferred Commercial Lodging Program avoided the Department $16.1M in lodging costs in fiscal year 2020.

US Government Rental Car Program

DTMO manages the US Government Rental Car Program, an OMB BIC solution, which provides rental vehicles

Hotels must reapply every year for acceptance into this competitively sourced program. For quality assurance, DTMO collects direct feedback from travelers about their stay and DTMO personnel conduct inperson site visits. Customer satisfaction with DOD Preferred properties remains high at 87 percent.

for all of the federal government. It offers reduced rates and special benefits when renting vehicles through a variety of approved rental car companies. The program is open to federal government employees and military service members

traveling on official business. Program benefits include Loss Damage Waiver (LDW)/Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) and supplemental liability insurance at no additional cost; free upgrades when the size/class vehicle reserved is not available; unlimited mileage; no blackout periods; and established “not to exceed” ceiling rates.

This single program for all of the federal government saves the government money with a competitive pricing model at the point-of-sale. Competitive sourcing built into the Defense Travel System (DTS) enables participating vendors to compete for the patronage of government travelers.

And, because DOD policy requires travelers to use the lowest cost rental car available, the best-priced vendor will receive the most business. DTMO is currently drafting a new rental car agreement, with the goal of providing even more comprehensive service and value to government travelers. Proposed changes include additional data reporting requirements from participating vendors, increased cost protections for travelers, and additional duty of care elements. DTMO projects

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the US Government Rental Car Program will produce cost avoidance of $62M for DOD in fiscal year 2020.

CURRENT INITIATIVES TMC Services

One of DTMO’s current strategic initiatives is an acquisition strategy for Travel Management Company (TMC) services with two goals: (1) realign the current TMC contract footprint to reduce redundancy and administrative costs, and (2) develop a way ahead that supports DOD Travel System Modernization. Over the years, DTMO has made tremendous strides in consolidating the Department’s multitude of TMC service contracts. In 2007, DOD maintained 100 contracts managed by 50 organizations. Recently DTMO reduced the number of contracts to 22. By 2021, the Department will have 12 total TMC contracts with only two contracting offices managing them. With this most recent realignment, nine large business contracts will be managed by GSA—the result of an evolving DTMOGSA partnership. This approach exemplifies OMB’s directive to make smarter use

acquisition strategy that is cost-effective and will meet DOD’s future TMC support requirements as the Department transitions to a next-generation travel system.

That strategy will transfer TMC responsibility to the prime contractor of the commercial Software as a Service (SaaS) travel system, who selects and manages its TMC partners. Once the new system is fully deployed, this strategy will allow DTMO to further reduce its TMC contract footprint and achieve additional efficiencies in acquisition and contract management costs.

DOD Dine Smart Preferred Dining Program

The second largest expense for government travelers is Meals and Incidental Expenses (M&IE), roughly 28 percent of the total cost of travel. It is no surprise that the DOD launched a preferred dining program in 2018, DOD Dine Smart. It operates through Dinova, a dining marketplace, using a no-cost, fee-based contract that generates rebates for the Department when travelers use their Government Travel Charge Card (GTCC) to pay for meals at participating restaurants. These rebates are

GTCC also provides richer data on travelers’ M&IE, providing better insight into traveler behavior that can be used to leverage other strategic sourcing opportunities.

New and Improved DOD Bus Program

A relatively unknown program, the DOD Bus Program ensures that commercial bus, van, and limousine companies offering charter service provide safe vehicles that consistently meet DOD standards of service. Almost 400 carriers currently participate in the program, offering ground transportation to individual and group DOD passengers, including military movements and recruit travel.

DTMO manages the program through an agreement with carriers that establishes the specific terms, conditions, and standards that must be met when providing transportation for DOD passengers.

Transportation coordinators and individuals arranging DOD-sponsored passenger travel must use DOD-approved carriers to arrange for transportation within their routing authority. Under the new DOD Bus Agreement #5, all carriers must be registered in GOPAX to bid. Consolidating all of the bidding carriers and all requests in GOPAX allows for more competitive bids on bus moves and provides the carriers the potential for more business since all open requests are easy to bid and in one place. GOPAX data also allows program administrators to see where needs are and work to ensure carriers can support the needs of all personnel making bus movements.

CUSTOMER FOCUSED RESULTS

of common contract solutions. The small business TMC, historically a strong DOD stakeholder, remains integral to DTMO’s TMC acquisition strategy. The Defense Human Resources Activity, DTMO’s parent organization, will manage three small business TMC contracts.

With Defense Travel Modernization underway, DOD will take an even more forward-leaning approach to develop an 12

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in addition to the rebates already earned through the GTCC program. Since travelers are required by DOD policy to use their GTCC to pay for all official travel expenses including meals, participation is easy and automatic. Still in its pilot phase, the preferred dining program has earned over $394,000, with the 3-5 percent rebates going back to the Services to support travel budgets. The increased use of the

The Defense Travel Management Office is focused on doing its part to procure goods and services by applying an approach that buys smarter and leverages the immense buying power of the Department. But it is also focused on its customers—the more than 2 million travelers circling the globe in defense of the nation. By strategically sourcing commercial travel services like lodging, dining, rental car, bus, and Travel Management Company support, the Department not only achieves additional cost savings, but also secures more traveler amenities, and delivers an overall better experience for our travelers. DTMO is focused on achieving measurable results that demonstrate value to DOD, the taxpayer, and, most importantly, to the Defense traveler. DTJ

Business Travel is Flying High at Southwest Airlines Interview with Dave Harvey, Vice President of Southwest Business

By Sharon Lo, Managing Editor DTJ and The Source

W

ith origins as a business carrier in Texas, Southwest Airlines will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2021. Along the way, the company has built its network and a loyal customer base, while always seemingly marching to the beat of their own drum. To learn more about Southwest, and specifically its dedicated business travel team, DTJ caught up with Dave Harvey, Vice President of Southwest Business during the GovTravels Symposium.

