Adoption Of A Single Method of Shipping Household Goods Overseas--Pros and Cons

Basically, there are two methods for shipping household goods of military personnel overseas--the direct procurement method under which the Government makes arrangements with individual firms for all required services and the international through Government bill of lading method under which the Government pays a household goods forwarder to make the arrangements. In fiscal year 1974 the Department of Defense spent $181 million to move 141,600 household goods shipments between the United States and overseas points. More than 95 percent of these shipments moved under the international through Government bill of lading method. In House of Representatives Report No. 93-662 on the Department of Defense appropriations bill for 1974, the Committee on Appropriations questioned the need for the Department of Defense to use two separate methods for moving service members' household good internationally. The Committee asked GAO to review the feasibility of selecting either a single method of shipment on a worldwide basis or selecting a method for each major shipping point where large numbers of U.S. personnel are stationed.