Napoleon was famous for saying that “an army marches on its stomach.” Modern warfare has not changed this logistical truth. The US Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) provides supply support, and related technical and logistics services to the U.S. military services, as well as several federal civilian agencies. Headquartered at Fort Belvoir, VA, the agency describes itself as “the one source for nearly every consumable item, whether for combat readiness, emergency preparedness or day-to-day operations.”
The DLA has now issued its FY 2006 Transformation Roadmap [PDF format], documenting the portfolio of plans and programs underway to execute DLA’s role in the US Department of Defense’s overarching transformation strategy. The roadmap lives up to its name, featuring the following DLA programs and initiatives:
* Customer Relationship Management
* Supplier Relationship Management
* Business Systems Modernization
* Business Systems Modernization Energy
* Distribution Planning and Management System
* Integrated Data Environment
* National Inventory Management Strategy
* Global Stock Positioning
* Executive Agent
* Product Data Management Initiative
* Workforce Transformation
* Reutilization Modernization Program and Base Realignment and Closure.
The roadmap puts the programs into context as they relate to each other: the Defense Logistics Agency Strategic Plan, the Department of Defense Transformation Strategy and the National Defense Strategy.
In his foreword to the roadmap, Defense Logistics Agency Director Vice Adm. Keith Lippert comments, “No single program is transformational by itself … delivery of all of the programs is necessary to lay the foundation from which we can achieve the full realization of transformation.”