A Southwest employee since 1999, Dave worked his way through Southwest’s business development, network planning, commercial planning & performance, corporate strategy, and technology departments before taking on his current role. In this position, Dave is responsible for leading Southwest’s sales team, which manages relationships, sales programs, services, and B2B channels for corporations, travel management companies, and distributors.

DTJ: Dave, thanks for chatting with us

today. First things first, what exactly is Southwest Business?

DAVE HARVEY: Southwest Business en-

compasses the teams responsible for developing, growing, and retaining business travel on Southwest Airlines. We’ve had a corporate travel team through the years, but they never exceeded more than 20 people until we started making major investments in Southwest Business. Over the last two years, we’ve devoted the resources to grow Southwest Business into what it is today. We now have more than 150 people dedicated to providing the absolute best hospitality to our business travelers, corporate travel decision-makers, govern-

ment, and higher education travel managers, and organizations that book travel on Southwest.

DTJ: Can you expand on some of the

changes your customers and travelers will see or are already seeing with the evolution of Southwest Business?

DAVE HARVEY: Southwest has always

done things differently. As one of our executives likes to say, when others zig, we zag. Since beginning service in 1971, we’ve maintained our own booking expe-

rience so that we can control the entire customer journey from start to finish. We even had to become innovative in the corporate travel space, launching things like our first loyalty program in the late 1980s to launching our own corporate-travel booking platform, SWABIZ. SWABIZ allowed travel managers to easily book travel on Southwest. But, with everything, technology evolved and we saw an opportunity to reach more business travelers. That’s why we’ve been hyper-focused the last few years on better understanding travel managers’ needs and building www.ndtahq.com |

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a system that eliminates the friction in booking and servicing with Southwest.

We’re now moving forward with industry-standard GDS [Global Distribution System] participation with Travelport and Amadeus. For our government custom-

Southwest democratized the skies and gave the freedom to fly to people all across the country, and frankly, we wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for our amazing customers. That same philosophy runs true today. We’re not going to nickel and dime people over things that should be free like bags or change fees—why should you be penalized for when your plans change?

ers, these new GDS capabilities will improve their Southwest experience in a variety of ways. CTOs [Commercial Travel Office] that use Travelport and Amadeus will be able to fully service Southwest reservations in the GDS without having to call Southwest directly. Specifically for 14

| Defense Transportation Journal | APRIL 2020

our military customers, this allows us to partner with DTMO to eliminate many of the booking frictions associated with Southwest Airlines in DTS [the Defense Travel System].

DTJ: What is it that drove these changes?

DAVE HARVEY: With everything we do, it’s all about our customers and what they want. Ever since we took off in 1971, we’ve been a business-focused airline— high frequency, low fares, easy policies like no change fees or bag fees. These things aren’t changing. But, what is changing is the ability for business travelers and travel decision-makers to book Southwest. We are excited about these new changes and offerings.

DTJ: How you treat your customers seems

to be a part of what makes Southwest different—that responsiveness, the personal touches, and policies. What do you think it is that sets Southwest apart?

DAVE HARVEY: I wouldn’t be here today if I didn’t believe in what we do on a daily basis. Southwest democratized the skies and gave the freedom to fly to people all across the country, and frankly, we wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for our

amazing customers. That same philosophy runs true today. We’re not going to nickel and dime people over things that should be free like bags or change fees—why should you be penalized for when your plans change?

We empower our employees to do what’s right for our customers—that’s our secret sauce that’s made us successful. Our network is also the most customer-friendly, offering more point-to-point options than other carriers means people are going to spend less time traveling and more time with the people that matter most in their lives.

DTJ: It feels like people are very familiar

with Southwest as both a business and leisure airline, but I know you also have cargo operations. Can you tell us a little about that?

DAVE HARVEY: Absolutely. We have a

very robust and award-winning cargo organization. Customers chose Southwest Cargo for its efficiency, fast connectivity, and reliable service. We transport a variety of goods, everything from life-saving medical treatments to fresh flowers, to fresh seafood and e-commerce goods from coast-to-coast. Because of our robust point-to-point network, we can quickly

move goods across our network with ease for both shippers and customers.

ticularly transformative across the airline industry?

DTJ: I’m sure the changes we have dis-

DAVE HARVEY: I think what we are see-

cussed entail some adjustments to your computer systems and programs, are there any other technology changes or implementation going on at Southwest?

DAVE HARVEY: In 2017, we underwent

a major overhaul of our reservation system and moved to the Amadeus’ Altea system. This brought very robust options to our fingertips, ultimately making it easier for our customers to shop, book, and modify reservations. With this new modern foundation in place, it provided us the opportunity for capabilities like industry-standard GDS participation, enhanced re-accommodation options for our customers during irregular operations, and a whole suite of service options across southwest.com, mobile, chat, social, and the list goes on.

DTJ: On the subject of technology, what

technology do you foresee as becoming prevalent or that you think will be par-

ing across the industry right now is digitizing the entire travel journey and getting it into the palms of your customer. We want to make sure we have everything our customers need, where they need it, and when they need it. This is one of our big efforts right now and it’s exciting to watch our teams work on solutions that we all will be using one day.

ciencies, work toward better fuel economy, and identify things we can change today that will make an immediate impact on our overall carbon footprint. For example, in the last few years, we stopped using paper ticket jackets, sourced eco-friendly singleuse plastics, and are working with airport partners to electrify more of our ground equipment in areas where we can. You can learn more about our environmental stewardship by reading our annual report at www.southwestonereport.com I think you’ll see even more of that in this decade.

