12 On Your Side Investigates: Defense chief cracks down amid military moving mess

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - We have some big updates after a 12 On Your Side investigation into military moves: There’s been a personnel change at the top and new initiatives are being launched to protect families’ interests.

For months now, we’ve been exposing problems with the private company that’s supposed to be in charge of those moves.

The military is in the middle of a transition to a new program called the Global Household Goods Contract. A single private company called Homesafe Alliance won that $20 billion contract, and the roll-out has been plagued with problems.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth this week said “due to recent deficiencies,” the director of the U.S. Transportation Command is being ordered to take several actions:

• Hold the new and legacy relocation programs able for meeting their key performance indicators and provide weekly updates.
• Fully leverage both the new and legacy programs to ensure maximum coverage for moves during the 2025 peak moving season – which coincides with summer.
• Move non-serviced Global Household Goods Contract customer shipments into the legacy program based on capacity shortfalls.
• Review and, if appropriate, implement “Economic Price Adjustment provisions” in the Global Household Goods Contract.
• Develop and implement rates for the legacy program, as required, to ensure vendor capacity.
• Form a task force authorized it to “act decisively to improve, expand, terminate, or transfer” responsibilities within the new or legacy programs as needed.
• Establish a hotline and operation center to “mitigate” any interruptions.

Also, Hegseth said:

“As I have determined that the current GHC rates fail to reflect market rates and are in excess of 130 percent of current GHC rates, implement adjustments to the government-constructed costs for reimbursement of personally procured moves from May 15, 2025, through September 30, 2025, to reflect market rates at 130 percent of current GHC rates.”

The defense secretary said in a memo he takes his responsibilities to service , civilians and their families seriously.

“Through these measures, we will ensure we remain the most lethal fighting force in the world by ensuring that our warriors and their families receive the best PCS move available,” he said. “The Department owes them nothing less, and getting this right is part of restoring their trust in our military.”

A spokeswoman for Homesafe Alliance issued this statement:

“HomeSafe Alliance is grateful for Defense Secretary Hegseth’s attention to the Global Household Goods Contract and the directives he has issued, which will greatly improve moving experiences for military service and their families. DoD raising our rates to for significant inflation from the last four years would substantially benefit our ability to facilitate world-class moving services for our nation’s heroes. We look forward to working with the PCS Task Force to demonstrate how our program modernizes and digitizes the move process and resolves decades-long issues with military relocations.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. Transportation Command has relieved Robert “Andy” Dawson of his duties as the director of the Defense Personal Property Management Office.

It was his job to oversee the hundreds of thousands of military families that move each year.

A spokesperson did not confirm or deny whether Dawson was fired, but said Maj. Gen. Lance Curtis would be taking over for now.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

• Missed military moving deadline
• U.S. senators launch inquiry into military moving contract
• Movers say they can’t afford to take part in new program
• Military pulls back on relocation program
• Families hit roadblocks with new military moving contract

We first started investigating problems with military moves earlier this year when military families began sharing stories where movers weren’t showing up.

Some told us the movers lost their items for a while.

The Army and Air Force had already started pulling back on asg moves to the company, and the matter got the attention of U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, who launched an official inquiry.

Which leads us to Andy Dawson.

There have been formal warnings and violation notices, but this could be the start of some real ability for all these problems.

In a statement, the Transportation Command said: “Our focus remains locked on providing our service and their families with an improved moving experience.”

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