Pentagon scraps relocation program for lack of funds

A pilot relocation program at the Defense Department will end on Sept. 30 because of budget constraints.

The Full Service Moving Project began in January and incorporated the best features of previous pilot relocation programs. Under the FSMP, Defense outsourced personal property moves to "move managers," providing service members with a single point of contact. Service members also got full replacement cost for damaged or lost property and binding cost estimates for moves.

The program was scheduled to run for two years, but recent funding shortfalls at the Pentagon put an early end to the program, DoD officials confirmed Friday.

"The military services decided to cease participation in FSMP, and it was due to simply not having any money," said Cullen Hutchinson, the program's former director. Hutchinson now works at the Military Traffic Management Command, which manages all military deployments. Each year, the Pentagon spends about $3 billion on moving military service members and their families, including the transportation, storage and management of household furniture, goods and baggage.

"FSMP was more expensive than the current program and everybody understood that we would be paying more than we do with the current program. We just didn't understand how much more it would come out to be," Hutchinson said. "This was significantly more expensive."

However, Hutchinson said the program did run long enough for the Defense Department's U.S. Transportation Command to get enough information to compare the results with those of other pilot relocation programs.

"It will help the U.S. Transportation Command in their analyses of all these quality of life initiatives and help them form a recommendation of what the program should look like and ultimately recommend it to the [Defense Secretary] for a decision," Hutchinson said.

FSMP was being used in the Washington, D.C., area, Minot, N.D., and in Georgia. Service members who use the service until Sept. 30 will be moved using FSMP services. After that, military personnel will be moved under the rules and regulations of the established moving program.