Daycos News

It appears that DPS will officially be launched today at the 18 sites previously identified as the initial roll-out locations (see list at Move.mil). As has been true with almost all things DPS, there still is some confusion and uncertainty surrounding the launch.

A group of TSPs, assisted by the HHGFAA, had previously filed an GAO protest, and received a statutory stay that they believe prevents SDDC from booking any DPS shipments until GAO makes a ruling on the protest. Apparently SDDC has interpreted the GAO ruling to mean that the stay only applies to the worldwide rollout, and does not prevent them from starting to award shipments between the initial 18 bases.

So it appears SDDC will move forward with booking shipments in DPS. There may be efforts to stop them from proceeding, but it is unclear how and when those will happen. In the meantime, TSPs should be watching for shipments being awarded to them in DPS, starting today. It is likely that the volume of shipments booked in DPS will be small, at least for a while, until PPSOs gain more confidence with the process.

The price of fuel was $3.09 per gallon as reported on Monday, November 3, 2008 making the upcoming FSC rates for the period 11/15/08 through 12/14/08 as follows:

GBL Domestic HHG / International HHG & UB - 6%
GSA Domestic HHG - $0.58
GSA International HHG and BAG - $0.58

The following announcement was released this morning by Deutsche Post World Net, parent company of DHL U.S. Express:

DHL, the world’s number one international logistics and express service provider, today announced a repositioning of its U.S. Express business. Beginning January 30, 2009, DHL’s U.S. Express business will focus entirely on its international offerings and will discontinue its domestic-only air and ground services.

We recognize that DHL has been the courier of choice for many of our billing customers and that those customers will now be faced with finding alternative shipping methods. We wanted to take a moment to remind all of our billing customers that we offer Image Billing at no additional charge to you. Image Billing allows you to send your documents to our office electronically via email for billing purposes, so there are no shipping costs incurred on your end. If you are interested in learning more about this service, please contact us at support@daycos.com.

We had our annual Daycos Halloween Costume Contest here in the office on Friday, October 31st. All of the employees met for lunch while those in costume paraded around to show off how they had dressed this year, hoping to win the Costume Contest - as this year the First Place winner received 8 extra Personal Hours, while Second Place & Third Place received 4 extra Personal Hours.

The winners:

The First Place winner was Angela Lehman, who works in our Customer Support Department, as she dressed as Bob the Plumber. The Second Place Winner was Allen Longe, one of our billers in the Production Department, who dressed up as a Security Guard. And we had a tie for Third Place this year. Stacy Uhing, a biller in our Production Department, dressed up as a couch potato; and Kip Smith, a computer programmer in our IT Department, was 'Miss Daycos' this year.

All in all it was a festive Halloween at Daycos - there were so many unique and interesting costumes this year! It is great to have such a fun group of employees who enjoy all of the different holiday festivities!

Our billing program and AccuBill have recently been updated with the DW08 changes found in the D-15 Solicitation that went into effect for Domestic shipments with pickup dates of 11/01/08 and after.

The changes are as follows:

DOM – new tariff updates (D-15)

All LHS Percentages are entered into Accubill for Domestic for effective date of 11/01/2008.

A. Incorporated the following Air Force Regionalization consolidations:

1. Pennsylvania – Transferred responsibility of DMAC to DMAT (Carlisle Barracks, PA ) – See Change 1 below – DMAT reverted right back to DMAC
2. Virginia – Transferred responsibility of BGFC to AGFM (JPPSO NE – Massachusetts)

The remaining items listed in the ‘Summary of Changes’ for the new tariff are verbiage and phone number changes, no programming required.

FYI – Tariff D-15 does not have any SIT, Delivery, Reweigh, etc. rate changes, as traditionally found for each cycle.

CHANGE 1 to D-15 –effective 11-01-2008
A. Reinstated the following additional Air Force Regionalization consolidation from above:

1. Pennsylvania – Transferred responsibility DMAT to DMAC(CEKSF, Oakdale, PA)

Update: Here is a link to the story of Sue's election from our local newspaper.
Also, here is a picture from the newspaper of Sue's victory party.

Yesterday the voters of Norfolk overwhelming elected our own Sue Fuchtman as mayor. Sue captured 64% of the vote in defeating her opponent to become the first female mayor in the history of our city.