DTJ: Besides technology, what trends do

DTJ: Thank you so much for taking the

you see as being most influential on the entirety of the airline industry?

DAVE HARVEY: I think you’re seeing sev-

eral different things happening industrywide. You’re seeing airlines be more aggressive with greening the industry and being better environmental stewards. As a whole, the airline industry only contributes less than five percent of carbon emissions. But while that doesn’t sound a lot, we owe it to ourselves, our customers, the communities we serve, and the world to find better effi-

time to chat with us. Before we go, is there anything else you would like to share with DTJ’s readers that we haven’t covered?

DAVE HARVEY: Thank you for sitting

down with me. We have a lot of exciting things on the horizon for Southwest and Southwest Business, and we appreciate all your support. Our dedicated government team’s mission is to support the mission of our customers. Those we serve can always connect with our team by emailing us at SouthwestBusiness@wnco.com. DTJ

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The Symposium on Government Travel & Passenger Services Shaping the Future Traveler Experience February 24-26, 2020 Alexandria, VA

By Sharon Lo, Managing Editor, DTJ & The Source Photos by Cherie Cullen and the Defense Travel Management Office

GovTravels summary material, produced by NDTA, is intended to provide an overview of presentations and should not be considered verbatim.

This information does not necessarily represent the official position of the US government or any of its entities, NDTA, or any of its corporate members.

We regret any errors or omissions. For more information regarding the meeting, please visit NDTA’s website at www.ndtahq.com.

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| Defense Transportation Journal | APRIL 2020

Opportunities Abound at the 2020 GovTravels Symposium

T

talking about requirements, needs, capabilities, policies, trends, he 2020 GovTravels Symposium, held February 24-26 at issues, and innovations looking forward into the future.” the Hilton +Mark Center Hotel in Alexandria, Virginia, William R. Mansell, Jr., Director of DTMO, described the had nearly 800 attendees. This marked the fifth year for benefit of GovTravels attendance, “Year after year we experience the event, and the fourth year it was co-sponsored by NDTA first hand the value that this event brings. and the Defense Travel Management OfThe relationships we build and strengthen, fice (DTMO). The conference theme was William R. Mansell, Jr., Director ideas that are exchanged and integrated, Shaping the Future Traveler Experience. and we walked away with a better underKey government and industry stakeholdof DTMO, described the benefit standing of what is happening across the ers, including DTMO, the General Serof GovTravels attendance, “Year travel landscape.” vices Administration (GSA), NDTA, its after year we experience first He also explained DTMO’s continued industry members and, especially, members hand the value that this event role in the event, “we continue to co-sponfrom its Government Passenger Travel Adsor GovTravels because we see it as an opvisory Council (GPTAC), worked together brings. The relationships we build portunity to gain a better understanding of to develop the theme and professional proand strengthen, ideas that are the challenges facing travel managers across gram. The conference agenda consisted of exchanged and integrated, and the federal government and the travel inkeynote speeches, roundtable discussions, we walked away with a better dustry. We continue to co-sponsor because educational courses, and break out meetings. In conjunction with the Symposium, understanding of what is happening it helps us to formulate our strategic direction for the defense travel enterprise as we NDTA hosted a full-scale exposition where across the travel landscape.” consider new technologies and adopt inattendees connected with each other and dustry and government best practices. We learned about travel solutions and offerings from exhibiting organizations. continue to co-sponsor because it is an opportunity to further our strategic goals to maximize travel policy understanding, imNDTA President and CEO, VADM William A. Brown, USN prove the delivery of travel services, and optimize cost-effective (Ret.), set the tone for the event during his opening remarks, travel in the Department of Defense.”

“These next two days are all about professionalism in the travel As the only event where decision-makers from government industry, both for the industry and for the government. And it’s and industry gather to meet, learn, and collaborate on common an opportunity for all of us to communicate with each other as travel issues, GovTravels is a unique and vital opportunity for stakeholders, whichever sector we are in, and to provide [in the those in the government travel community. end] safe and efficient travel for government travelers. We’ll be www.ndtahq.com |

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People First, Innovation Always

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he GovTravel Symposium commenced with keynote speaker Don Moore, Senior Vice President of Business Rental Sales and Global Corporate Accounts, Enterprise Holdings, Inc. Mr. Moore began by providing background on Enterprise Holdings, which consists of three rental brands—Enterprise, Alamo, and National. The company has 10,000 neighborhood and airport locations in 100 countries and territories, more than 100,000 employees, and more than two million vehicles in its fleet. In 2019, it reported $26 billion in revenue.

Enterprise has a rich history of support for the US military and government inspired by its founder Jack Taylor, a US Navy pilot during WWII who started the company in 1957. Over the years, the company has managed to maintain the same people-centric principles and values on which it was founded. “That simple philosophy—take care of your customers and your employees first and profits will follow is something that still guides the company’s efforts today,” said Mr. Moore.

He described several ways in which Enterprise works with the federal govern-

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| Defense Transportation Journal | APRIL 2020

ment starting with disaster relief assistance. The company’s branches are located within 15 miles from 90 percent of the US population, and local presence is particularly important in times of crisis. By coordinating with government agencies and disaster response teams including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), General Services Administration (GSA), Defense Travel Management Office (DTMO), National Guard, State Emergency Officials, Red Cross, insurance and utility providers before, during and after disasters the company can fully understand and support relief efforts. In addition, Enterprise Fleet Management serves large federal, state, and local government groups. Enterprise also provides vehicle rental services on more than 60 US military installations worldwide.

