Constituent's Complaints About the Regional Storage Management Office in Topeka, Kansas

GAO was asked to investigate complaints about the Department of the Army's regional storage management office in Topeka, Kansas. The Military Traffic Management Command is the single manager for the personal property program of the Department of Defense. Among other things, the command is responsible for arranging for storage of such property, including unaccompanied baggage and household goods. The storage function is the direct responsibility of five regional storage management offices (RSMO) which contract with commercial firms for storage facilities and related moving services. The Topeka RSMO is responsible for a 15-State area and currently has approximately 525 warehouses under basic agreements to provide services for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Army/Air Force Exchange Service. A contractor of the RSMO in Topeka, Kansas, has complained that: (1) the contracting officer required the contractor to perform services not specified in the basic agreement; (2) the contracting officer issued a stop order suspending the contractor because it refused to use wirebound tags, even though such tags are not required by the agreement; (3) the contractor was illegally denied the right to participate in storage business with the Government; (4) the Government incurred additional costs because of the contractor's suspension; (5) the Army's responses to congressional inquiries were misleading concerning the contractor's performance; and (6) the new basic ordering agreement contained no significant changes in the areas of disagreement.