Defense Logistics Agency Document Services took responsibility for all Navy and Marine Corps office document devices following a Jan. 25 Department of the Navy policy memorandum.
The policy, signed by Navy Chief Information Officer Terry Halvorsen, brings about 70,000 devices under DLA Document Services, which is the organization’s largest single opportunity in its history. The change was made in an effort to save money using the efficient procurement and managerial capabilities of DLA Document Services.
Don Reiter, the initiative’s leader, said the policy has other goals.
“We need [information technology] efficiencies that improve how [the Department of the Navy] acquires and manages its copiers, printers, scanners and multifunctional devices,” he said. “This strategic sourcing approach, utilizing DLA Document Services, will create substantial savings needed by the department at a low risk. This initiative goes a long way toward maintaining [Navy and Marine Corps] readiness at a lower sustainment cost, doing more with less.”
John Peterson, DLA Document Services director of business, said the policy relieves Navy and Marine Corps activities of contracting, supplying and managing their office document devices by shifting those responsibilities to DLA Document Services. Those activities are core functions of DLA Document Services, and its staff has the necessary experience and support infrastructure to achieve the savings goal.
“Our managed print services approach includes a professional and experienced staff, contracts that are leveraged Department of Defense-wide and competitively awarded, and a highly refined assessment process to determine the optimal device fleet solution,” Peterson said. “We also integrate requirement fulfillment with on-demand print options and provide automated accounting, funding and billing.”
Michele Spiro, DLA Document Services deputy director of operations, who is responsible for the Equipment Management Solutions Program, said the organization plans to use proven strategies to save the Navy and Marine Corps money. A significant part of those savings will be achieved by eliminating and consolidating costly single-function, desktop devices and replacing them with networked multifunctional devices.
“Multifunctional devices help an organization do more with less by providing more functionality at a significantly lower total cost of operations,” Spiro said. “The transition from single-function devices to multifunctional devices is a low-risk money saver that increases capacity and capability.”
The new policy is part of a “fundamental change in the way we think about data,” Halvorsen said.
We are getting great support from senior leadership who have been willing to give up their own printers and walk the extra steps to a shared printer or look at data on the screen,” he said.
DLA Document Services’ expertise in conducting assessments will determine the optimal device configurations for Navy and Marine Corps commands and organizations, ensuring that requirements are fulfilled, Spiro noted. The assessment process provides benchmarks of existing device inventories and operating costs, identifies organizations’ document equipment needs, and delivers recommendations on optimal mixes of devices.
Steve Sherman, DLA Document Services director, said the organization will also help the navy and Marine Corps implement best printing practices, such as two-sided printing and black and white printing instead of color output, to save more.
“This initiative capitalizes on DLA Document Services’ core capabilities and infrastructure, as well as over 30 years of experience in managing office equipment for the DoD,” Sherman said. “DLA Document Services has refined its expertise and skills over many years to become an effective life-cycle manager of all required services to deliver cost-efficient office devices across the DoD.”