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The Defense Department is weighing options for reconfiguring the military postal system, in what could be a precursor to a public-private job competition for the processing and delivery of mail to the armed services.

A December report by the Defense Business Board, an advisory group for top Defense leaders, suggested that the department issue a request for proposals soliciting what it termed "transformational" solutions to military mail delivery.

"Outsourcing to the maximum extent possible would allow private sector best practices to guide the development of the most efficient business model, making use of available technology," the board reported. The group noted the current piecemeal approach to outsourcing elements of the mail system risked increasing complexity and costs, and suggested the department start with a clean slate to solicit a new, end-to-end solution that would integrate with the existing military supply chain.

The group cited an April 2004 Government Accountability Office report on mail delivery during Operation Iraqi Freedom, which found that many service members were unhappy with long delivery times, and that Defense was unable to reliably track delivery times.

"Congress establishes maximum military manpower end-strengths that require the department to maximize the use of its military capital," the Defense Business Board noted. "Outsourcing military mail allows the department to refocus over 4,000 military personnel plus many ancillary soldiers on their warfighting functions."

An 11-page request for information released June 14 on the FedBizOpps Web site could be a preliminary step to following that recommendation. In a briefing last week held by the Army's Contracting Center of Excellence, at least 10 companies obtained detailed information, later posted online, on how Defense, the U.S. Postal Service and private sector operations currently coordinate military mail service.

The deadline for response to the information request is Aug. 14, after which the department may issue a request for proposals or a request for quotes based on solutions submitted, according to information posted online.

Joseph Sikes, director for housing and competitive sourcing in the Office of the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Installations and Environment, said the RFI could lead to a future public-private competition that would be subject to the Office of Management and Budget's Circular A-76 rulebook.

"The real answer at this point is, we still don't know exactly what it is they're doing because it's an RFI," Sikes said. "Generally speaking, if you have the government workforce doing something that's commercial and you're going to end up with a contract ... A-76 [rules] would say you should have a competition and let the government compete for that."

But Sikes said if the military completely divests itself of postal operations, then A-76 rules might not apply. The fact that some of the operations are overseas, and that some work could end up being shifted to the quasi-governmental Postal Service, also complicate the picture, he said.

In recent years, public-private competitions often have been controversial, with high levels of union involvement and congressional intervention. Sikes said a Defense mail competition, depending on what particular job functions were included, could be less contentious since many of the affected employees are military, rather than civilian. Differences between the two cultures, and the security that military service members would not be left jobless if their work was shifted to a contractor, could ease the impact of a public-private competition.

An April OMB report on competitive sourcing said the Defense Department was slated to announce competitions for 10,338 jobs in fiscal 2006; Sikes said the military postal service work is not included in that figure.