Sec. 662. Pilot program on privatization of the Defense Commissary System
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/bill/114/s/2943/pcs/section-662·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Commencing not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall conduct a pilot program to assess the feasibility and advisability of the privatization of the Defense Commissary System. The Secretary may carry out the pilot program without regard to any requirement or limitation otherwise applicable to commissaries of the Defense Commissary System under chapter 147 of title 10, United States Code. The pilot program conducted under subsection
(a)shall be for such period, not less than two years, as the Secretary considers appropriate for purposes of the pilot program. The pilot program conducted under subsection
(a)shall be carried out at not more than five commissaries of the Defense Commissary System selected by the Secretary for participation in the pilot program. The pilot program shall include such elements as the Secretary considers appropriate to assess the feasibility and advisability of the privatization of the Defense Commissary System. The pilot program may include a component, in catchment areas of the commissaries selected for purposes of this paragraph, in which eligible beneficiaries may order and purchase goods and products through the Internet and receive those items through home delivery. In conducting the pilot program under subsection (a), the Secretary shall develop specific, measurable benchmarks for success in the provision of high quality grocery merchandise, discount savings to patrons, and levels of customer satisfaction at commissaries of the Defense Commissary System participating in the pilot program. In developing a benchmark for success in maintaining discount savings to patrons, the Secretary shall establish a baseline of overall savings to patrons achieved by the commissary stores participating in the pilot program before the commencement of the pilot program, based on a comparison of the prices charged by such stores for a representative market basket of goods with the prices charged by relevant local competitors for such market basket of goods. Not later than 180 days after the completion of the pilot program, the Secretary shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives a report on the pilot program. The report under paragraph
(1)shall include the following: A complete description of the pilot program, including the location of the commissaries of the Defense Commissary System selected to participate in the pilot program. A comparison of sales volumes at commissaries participating in the pilot program before and during the pilot program. An assessment of the impact of the pilot program on patron savings and patron satisfaction at the commissaries participating in the pilot program. A description of the cost savings achieved by the Department of Defense through the pilot program. An assessment, in light of the pilot program, of the feasibility and advisability of privatizing the Defense Commissary System, and, if privatization is determined to be feasible and advisable, such recommendations as the Secretary considers appropriate for legislative and administration action to privatize the Defense Commissary System.