Project Location:

Afghanistan

Client:

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) – Philadelphia District

Client Needs and Requirements:

The U.S. Army needed a provider to support the logistics of material receiving, inventory, storage, handling, fulfillment, and shipping in support of the Task Force Protect Our Warfighter and Electrical Resources (TF POWER) mission in Afghanistan. This need resulted in a modification to the Task Force Inspect and Repair of Non-Maintained (TF IRONMan) contract under which ISI was currently working to include provisions for assuming the logistical portion of TF POWER’s mission.

Under this mission, ISI coordinated with TF POWER for the procurement of Electrical Bill of Material (E-BoM) through the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). Once the E-BoM orders were placed, ISI was responsible for tracking the material received in theater and issuing it to the repair teams by tracking and fulfilling orders placed by Area of Operation (AO) Managers and TF POWER personnel.

Challenges and ISI’s Response:

The main challenge with the project was developing an online database and inventory control system in order to track the EBoM present in the TF POWER Materials Hubs.  With the assistance of SpendSmart Group, ISI completed development of the website in January of 2012.

The second challenge was the need to inventory all materials that were currently in country at the time ISI became involved with the TF POWER Logistics mission, and determine proper stocking levels of those materials to maintain a 60-day supply at each of three TF POWER Materials Hubs located in Bagram, Kandahar, and Leatherneck.

The third challenge was the need to efficiently transport material orders in containers ranging from small cardboard boxes to 40-foot ISO shipping containers from the Materials Hubs to the Inspect & Repair teams at various locations throughout the war-torn Country of Afghanistan. In order to overcome this challenge, ISI worked tirelessly to develop strong relationships with the Army Post Office (APO), various private contractors and military units responsible for personnel and cargo movement, the Movement Control Team (MCT) offices in charge of managing the military-run Host Nation Trucking (HNT) missions, and private Local National (LN) trucking companies. Building and maintaining these numerous and diverse relationships gave ISI the ability to rapidly move people, materials, and equipment all around Afghanistan.

The Results:

ISI accomplished all requirements of this contract, and continued to meet the needs of all personnel and contractors involved with the TF POWER mission through the final day of our latest TF POWER contract, which ended 21 January 2014.

When ISI assumed control of the TF POWER logistical operation, the average procurement and delivery time to the Inspect and Repair teams located down range was 50 days. After 90 days of managing and replenishing stock, ISI increased efficiencies to an average of only 12 days – a 416% improvement.

The Details:

ISI completed all ordering, receiving, processing, warehousing, shipping, and database management activities required to effectively receive E-BoM in theater and distribute it to the Inspect & Repair teams working down range.