Over ten percent of its US workforce comprised of veterans, National Guard, or Reserve members, and Enterprise employs 2,000 military spouses. “We hire what you all do every day—you are on a team, you are goal-oriented, you have something you have to stick to, you have a process, you lead,” said Mr. Moore on why military members make good em-

ployees. “So, all those things that you all have when we’re recruiting, that’s exactly what we are looking for.”

Mr. Moore also discussed his company’s use of a corporate venture group to invest in partners and companies developing new technologies and business models that may support emerging customer demands and expectations. These include areas such as digital platforms, last-mile delivery, roadside assistance, car and driver services, connected cars, autonomous driving, and lidar technology. Since 2008, Enterprise has invested $3 billion in companies, technology platforms, and other innovations in the travel industry.

Developing technologies was the main subject of the next presentation, Innovation in Government Travel in 2020 and Beyond. The panel, moderated by Tony D’Astolfo, Senior VP North America, Serko, Ltd, featured panelists Jeff Register, Deputy Director of the Defense Human Resources Activity; Marques Tibbs-Brewer, Senior Sales Director at SAP Concur; Rob Connors, Vice President Business Development at Enterprise Holdings; Steve Croft, Head of Global Online Booking Tool Partnerships at Travelport; and Nick Vournakis, President, Military & Government Markets at CWTSatoTravel.

Panel members provided a cross-section of opinions on topics related to how technology and innovation are changing—or are expected to change—the government travelers’ experience.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) was one area the panel thought shows promise for government travel. Predictive analytics, reducing friction, and reducing the need for human intervention throughout the travel process are opportunities to apply AI. In these uses, AI would allow service providers to be proactive, rather than reactive, to things like travel disruptions and to eliminate some of the more repetitive or mundane tasks.

Omnichannel engagement is on the rise. According to the panel, this is already a standard expectation and way of operating for most people. Providing a seamless connection and experience between channels and platforms is vital and requires a tremendous amount of cooperation in the travel ecosystem. “We work really closely with our TMC [Transportation Management Company] partners to make sure that we are able to engage the customers the way they want to be

engaged,” said Mr. Tibbs-Brewer. “So if they want to call great, but with the demographics changing and the workforce changing, text, chat, that is the key to communicating.”

Content fragmentation and New Distribution Capability (NDC) are already in use within the travel industry and appear primed to expand. The retailing of airline products in which booking a trip

Omnichannel engagement is on the rise. According to the panel, this is already a standard expectation and way of operating for most people.

Providing a seamless connection and experience between channels and platforms is vital and requires a tremendous amount of cooperation in the travel ecosystem.

now includes a menu of options such as baggage, seat selections, and other addon features is the example with which most people are familiar. To Mr. Register, this runs the risk of complicating policy and compliance for the government.

However, some options such as bundling services may work for the government, “to the extent that GSA starts to negotiate things other than airfares, then industry needs to be ready for that, and that’s a very distinct possibility in the near future,” said Mr. Vournakis. He added that “one of the things you potentially lose as a result of NDC is transparency and comparison shopping.”

Changes to demographics, including Millennials and Gen Z becoming a higher percentage of the workforce, are driving many of the changes discussed. This is especially important for DOD, where 46 percent of service members are under the age of 25. As the government travel space evolves to meet ever-changing expectations, those involved must meet the challenge of balancing compliance, policy, and security with customer experience.

The final speaker of the day, Dr. Chelsea Bright, Data Scientist, and Global Industry Leader for Public Sector, Qualtrics, examined how to leverage big data to make better decisions and to ultimately provide better customer service and enable employees. www.ndtahq.com |

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Data put simply is information. “Data is all around us, and we’ve got to start thinking about how we can leverage that data to really help us drive change,” said Dr. Bright. “Often the solution isn’t to just necessarily go out and find more data, but to really take a look at the current data that we have and find people that are passionate about using data and empower them to help start using some of that.”

Leveraging data within government is especially challenging because data often lives in silos and legacy systems owned by different departments and without an end-to-end view of what is happening.

Technology is necessary to make leverag-

ing data possible. Software and machine learning provide advanced analytics and capabilities that make the process scalable. Organizations must also foster a culture that promotes the use of research and statistics and invest in the people and tools to help them leverage data.

Quantitative and qualitative data together create full understanding. Qualitative data is the human-centered approach that allows data-driven decisions and changes to be optimized to the enduser experience and not just to raw data.

Feedback from stakeholders is essential to this and can explain not only what is happening, but why it is happening. Feed-

Looking Forward: Reform Initiatives and the Future Traveler

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back should be captured in the moment, at various touchpoints, and should be convenient to give. It should also adhere to standardized metrics so that areas of strength and weaknesses across the endto-end experience can be identified.

Finally, use data to take action. “Think about taking this data that we’ve started to collect and then use that and actually take action on it and change our processes and programs to reflect the feedback in the data, what the data is telling us,” said Dr. Bright. “This is a lot easier said [than] done, but it is the most critical piece of this because data in and of itself doesn’t do the world any good.”

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he final day of the 2020 GovTravels Symposium kept up the exciting professional program, beginning with keynote speaker The Honorable Lisa Hershman. As the Chief Management Officer (CMO) of the Department of Defense (DOD), she is the third highest-ranking civilian within DOD. The CMO’s mission is to deliver optimized enterprise business operations to assure the success of the National Defense Strategy—and optimizing business travel operations has been of particular importance to Ms. Hershman.

Whether you work in the process or are the recipient of the process, she has made it her goal to make the Department “ETDBW” (Easy To Do Business With).

To accomplish this, she has worked to identify and fix broken processes. Describing the need for “workarounds” or exceedingly lengthy policy manuals as indicators that a broken process exists, Ms. Hershman explained that identifying broken processes is key to pinpointing reform opportunities.

