Merging commissaries/exchanges

Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan has signed off toward consolidating the military commissaries and exchanges into a single system. A task force will be formed by July 1 to perform financial diligence, develop a business case analysis, and begin plans for the consolidation, according to a May 29 DOD memorandum. The proposed consolidation includes the Defense Commissary Agency, Army and Air Force Exchange Service, and Navy and Marine exchanges into one organization, which was recommended by DoD’s Reform Management Group. The one agency “offers the greatest potential to achieve the economies and efficiencies” necessary to ensure that commissary and exchange benefits survive, according to the memo. DoD officials want to lower the amount of taxpayer dollars used to support commissaries - about $1.3B annually - in order to shore up the commissary system sales, which have been in decline. The task force will complete its work by Oct. 31. If Shanahan okays the business case, the task force will finish integration plans by Jan. 31, 2019, and the consolidation will begin based on existing authority under law. If not, the task force will disband and the reform initiative closed. However, lawmakers have inserted a provision in the House version of the FY 2019 defense bill that requires congressional input into the decision. (Source: Military Times 05/30/18)