DOD personal property program actively seeks servicemembers' input Published Aug. 4, 2009 SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (AFNS) -- Have you ever had your household goods moved and at the end of the process, thought, "That was the best move I've had. I hope my next move is that good." Or conversely, "That move was horrible. I hope no one else has to use movers like these." Well, you now have a say in which moving companies the Department of Defense uses more or less frequently. Unfortunately, on average, servicemembers are only taking advantage of their opportunity to have a voice in the process around 20 percent of the time. Officials from the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command along with the U.S. Transportation Command and the services are implementing a new program for moving your household goods. It's called the Defense Personal Property Program, or DP3. The backbone of DP3 is a customer evaluation of the move process. This evaluation is called the customer satisfaction survey. The customer satisfaction survey is not your typical survey that gets collected and may impact you at some future date, or worse yet, a survey where no appreciable outcome is ever apparent. On the contrary, the customer satisfaction survey that servicemembers fill out following their move is actually used six times over a 12-month period to help determine which carriers get more moves during the relevant performance period. The customer satisfaction survey is designed to be completed quickly. It is a simple, 12-question evaluation that has two direct impacts on all future DOD household good shipments. First, as mentioned above, it is used as the cornerstone of a program designed to move away from the historical "low cost" system for selecting movers, toward a best value acquisition of moving companies based on your customer satisfaction survey input, the rates a company files, and the speed and satisfaction with which the moving company handles any claim the member submits. Without your support for completing the survey, the program essentially reverts to the traditional low cost methodology, and the servicemember satisfaction element goes away because of no input from customers. Second, this information is used to improve government services pertaining to household goods shipments. Whether the servicemember experiences a good or bad move, the customer satisfaction survey is a vital component of DP3 and is the best way of improving future moves for servicemembers, DOD civilians, and their families. Completing a customer satisfaction survey has an immediate impact on improving future household goods moves. Instructions and the link to the customer satisfaction survey are e-mailed to the member once a household goods shipment has been delivered. To ensure this happens, members should provide an e-mail address to their personal property counselor that can be accessed 24/7 at the destination. For more information on the customer satisfaction survey and DP3, please visit www.move.mil and click on "DOD Customer."