U.S. Sen. Mark Warner met with U.S. TRANSCOM Commander General Selva on Monday to discuss the unacceptable burden thousands of service members returning from duty overseas are experiencing due to misplaced vehicles by the new DoD contractor.
The meeting follows a series of letters from Senator Warner after the contractor was unable to show improvement in correcting the on-going problem. For several months now, Senator Warner’s office has been working with over 160 constituents who have asked for assistance, providing updated information to TRANSCOM’s fusion center to help them get a better handle on where specific vehicles are located and when they will be delivered.
During Monday’s meeting with General Selva, Senator Warner expressed serious concerns about the lack of preparation and substandard performance of the contractor, International Auto Logistics (IAL), and oversight by TRANSCOM. General Selva admitted that the contractor’s data systems were not equipped to provide timely service, and more than a dozen military personnel now are involved in active oversight of the contractor due to this substandard performance.
“I made it clear to General Selva that unless the performance improves, all options must be on the table, including renegotiating or terminating this contract. It is shocking that military members and their families have had to endure months of delays while the contractor apparently remains unprepared to provide acceptable service,” Senator Warner said after the meeting. “Over a dozen people have waited over 100 days in delays to receive their vehicles, some of which have been sent to the wrong country.”
Senator Warner also discussed his dissatisfaction with a recently disclosed issue: vehicles being delivered to the processing centers with either incomplete or missing customs paperwork. It was revealed in the meeting that the contractor was issuing one customs document to cover 50-90 shipping containers, instead of a single document for each container. This misstep has caused multiple delays because a single problem in a large group of up to 90 containers could hold up the entire shipment, even for those vehicles bearing completed paperwork. In addition, customers have had major problems with IAL’s customs process, since each state has different customs regulations, and IAL apparently had not prepared for that reality.
“Our military service members and their families should not have to bear the brunt of this terrible performance,”Senator Warner said. “The timely delivery of personal vehicles for military men and women returning from overseas duty is too important for a contractor’s on-the-job training.”
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