Data proved to be invaluable in determining whether problems were oneoff issues or systematic. For example, within their travel process, DOD had negotiated tickets that had little to no restrictions to have the greatest flexibility.

However, data showed that tickets were only changed four percent of the time, and a four percent risk was not worth the price of flexible tickets. The process was reformed based on the department’s ability to measure its pricing assumptions against the actual price.

While reform success has traditionally been measured in terms of dollars, Ms. Hershman now requires every reform initiative to be measured by balanced scorecards, which must include some customer experience criteria. Improvements to the customer experience have been made through policy changes, greater accessibility to an app that allowed customers to make changes on their government phones and not just on their computers, more travel system modernization, and other changes to the overall experience.

Travel reform initiatives have been tested through pilot programs with remarkable results. The average time it takes to book a ticket has been reduced from four hours to one. Travel claim issues—usually payment issues caused by underpayment, a missed payment, or an overpayment—have gone from five percent down to less than one percent.

From a pricing standpoint across the Army, Navy, Air Force, Comptroller, and other DOD organizations where pilot programs have been tested, the department saved over $80.4 million. But while the metrics were exciting, Ms. Hershman was most excited over improvements to the customer experience.

Ms. Hershman ended her speech by encouraging users and customers— whether government or industry—to provide feedback. “Because my goal again is to not only improve operations, save money, but to be easier to do business with—and there is no better audience that can give me substantive feedback than all of you.”

The last presentation on the GovTravels main stage was The Future Traveler Experience is Now – The Defense Travel Modernization Prototype, led by Bob Gerenser, Strategy, Plans & Operations Chief, DTMO. Mr. Gerenser began by providing background on the modernization

from the pilot to something more perefforts, which were approved and started manent, they set up an acquisition stratin 2014. At that time, a Defense Travel egy that utilized the department’s Other Modernization (DTM) team was put toTransaction Authority (OTA) for progether to take on the monumental task of curement. Instead of modernization. buying a system, the The team found that DOD needed The team found that DOD needed team asked industry to simplify policy, increase their to provide the capabilto simplify policy, ity. Their expectations increase their use of use of and resources for data were to reduce process and resources for data analytics, and to get rid of their and workflow for the analytics, and to get custom travel system in favor travelers, while meetrid of their custom of a commercial Software As A ing DOD and audit travel system in fareadiness requirevor of a commercial Service (SAAS) system. ments, and improving Software As A Service customer satisfaction.

(SAAS) system. They Lisa Moreno, Chief, Travel Systems then tested a pilot program to assess the & Support Branch, DTMO, described feasibility of moving to a SAAS for DOD how DOD was able to successfully take travel. Once the team was ready to move

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an out-of-the-box product and configured it to a prototype travel system, while still meeting DOD’s extremely complex travel policies, laws, and requirements and all without any customization. This immense challenge was met by utilizing data. The team found that 60 percent of all DOD travel is regular business travel, so they started their configuration with

that type of travel and traveler as a starting point before tackling other scenarios.

The system is currently in use by 2,100 people, a number that is expected to grow. These users—and, specifically, their feedback—are critical to continuous prototype improvement and traveler experience optimization. Feedback is captured through surveys, weekly meet-

ings focused on travel managers, and a help desk to help identify issues immediately for appropriate action.

Lance Jenkinson, Functional Product Owner Supporting DTM, Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC), described the strict orders to configure the commercial product without customization as one of the team’s toughest challenges. To tackle this, they worked closely with policy teams to rethink and simplify policies and push technical boundaries. But while configuration relies on compromise, cybersecurity was the one area where there was no compromise. The app has been Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)-approved for government, as well as personal mobile devices. Mobile security is achieved by multifactor identification.

DTM team members Josh Dahan and Sangeeta Ryan closed the panel by providing the highly anticipated live demonstration of the defense travel app from the traveler’s and travel approver’s perspectives, respectively. Both types of users will benefit from the ability to utilize the system at any time and anywhere. DTJ

NDTA CORPORATE DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARDS

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Amtrak

Enterprise Holdings

Southwest Airlines

Avis Budget Group

Omega World Travel

Travelport

BCD Travel

Sabre

United Airlines

CWTSatoTravel

SAP Concur

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc.

| Defense Transportation Journal | APRIL 2020

Thank You

Sponsors PLATINUM SPONSORS

GOLD SPONSOR

SILVER SPONSORS

ABODA by RESIDE • Avis Budget Group InterContinental Hotels Group • The Hertz Corporation Proceeds from the NDTA Sponsorship Program support the NDTA general operating fund. Participation in the NDTA Sponsorship Program does not imply support or endorsement by the Defense Travel Management Office or any other US government entity.

GovTravels will be back in Alexandria in February 2021.

Stay tuned to NDTAHQ.com for details. Bring a friend. Bring two! www.ndtahq.com |

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Photos by Cherie Cullen

The NDTA Exposition was held in conjunction with the 2020 GovTravels Symposium. The busy expo features a wide range of companies and organizations working in the government travel industry. Attendees and exhibitors benefit from the opportunity to network, learn from one another, and discuss current trends.

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www.ndtahq.com |

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MAIL OR FAX TO: National Defense Transportation Association | 50 S. Pickett St., Suite 220, Alexandria, VA 22304-7296 | (FAX) 703-823-8761

Costs are minimal, but the rewards are great! >> Contact NDTA for more information at 703-751-5011 or visit www.ndtahq.com <<

NDTA MEMBERSHIP

Maybe you know someone who would like to join. The National Defense Transportation Association (NDTA) is a non-political, non-profit educational Association composed of government, military, and industry professionals dedicated to fostering a strong and efficient global transportation and logistics system in support of national security. Membership in NDTA affords opportunities to serve and educate the community in your area of expertise as well as other special benefits.

APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP

CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP

Corporate membership in NDTA provides increased exposure and networking opportunities for those companies wanting to do business with the US government or military. Membership should be a key part of any business plan where the defense and government logistics, transportation, travel and distribution system is the target market.

Corporate membership will offer your team the opportunity to be a part of the discussion and share ideas with top military, government, their execution teams, and industry leaders—the individuals who are setting and influencing the transportation, travel and distribution agenda for today and the future.

Name

APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP

Position/Title Name Organization Position/Title Mailing Address Organization City

State Zip Mailing Address

Work Phone

Email

Birth Date

Chapter Affiliation

City Work Phone

State Zip Email

Sponsor Fax

Membership Type

Membership Type

n Life $450.00 n Regular – 3 Years $150.00 n Military/Government – 3 Years $135.00 n Regular – 1 Year $55.00 n Military/Government – 1 Year $50.00 n Young Leaders (under 35 years of age) $40.00 n Retired (not gainfully employed) $40.00 n Student $20.00

n Chairman’s Circle Plus (global or national company with multiple operating entities) n Chairman’s Circle (global or national operating company) n Sustaining Member (national or regional operating company) n Regional Patron (small business or local operating company)

University Program Custom program development creates a unique relationship for participation with the NDTA including participation in: • National NDTA & USTRANSCOM events • University on-site instruction and publishing opportunities • Student membership and scholarship awards • Local chapter engagement

Amount Remitted $______________________ Donation to the Foundation $______________________

Check #_________

n Discover n Visa n MasterCard n American Express

Card No. Expiration Date Cardholder’s Name Signature

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For more information on Corporate Membership and University Programs, contact Lee Matthews 703-751-5011 or lee@ndtahq.com.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Young Professionals and GovTravels 2020 Irvin Varkonyi • NDTA Educational Coordinator, ivarkonyi@ndtahq.com

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he inaugural Young Professionals breakfast meeting held February 25 during the 2020 GovTravels Symposium attracted some 70 participants. The meeting was coordinated between NDTA headquarters and the NDTA Washington DC chapter, led by Chapter President, Richard Dampman, of Enterprise Holdings. Craig Hymes, Senior Vice President of Operations, NDTA, addressed the meeting, encouraging Young Professionals to look for opportunities to grow their travel careers and seek out mentors to help in their advancement.

About a dozen of the participants responded to Craig’s request to identify themselves as Young Professionals. The low number of hands raised indicates challenges remain on attracting more Young Professionals to attend GovTrav-

When retired or separated military apply for government jobs, they qualify for hiring preferences, but such preferences can also make it more difficult to hire younger, non-military. This speaks to the need to look at recruitment efforts more holistically.

els. Discussion with attendees showed mixed prospects in encouraging more Young Professionals to attend the conference, as well as on the larger issue of attracting younger talent to work for the government.

But, the government’s struggle to attract talent is nothing new. In January 2019, a workforce.com article explored the subject: “The government needs to wake up and realize there’s a talent war,” said [Kirsten]

Wyatt, Executive Director of the Oregon-based Engaging Local Government Leaders, a nonprofit promoting diversity, education, and networking among local government employees on a national level.

“If you’re going to be competing for entrylevel or jobs you want to fill with talent you can then nurture, you need to put in more effort.”

While Wyatt’s comments were about local government employees, the comments apply to the federal workforce as well. When retired or separated military apply for government jobs, they qualify for hiring preferences, but such preferences can also make it more difficult to hire younger, non-military. This speaks to the need to look at recruitment efforts more holistically.

Other comments in table discussions were mixed about the encouragement of senior leaders to attract young professionals. Yet there is recognition of the “silver tsunami” coming when a huge wave of baby boomers will exit the workforce into retirement. Studies show around 10,000 boomers retire every day, leaving an immense void in the public sector.

How can the government attract young professionals? A September 2019 article released by Rasmussen College offered five things that millennials it surveyed want from employers: 1. Meaning – You spend much of your life working, so it makes sense to choose something you feel has purpose in your life. Whether that is serving your community or simply selecting a career you love, having a sense of meaning translates into better employees and happier people.

2. The Ability to Make a Difference – Some millennials find purpose in doing a job they know personally impacts the lives of others such as nursing, teaching, or social work. But even if their jobs aren’t making a clear-cut, positive impact, many still value working for

organizations they perceive to be doing good in the world.

3. Work-Life Balance – This factor appears to be growing in importance.

With file-sharing software, smartphone emails, and other technologies that allow work to escape the confines of an office, it can be very easy to blur the lines between home and work.

However, telework options have decreased for the Federal Government.

“Federal employees spent less time teleworking in 2017 than they did during the previous year, according to the most recent annual report on the topic from the Office of Personnel Management.

For eligible employees, federal telework participation went down from 51 to 48 percent in 2017. Participation also dropped slightly across government from 22 to 21 percent of the federal workforce.

Speaking at the TRaD Works Forum, a remote-work conference, Vice President of Digital Human Resources and Global Chief of Staff at Cisco, Jason Phillips, said his company doesn’t “want to be geographically bound by the best talent.”

4. Regular Feedback – Plenty of angstdriven articles claim that millennials are too fragile when faced with adversity. Supposedly, they can’t handle criticism and cower in trembling fear at the prospect of negative feedback in a performance review. But the truth is that most millennial-related frustration with performance reviews has more to do with how they’re conducted—not what’s being said.

