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Partnering for Success

10 Aug 2018 | Marine Corps Installations Command, MCICOM

Transitioning the Marine Corps Garrison Retail Supply Chain During the late 90's, the Marine Corps started exploring options to partner with industry to become a

more effective and efficient fighting force by applying sound business practices for the procurement of com man commercial products. Under this concept, a II Marine Corps activities would rely on Marine

Corps ServM arts for comm on commercial items to support the Marine corps missi on. Marine Corps

logistics strategy calls for it to use an established industrial base to the greatest extent possible, freeingup

Marine Corps management attention and resources for higher priority tasks.

In the early 2000s, a new partnership between the General Services Administration (GSA) and the

Marine corps all owed the Marine corps to migrate its Garrison Retail Supply Chain (G RSC) from baselevel

management to an enterprise-I eve I management construct executed by an external Supply Chain

Manager: GSA under a 4" Party Logistics ( 4PL) model.

GSA became the sing! e point of contact for the flow of products, financial data and other pertinent

information, allowing the USMC to focus on its core activities. By implementing an enterprise-wide

solution the Marine Corps was able to leverage its buying power and achieve cost reductions through

strategic sourcing and expansion of the garrison retail supply chain beyond brick and mortar stores.

Also, data reporting was consolidated and routed with a flexibility and ease not previously available,

providing data to the appropriate organizations in a timely manner and in a form at they designed.



GSA 4PL Enterprise Concept 

The GSA 4PL model (partnership between USMC and GSA) supports the Marine Corps goals of an expanded range of products/services, standardization, and synchronization, while providing Marines with an improved shopping experience and enhanced customer service. 

Expanded Range of Products and Services - The GRSC/GSA 4PL initiative brings Marines, Marine units and all of the tenants of Marine Corps Installations excellent customer service with a wide range of dependable, high quality products, when and where they need it; This enables the Marine Corps to divest inventory and relieves the burden on the Regional Contracting Offices for the management of routine, time-consuming contracts and reduces the use of the Navy Working Capital fund for financing of inventory. 

Standardization - From the inception of the ServMart concept, bases acted individually to best serve their tenants by selectively accessing government resources mixed with local resources outside their gates. Multiple studies revealed that there was a strategic sourcing potential if the ServMarts were run at an enterprise level. A CENSEO study concluded that leveraging GSA could help approach commercial levels of efficiency and product offering across the Marine Corps Garrison Retail Supply Chain Enterprise. Although, the GRSC initiative standardizes the process for obtaining supplies and services, each individual ServMart retains the right to provide local customization, in coordination with GSA. 

Synchronization - The Corps-wide initiative is synchronizing eleven previously independent ServMart stores worldwide into a single network that will support not only the eleven original locations, but also recruiting stations, reserve units, and units engaged in combat around the world via the USMC Servmart Internet ordering capability. 

New shopping experience – For years under the Navy Working Capital Fund, activities were not able to bring new and better products into the ServMarts and this limited selection of products was not satisfying to customers. Vendor managed inventory allows faster introduction of new products tailoring ServMart inventory to meet the specific needs of its customer base. Approving Officials must monitor items being purchased to ensure that items meet mission requirements. 






 


 


Marine Corps Installations Command, MCICOM