DAHLGREN, Va. – Leaders from Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Headquarters, NAVFAC Atlantic, and NAVFAC Washington were in attendance for the ribbon cutting of the latest Public Works Stores (PWS) functioning under the Fourth-Party Logistics (4PL) solution at Naval Support Facility (NSF) Dahlgren on Aug. 24.
Two 4PL stores are now open for business, one located at NSF Dahlgren, Va., and the other at NSF Indian Head, Md., supporting public works departments in NAVFAC Washington’s area of responsibility. Each PWS is operated in partnership between General Services Administration (GSA) and W.W. Grainger, Inc., and will accelerate procurement of mission-critical materials for NAVFAC Washington, while also providing customer service directly on-site.
A 4PL solution integrates companies along the supply chain under a single point of oversight. With 4PL, GSA acts as a facilitator of suppliers, and provides materials through a retail storefront with vendor-owned and vendor-managed inventory on-site. The 4PL program operates as the single contact for the flow of materials, financial data, and other pertinent information to the customers.
The 4PL PWS at NSF Dahlgren is just the latest in a series of stores opening across NAVFAC’s various areas of responsibility. The goal is to open dozens of such stores in order to accelerate NAVFAC’s execution performance.
“We’ve been working on this since 2019 and getting all the different sites in place has been about a decade-long process,” said Peter Lynch, NAVFAC assistant commander for public works. “We have expanded this relationship to set up several stores within the continental United States, and we also have projects coming up in Hawaii and example sites we’re going to try in Japan, Spain, and Italy. None of this would be possible without the great teamwork and partnership we have between GSA, Grainger, and the NAVFAC team. The speed, agility, flexibility, customer service, and good price points will serve NAVFAC well.”
The 4PL PWS at NSF Dahlgren will allow NAVFAC Washington professionals to engage on-site directly with commercial vendors to receive the customer support they need. The 4PL PWS requisitions industrial, facilities, utilities, and transportation materials, as well as office products and furnishings. Purchases are requisitions to GSA, not acquisitions, reducing workloads on the government purchase card program and contracting offices, while also providing greater price discounts over the traditional retail model. The 4PL solution provides NAVFAC Washington professionals with flexibility to modify product lines, and if the desired product is not in stock on-site, order it at no additional shipping cost and receive it within two to five business days. 4PL is supported by a blanket purchase agreement catalog that includes over 1.1 million products.
“Availability, timeliness and quality of material play integral parts in any command’s ability to accomplish the mission,” said Samantha Ciaravino, NAVFAC Washington supervisory program manager. “With the addition of the GSA 4PL store, NAVFAC Washington has capitalized on various GSA and Grainger resources and material procurement opportunities. We look forward to fine-tuning this capability and leveraging the experience across our area of responsibility.”
NAVFAC is dedicated to meeting the United States Navy’s demand for a persistent and agile shore enterprise that provides mission capability to the Fleets, supported commands, and customers.
“This capability accelerates the timeline for delivery of critical parts and materials, while also reducing the amount of time and effort our maintenance personnel had to spend on procurement,” said Eric Hawn, NAVFAC Washington commanding officer. “4PL facilitates similar purchasing freedom that many Americans enjoy with online ordering and delivery at home.”