Sue wanted to express her appreciation to all of her friends in the industry that have been so supportive and encouraging in this race.

We will post updates later today with some pictures from the victory party, as well as some clippings from our local newspaper.

***UPDATE*** - We received word from PC*Miler that DOD has signed off on Version 22.1 and they have sent it to production. They anticipate it will be shipped by mid-November.

Annually on October 1 DTOD releases a new version of their mileage guide. At that time, PC*Miler, the commercial version for DTOD North America, also releases an update to coincide with the DTOD release. Prior to PC*Miler releasing their update, DOD must sign off on the official version that they will release. We have been advised by representatives of ALK/PC*Miler that they cannot release the official version of PC*Miler 22.1, which went into effect earlier this month, until DOD signs off on this latest version. Currently there is no expected time frame on when DOD will sign off on this version for ALK/PC*Miler to supply it to the Industry.

In light of this information, to avoid any delays in billing, our billing form and AccuBill are calculating mileages for shipments with pickup dates of 10/1/08 and after using the last official version of PC*Miler that was released, version 21.1. If you would rather we do not generate any billings for you until we receive the updated version, 22.1, please let us know by contacting us at support@daycos.com.

Our billing program and AccuBill have recently been updated with the IW08 changes found in the I-21 Solicitation that went into effect for International shipments with pickup dates of 10/01/08 and after.

The changes are as follows:

INT/BAG – new tariff updates (I-21)

A. Item 415a – Holidays: Holiday over time clarification. “Overtime rates must be pre-approved, authorized and confirmed, in writing by the PPSO.”

B. Incorporated the following Air Force Regionalization consolidations:

1. Pennsylvania – Transferred responsibility of DMAC to DMAT(Carlisle Barracks, PA) – See Change 1 below – DMAT reverted right back to DMAC
2. Virginia – Transferred responsibility of BGFC to AGFM (JPPSO MA – Massachusetts)

c. Changed reference name from JPPSO NE to JPSSO MA – previous typo error, no programmatical changes.

D. Updated Criteria for use of OTO Rates: “A personal watercraft such as a Jet Ski and/or associated trailer exceeding 14 feet shipped under BOTO procedure.”

E. The remaining tariff updates reflect word, tariff rate labels and country reference changes only.

FYI – Tariff I-21 does not have any SIT, Delivery, Reweigh, etc. rate changes, as traditionally found for each cycle.

CHANGE 1 to I-21 –effective 10-01-08
A. Reinstated the following additional Air Force Regionalization consolidation from above:

1. Pennsylvania – Transferred responsibility DMAT to DMAC(CEKSF, Oakdale, PA)

CHANGE 2 to I-21 –effective 10-01-08
A. Item 526 Diversion – Item Codes A through K – Verbiage added and revised for HHG SIT and Port Handling Diversion Charges. At this time nothing can programmatically be changed. Waiting for Item Code Spreadsheet updates to be finalized in CWA and PowerTrack before we can change our Item Code references.

CHANGE 3 to I-21 –effective 10-01-08
A. Added Item Code (508G) – corrugated Carton for Flat Panel Television, included verbiage for Flat Panel Television. Again, at this time nothing can programmatically be changed. Waiting for Item Code Spreadsheet updates to be finalized in CWA and PowerTrack before we can bill under new Item Code 508G.

B. Item Code 508 for external and internal crates – Changed verbiage for compensation of internal and external crates. New statement added “No rounding of cubic dimensions is allowed.” No programmatical change as we were already aware of this and implemented no rounding of Cubic Feet on 4-18-08.

The price of fuel was $3.88 per gallon as reported on Monday, October 6, 2008 making the upcoming FSC rates for the period 10/15/08 through 11/14/08 as follows:

GBL Domestic HHG / International HHG & UB - 14%
GSA Domestic HHG - $1.92
GSA International HHG and BAG - $1.92

It is that time of year again! Mid-south has sent out their first run of audit requests for the season. If you are a Daycos billing customer, we will fulfill your Mid-south requests on your behalf when you provide the requests to our office. We ask that the requests be emailed to support@daycos.com or sent to us via courier or USPS.