5. Growth Opportunities – Money is obviously important. Millennials have bills to pay, but money isn’t everything, and they know that. There are some things in a career that, while closely related, trump even a bigger See Prof. Devel. pg. 30 www.ndtahq.com |

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CHAIRMANâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CIRCLE

These corporations are a distinctive group of NDTA Members who, through their generous support of the Association, have dedicated themselves to supporting an expansion of NDTA programs to benefit our members and defense transportation preparedness.

AAR CORP. + PLUS Agility Defense & Government Services + PLUS AIT Worldwide Logistics, Inc. + PLUS American President Lines, LLC + PLUS American Roll-on Roll-off Carrier + PLUS Amtrak + PLUS Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings + PLUS Bennett Motor Express, LLC + PLUS Chapman Freeborn Airchartering, Inc. + PLUS Construction Helicopters, Inc. (d/b/a CHI Aviation) + PLUS Crane Worldwide Logistics, LLC + PLUS Crowley + PLUS Deloitte + PLUS DHL Express + PLUS Enterprise Holdings + PLUS FedEx + PLUS Freeman Holdings Group + PLUS Goldratt Consulting North America LLC + PLUS Hapag-Lloyd USA, LLC + PLUS International Auto Logistics + PLUS Landstar System, Inc. + PLUS Liberty Global Logistics-Liberty Maritime + PLUS Maersk Line, Limited + PLUS Matson + PLUS National Air Cargo, Inc. + PLUS Omni Air International, LLC + PLUS SAP Concur + PLUS Schuyler Line Navigation Company LLC + PLUS The Suddath Companies + PLUS TOTE + PLUS Tri-State + PLUS United Airlines + PLUS US Ocean LLC + PLUS Waterman Logistics + PLUS Western Global Airlines + PLUS Amerijet International, Inc. Anacostia Rail Holdings Berry Aviation, Inc. BNSF Railway Boeing Company Boyle Transportation, Inc. Bristol Associates Choice Hotels International Crowe LLP 28

| Defense Transportation Journal | APRIL 2020

CSX Transportation CWTSatoTravel Echo Global Logistics, Inc. Global Logistics Providers JM Ship, LLC KGL Holding mLINQS National Air Carrier Association Norfolk Southern Corporation

Sealift, Inc. Telesto Group LLC The Pasha Group The Port of Virginia Transportation Institute U.S. Bank Freight Payment Union Pacific Railroad UPS Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc.

HONOR ROLL

OF

SUSTAINING MEMBERS AND REGIONAL PATRONS

ALL OF THESE FIRMS SUPPORT THE PURPOSES AND OBJECTIVES OF NDTA

SUSTAINING MEMBERS AAT Carriers, Inc. ABODA by RESIDE Accenture Federal Services Admiral Merchants Motor Freight, Inc. Air Transport International, Inc. Airlines for America Al-Hamd International Container Terminal AMAC Logistics LLC American Maritime Officers American Moving & Storage Association American Trucking Associations ArcBest Army & Air Force Exchange Service Arven Services, LLC Associated Global Systems Atlas World Group International ATS Specialized, Inc. Avis Budget Group Baggett Transportation Company BCD Travel Beltway Transportation Service Benchmarking Partners, Inc. Best Western International Bolloré Logistics C.L. Services, Inc. Club Quarters Hotels Cornerstone Systems, Inc. Council for Logistics Research

REGIONAL PATRONS ACME Truck Line, Inc. Agile Defense, Inc. Amyx Apex Logistics International Inc C5T Corporation CakeBoxx Technologies LLC CarrierDrive LLC Cartwright International Cavalier Logistics Chassis King, Inc. Columbia Helicopters, Inc.

Delta Air Lines DGC International Duluth Travel, Inc. (DTI) El Sol Travel Inc. Ernst & Young Estes Forwarding Worldwide, LLC Europcar Car & Truck Rental Eurpac Evanhoe & Associates, Inc. Excl Hospitality - Suburban Suites/MainStay Suites Extended Stay America Hotels FlightSafety International GeoDecisions Getac Green Valley Transportation Corp.

Hertz Corporation Hilton Worldwide Intercomp Company Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) International Association of Movers International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), AFL-CIO Interstate Moving | Relocation | Logistics Keystone Shipping Co. KROWN1 FZC Kuehne + Nagel, Inc. LMI Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association Marriott International

Martin Logistics Incorporated Mayflower Transit McCollister’s Transportation Systems, Inc. McKinsey & Company Mercer Transportation Company National Charter Bus National Motor Freight Traffic Association, Inc. National Van Lines, Inc. Northern Air Cargo, LLC Oakwood Worldwide Omega World Travel Omnitracs, LLC One Network Enterprises, Inc. Oracle ORBCOMM PD Systems, Inc. Perimeter Global Logistics (PGL) Pilot Freight Services Port of Beaumont Port of San Diego Ports America Portus Preferred Systems Solutions, Inc. Prestera Trucking, Inc. Priority Worldwide Professional Drivers PTS Worldwide Radiant Global Logistics Radisson Hotel Group Ramar Transportation, Inc.

Roadrunner Transportation Systems Ryzhka International LLC Sabre SAIC Savi SeaCube Containers Seafarers International Union of NA, AGLIW SecureSystem US, Inc. Shiplify, LLC Sixt rent a car LLC Southwest Airlines St. Louis Union Station Hotel a Curio Hotel Collection by Hilton Stevens Global Logistics, Inc. TMM, Inc. Toll Global Forwarding Transport Investments, Inc. Transportation Intermediaries Assn. (TIA) Travelport Trusted Internet, LLC TSA Transportation LLC TTX Company Tucker Company Worldwide, Inc. United Van Lines, Inc. Universal Logistics Holdings, Inc. USA Jet Airlines Vetcom Logistics Wapack Labs Corporation Women In Trucking Association, Inc. YRC Freight

Dalko Resources, Inc. Enterprise Management Systems HLI Government Services JAS Forwarding John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences Kalitta Charters, LLC Kansas City Southern Lineage Logistics LMJ International Logistics, LLC Lynden, Inc. MacGregor USA, Inc. Move One Logistics

NFI North Carolina State Ports Authority NovaVision Inc. Overdrive Logistics, Inc. Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association Patriot Contract Services, LLC PITT OHIO Port Canaveral Port of Port Arthur Seatac Marine Services TechGuard Security Trans Global Logistics Europe GmbH

UNIVERSITY McKendree University University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign

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IN MEMORIAM

Cont’d from Prof. Devel. pg. 27

Karen Edwards

N

DTA is sad to share that we have lost a wonderful supporter, volunteer, and friend of the association. Karen Rae Wienert Edwards passed away unexpectedly on February 21, 2020. She was 80 years old.

