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In response to highly publicized stories of spare parts and equipment overpricing, the Navy established the Price Challenge Hotline in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania in 1979. More than 40 years later, the hotline is still in use and has resulted in cost avoidance totaling more than one billion dollars.
The Price Challenge Hotline merged into the Buy Our Spares Smart (BOSS) program in 1983 to become part of the Navy-wide program to reduce costs of spare parts and equipment, promote readiness, maximize resources, and reestablish public confidence in the Department of Defense's (DOD) stewardship of funds. In 1994, the Price Challenge Hotline transferred to and combined with the Navy Price Fighters (NPF) located in Norfolk, Virginia, to create the Navy’s only dedicated pricing and value analysis activity in support of the acquisition community.
Today, the NPF and the Price Challenge Hotline are part of Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support (NAVSUP WSS). The mission of the Price Challenge Hotline is to provide pricing validation support by acting as the Navy’s focal point for all pricing inquiries related to spare parts and consumables.
“This is accomplished through a combination of exemplary customer service and flexible, innovative pricing performed by a technically oriented, hands-on workforce of manufacturing technicians and supply specialists,” said James Pritchard, NAVSUP WSS NPF and Director, Spares and Repairables Division.
The hotline exists to assist Navy and DOD personnel determine what an item should cost versus what is being charged.
“Contracting and inventory management personnel rarely have the mechanical, electrical, or electronic engineering and manufacturing training, or the time necessary to evaluate the ‘should cost’ of each item they buy,” said Pritchard. “As the best defense against overpricing, Navy Price Fighters rely on their fleet customers to report such overpricing via the Price Challenge Hotline.”
Any employee of the DOD or other Government agency can question the price of any DOD managed spare part or consumable by submitting a price inquiry to the Price Challenge Hotline.
Price Challenge Hotline personnel may refer a case to the value analysis division of the NPF to perform a ‘should cost.’ This analysis is the foundation used to make an independent government estimate of how much the item costs to produce.
“We perform ‘should cost’ analyses on all types of simple and complex electrical and mechanical equipment. Their Industrial Engineering Technicians add the real value to the process by performing an industrial engineering review based on engineering drawings, technical data, required manufacturing processes and personal experience,” said Pritchard. “This review applies labor rates, material costs, overhead/indirect composite rates and a rate of return on investment to determine the ideal cost of the item.”
Participants of the Price Challenge Hotline are assured confidentiality, if requested, to encourage full disclosure of information without fear of reprisal. When confidentiality is requested, NPF will protect the identity of the challenger.
“Normally, Price Challenge Hotline challengers are encouraged to identify themselves so that additional facts can be obtained if necessary and cash awards can be forwarded if earned,” said Pritchard.
Participants in the hotline can not only save the Navy money, but may earn some for themselves. When a final determination is made, the challenger is notified and if significant cost avoidance is realized, then a cash award could be given.
“Over the program’s history, it has distributed more than $520,000 in cash awards to challengers,” said Pritchard. “Individual awards ranged from $50 to several thousand dollars.”
Challengers can submit price inquiries to the Price Challenge Hotline via Internet at https://public.navsup.navy.mil/public/ops$pch.pch_form, telephone at (800) NAV-CHAL, or email at usn.norfolk.navsupwssnorf.mbx.Price-Fighters@us.navy.mil.
NAVSUP WSS is one of 11 commands under Commander, NAVSUP. Headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, NAVSUP employs a diverse, worldwide workforce of more than 22,500 military and civilian personnel. NAVSUP and the Navy Supply Corps conduct and enable supply chain, acquisition, operational logistics and Sailor and family care activities with our mission partners to generate readiness and sustain naval forces worldwide to prevent and decisively win wars. Learn more at www.navsup.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/navsupwss, and https://twitter.com/navsupsyscom.
| Date Taken: | 09.30.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 09.30.2022 10:53 |
| Story ID: | 430470 |
| Location: | PHILADELPHIA, PA, US |
| Web Views: | 156 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Navy Price Fighters Hotline: Saving the Navy money for more than 40 years, by Brian Jones, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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