Steaks and Stakes! International Association of Movers Call with HomeSafe Alliance and resources for small businesses!

Last week on January 11th, members of the California Moving and Storage Association, were invited to attend a call with the Internal Association of Movers. There we had the opportunity to listen to the leadership of HomeSafe Alliance, a joint venture that has been awarded an exclusive move management contract for the U.S. Armed Forces, Department of Defense. If you are in the moving industry, you may be familiar with the changes this brings to our industry. Whether you have been doing military work for years, or don’t do any military work at all, I think it’s important to be aware of the changes this will bring to the industry.

I also had the opportunity to attend the Central Valley chapter meeting held at Coalinga’s Harris Ranch, which brought in Charles White and Daniel Bradley , from IAM, in the flesh! The effort the CMSA puts into connecting our membership to global leaders in the industry is appreciated and I want to extend my thanks to Chuck and Dan for being part of the interactive and lively discussion at the meeting. Also, thanks to Rhonda Stephens and Jeannette Homan of Lemoore Professional Movers and all their staff for planning and leading the event. They had a nice silent auction, and I was so happy with my YETI cooler!

Here is a link to Olga Garcia ‘s TikTok eating a fabulous steak at Harris Ranch!

As with the online IAM discussion, the chapter meeting brought up many questions about the changes on the military moving side. Although I am, as my eight year old son would say a “Noob” (Thanks Minecraft), in the military space, I have been working with federal regulations, regulators, agencies and contracts for about fifteen years. The first thing that comes to mind is:

Be in the know, stay connected, don’t take the position that this is the end. This will bring up many opportunities for old and new players.

The contract has been awarded, protested, re-awarded, and if you like to read about it, I am linking a “Transport Topics” article that does a great job at summarizing the latest decision. If you love more detailed information, here is the U.S. Government Accountability Office 32 page report and decision. ?

I wanted to offer some resources and links for those who are interested and curious about the military moving contract. The first one is that the leadership of HomeSafe Alliance are confirmed as participants in the American Trucking Association Moving and Storage Conference, that will be held in Orlando, FL from February 27th to March 1st.

This is an opportunity for moving companies and vendors supporting moving companies, to learn about the timeline and their approach to tackling this contract. The link to register for the MSC annual meeting is here, and try to do it before the price goes up and before the hotel discounts expire on January 30th! I am planning to attend.

The GHC has a 40% requirement to subcontract the actual job of moving our military services members, to domestic small businesses. That means that if you are like me, making less than $34M in revenues, you are considered a small business. You can search the size standards for NAICS code 484210-Used Household and Office Goods. It is not clear to me yet, whether an actual SBA certification will be required or if this will be based on self-reporting. But this will be a great question to ask in person.

You can also sign up for HomeSafe Alliance to be in their network. This year, the military moving season will be going through the Defense Personal Property Program (DP3), but HomeSafe Alliance will be rolling out information and they plan to take on 25% of shipments by October 2023. See the handy Timeline slide, screenshot I took from the call:

The last resource I want to share, is the Association of Procurement Technical Assistance Centers. These are free to you resources, PTACs provide assistance for small businesses including workshops, matchmaking, one on one counseling, and SAM-System for Award Management Registration assistance. PTACs are funded in part by the U.S. Department of Defense. My preferred PTAC is the Monterey Bay APEX Accelerator and I have spent many years bugging them about so many topics, bids, issues etc. that I really should be sending money to the Monterey County Business Council (MCBC) !

Lastly, do not forget to mark your calendar for the CMSA convention, it is happening May 16 to May 21 at the Omni Rancho Las Palmas. I am sure we will get more resources and information, and of course have access to the military breakout session and panel.?

I hope to see you there!