Thanks to Steve Warner at the
BeaverLake6 Report for passing on the Defense Logistics Agency Fiscal Year 2019 Annual History report today. There's a section on Clothing & Textiles that gives the highlights of the year. It begins on page 51 of the 450 page
report and include the following items:
(a) In October 2019, the Clothing and Textile supply chain provided over
17,000 Operational Camouflage Pattern utility uniforms to Airmen at Aviano Air Base, Shaw
Air Force Base, South Carolina, the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., Joint Base Charleston, South
Carolina and MacDill AFB, Florida.
(b) The new Berry Amendment compliant Athletic Footwear Shoes were
rolled out to Air Force & Coast Guard recruits on January 1st and to Navy recruits on April 1st.
(c) Clothing and Textiles’ special measurements team created a custom
Marine Corps dress coat for retired Marine Sergeant Major John L. Canley, a Medal of Honor
recipient. Canley received the Medal of Honor from President Donald Trump on October 17,
2018, for his heroic actions in Vietnam in 1968.
(d) The new female Marine dress uniforms were provided to over 3,000
Female Recruits at Marine Corp Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina during the 1st and
2nd quarter of 2019. The first class of approximately 129 recruits were fitted and tailored for
their November graduation.
(e) Supply chain leaders and the Troop Support commander hosted
industry representatives from the National Council of Textile Organizations, Warrior Protection
& Readiness Coalition and the American Apparel and Footwear Association to encourage open
and candid dialogue about innovative ways to provide support to the warfighter.
(f) A contract was awarded valued at $15.5M for 216,240 Navy Coveralls,
Utility, Improved Flame Resistant Version (IFRV), Class I, Type II, Dark Blue 3392. This item
is the supply chains highest backordered item and the exigency buy was required to help meet
the Navy’s revised forecasted demand of 33K per month, which was more than double their
initial forecasted demand of 15K per month.
(g) Clothing and Textile leaders observed the Personal Protective
Equipment (PPE) return on March 6 for Army Staff Sergeant Steven McQueen, whose helmet
was struck in the back by a 7.62x54mm Russian round at a distance of about 20 feet while
deployed to Afghanistan.
(h) Joseph Szwec, a contracting officer in the Clothing and Textile supply
chain was selected to serve as the Deputy Commander for Defense Logistics Agency Troop
Support Team-Kuwait beginning August 2019.
(i) In partnership with LMI, the Clothing and Textile supply chain
conducted training on the new Supply Request Package (SRP) Tool designed under the Military
Unique Sustainment Technology effort. The intent of the new tracking system is to extend SRP
process visibility and traceability as we work to support our customers. The new workflow
system went live March 1, 2019.
(j) The first article testing requirement for Leading Technology
Composites (LTC) under its new long term contract for the Enhanced Side Ballistic Inserts
(ESBI) was waived and first production lot authorized. The ESBI is a Personal Protection
Equipment, Critical Safety Item that provides armor piercing rifle round protection for our
ground troops. DLA holds the only contract in the DoD for ESBI.
(k) A contract awarded valued at $26,380 for max quantity 50,130. Marine
Corps and Coast Guard Sweaters 2 March, as the Submarine Forces (SUBFOR) plans to bring
back the old submarine sweater as a heritage item.
(l) Clothing and Textiles in coordination with Navy leadership and
industry partners introduced two new Navy items in support of the Navy Recruit Issue Bag:
Athletic Footwear and the Navy’s new Cold Weather Parka (CWP) which replaced the Navy
Peacoat and All Weather Coat (AWC), April 1.
(m) Clothing and Textiles filled 185 orders in support of Ash Wednesday,
Palm Sunday, Passover, and Easter holidays in April. Orders consisted of 2,028 bottles of wine
or grape juice, 274,000 pieces of palm, 434 Jewish ceremonial Seder kits and 65 ounces of ashes.
C&T coordinated with other DLA MSCs, forward deployed personnel and vendors to ensure100
percent of the Holiday items ordered were delivered to destinations within and outside of the
continental U.S. including Japan and Iraq.
(n) The first DLA contract supporting the Marines with its new load
bearing pack system was awarded for a total dollar value of $37M for max quantity 385K. This
first time indefinite quantity contract has a one year base ordering period with two one year
options designed to provide sustained support for the Marines infantry load bearing needs for
years to come.
(o) The C&T Product Specialists and Resolution Specialists have made
substantial progress on closing Quality Notifications (QN) for suspended stock, supply
discrepancies and product quality deficiencies. At the beginning of calendar year 2019, there
were $1.96 million in QNs with suspended stock. As of the end of May, there are $698,000 for
suspended stock, a 65% reduction. In addition, over 70% of all QNs are now closed with a
positive impact on sales of $10.3 million to date.
(p) C&T responded to an urgent request for OCP uniform coats & trousers
and tan t-shirts from the Navy Expeditionary Combat Readiness Center (ECRC) to outfit 25
Navy deployers within four days. Because the unit was not an authorized user of the uniform,
the C&T Customer Account Specialist took immediate action to expeditiously address user
authorization issues, input requisitions into the system, coordinate overnight shipment from the
3PL to complete the task one day ahead of schedule. The customer was very appreciative of the
extra efforts to ensure they met their mission assignment.
(q) In partnership with industry, the box for the Medal of Freedom was
recently re-designed, and the first shipment of the new boxes have been received. The original
box was handpicked by Jacquelyn Kennedy, and had a mahogany finish with blue and white
matting inside the box. Due to shortages of the wood used for the box, a re-design was necessary.
The Institute of Heraldry worked with the Medal of Freedom vendor Ira Green to develop
several prototypes. These prototypes were sent to the White House, and presented to First Lady
Melania Trump for review and decision. After several revisions, the First Lady selected a final
design. The new box has black matting which highlights the medal itself and make it “pop.”