DLA, DHA agree on joint military health care support

Courtesy Photo | Navy Vice Adm. Raquel Bono, DHA Director, left, and Army Lt. Gen. Darrell K. Williams, DLA Director, right, sign a memorandum of agreement Aug. 15, 2019 at the DHA headquarters in Falls Church, Virginia. The MOA establishes DLA as the acquisition enabler of choice for medical materiel and provides a joint approach to improving medical logistic support. (Photo courtesy of Jaime Chirinos)  

PHILADELPHIA, PA, UNITED STATES

08.15.2019

Story by Shaun Eagan 

Defense Logistics Agency   

The Defense Logistics Agency and Defense Health Agency took a step forward in strengthening their partnership as they agreed on a joint approach for improving logistics support to the military health care community.

Army Lt. Gen. Darrell K. Williams, DLA Director, and Navy Vice Adm. Raquel Bono, DHA Director, signed a memorandum of agreement that established DLA as the acquisition enabler of choice for medical materiel Aug. 15 at the DHA headquarters in Falls Church, Virginia.

As combat support agencies, both DLA and DHA share similar roles and responsibilities in providing rapid, synchronized and low-cost medical logistic support to Department of Defense customers. The defined roles and responsibilities in the MOA prevent duplicated efforts as it assigns medical materiel acquisitions to DLA and medical services acquisitions to DHA.

“The partnership with DHA and DLA reflects a shared commitment to sustaining medical readiness of our military forces across the globe,” Williams said. “Our singular focus as DHA’s acquisition enabler is to ensure rapid, reliable and cost effective medical logistics solutions for our Warfighters and our nation.”

With the MOA in place, both agencies can now leverage their acquisition competencies to complement one another and optimize the overall support to service members and DOD beneficiaries.

"Combat support agencies like DHA and DLA not only provide direct support to combatant commands, they support one another as well," Bono said. "The Military Health System is undergoing one of the most sweeping organizational reforms in decades, and through actions such as this MOA with the DLA, we strengthen our partnerships. These synergies elevate our overall readiness and contribute to efficiencies needed to support our priorities."

The MOA reaffirms a partnership that dates back to 2013, and reflects DLA’s support to DHA as it expands its mission and assumes all administration and management responsibilities of military treatment facilities from the services.

In addition to the responsibilities, the MOA also creates opportunities for the agencies to adapt to new requirements, improve medical logistic support programs and reduce costs.

• Date Taken: 08.15.2019
• Date Posted: 08.15.2019 14:08
• Story ID: 336045
• Location: PHILADELPHIA, PA, US