Karen was born on August 22, 1939, in Davenport, Iowa, the only child of Betty and Raymen Wienert. She studied at the University of Iowa and received her master’s degree in elementary education. Karen taught in Davenport and later, in Germany, helping Army GIs prepare for their GEDs. She eventually spent several years as a substitute teacher in Fairfax County Virginia Public Schools.

Karen married Dennis (Denny) Edwards in 1964. They met in high school in Davenport and attended the University of Iowa together. When Denny was commissioned in the US Army, Karen officially assumed her role and duties as an active and supportive Army wife for the next 26 years. She was a proud member of the Army Transportation Corps Wives’ Club.

Upon Army retirement in 1990 and until 2012, Denny served as the VP of

Marketing for the National Defense Transportation Association (NDTA).

During this time, many of you got to know Karen as she selflessly volunteered her time and talents to the NDTA family. Following Denny’s retirement from NDTA and until the present day, they have both continued to volunteer for NDTA. If you have ever attended an NDTA event, you will probably remember Karen’s warmhearted smile from selling you raffle tickets or greeting you in the Chairman’s Circle Plus Lounge.

But, Karen’s most cherished role was that of wife, mother, and grandmother.

Her heart’s joy laid with her family, and she was a daily and beautiful presence in their lives. Karen is survived by her husband of 56 years, COL Dennis Edwards, USA (Ret.); two daughters and their husbands, Laura and Scott Griffin and Lisa and Raymond Lambert; and three grandchildren, Kaylynn Lambert and Palmer and Nicholas Griffin.

Karen has left an enduring mark on the heart of NDTA, and she will be dearly missed. DTJ

Cont’d from Editorial pg. 6

Cont’d from Pres. Corner pg. 7

bers are welcome to attend these calls and can find more information on NDTA’s COVID-19 webpage.

While this is an incredibly challenging time, I am inspired by the hard work of our members. You are keeping the supply chain moving and finding new ways to work. Within the travel industry, for example, airlines have removed passenger seats in order to transform airliners into cargo planes, and hotels are offering to serve as facilities for the housing and care of people under quarantine.

Those working in transportation and logistics from military, government, and industry find themselves very much on the “front lines” of this fight together. Thank you for your dedication and service during this time. DTJ

Newport University, where NDTA will partner with the Center for American Studies and Dr. Nathan Busch for the second meeting in a series, the “Surface Force Projection” conference. Other partners include the Maritime Administration (MARAD), the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC), USTRANSCOM, American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA), and industry. This will be a multi-modal, issues-focused forum, to enhance the capability for our nation to project lethal forces at speed at the right time and place.

If safety conditions are met and in place, this event will be a great way to enhance our focus on readiness.

Keep ‘em, flying, rolling, sailing—safely, please! DTJ

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paycheck—things like growth opportunities. Like some of these values, this one isn’t exactly cornered by the millennial market. As someone relatively new to the job market, opportunities to learn and develop as a person and professional are key to feeling a future in any career.

Of course, there remain other challenges to joining the government, such as the tedious job application process, and the time-consuming back and forth between agency and prospective employee.

USAJOBS acknowledges the process can take a few weeks to a few months. Federal government regulations indicate decisions must be completed within 80-days. This experience does not compare favorably to what potential employees will find during a private sector hiring process.

While there is no one sure-fire way to attract younger talent to the federal workforce, one thing that is for sure is the time to start making those efforts is upon us.

We hope to see you—and more Young Professionals—again at the 2021 GovTravels Symposium! DTJ REFERENCES

Brzozowski, C. (2019, January 14). Public Sector Employers Facing People Problems. Retrieved from Workforce.com: https://www.workforce.com/news/ public-sector-employers-facing-people-problems Meinke, H. (2019, September 30). Millennial Career Goals: 5 Things Young Professionals Want from a Job. Retrieved from Rasmussen College: https://www. rasmussen.edu/student-experience/college-life/ millennial-career-goals/ Wright, A. D. (n.d.). Why Are Some Companies Moving Away from Telework? Retrieved from Society for Human Resource Management: https://www. shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/technology/ pages/why-are-some-companies-moving-away-fromtelework.aspx

DTJ INDEX OF ADVERTISERS American President Lines, Ltd.............................3 American Roll-on Roll-off Carrier (ARC).............31 Bennett Motor Express, LLC................................2 Enterprise Holdings.............................................4 FedEx Government Services..............................32 Landstar Transportation Logistics, Inc.................9 mLINQS............................................................11 Sea Cube Containers........................................15

www.ndtahq.com |

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Providing access where and when you need it most.

We make goods and information accessible from around the world. That has special meaning to the U.S. Armed Services. Access to networks in more than 220 countries and territories gives you the flexibility to operate, innovate and lead change. Through access, FedEx is changing whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s possible.

fedex.com Š2009 FedEx

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| Defense Transportation Journal | APRIL 2020