Sourcing and Global Distribution of Medical Supplies

Abstract

Concerned with rising Department of Defense (DoD) costs, the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) directed the military medical logistics community to explore opportunities to gain efficiency without sacrificing capability. Since RAND had researched military medical logistics efficiencies in a prior study,1 the military services and Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) asked RAND to identify efficiencies in the global military medical logistics enterprise. We designed a study that would investigate such logistics efficiencies in purchasing power and information technology; based on our prior research, we included warehousing and distribution in the study as opportunities for efficiency. Because DoD has adopted the commercial Prime Vendor (PV) model for sourcing and distributing medical materiel to medical treatment facilities (MTFs) inside the United States in a system that is understood to be quite efficient, we focused on supply of medical materiel to military organizations outside the continental United States (OCONUS). The military maintains a significant role in supplying such materiel to these organizations and at significant cost.