DVIDS – News – The troop support event asks a question: how and where can the blockchain help you?

Defense Logistics Agency troops' support provided about 41,000 power poles, 88.1 million meals and 1,264 generators in collaboration with the Federal Emergency Management Agency during the 2017 hurricane season. Responding to three large Hurricanes was a record-breaking commitment to the DLA and the mission was a success.

But could the use of blockchain technology further improve DLA's support?

This was the question posed during a two-day presentation hosted by the Troop Support Improvement Office from 3 to 4 December in Philadelphia. Leader of the IPC, for the direction of the Commander, Brig. Gen. Mark Simerly, examined the support processes of the troops during their response to Hurricane Mary and the recovery operations in Puerto Rico, and illustrated how the blockchain skills could have improved their efforts.

"We think there's a lot of potential [in blockchain]", Said the analyst of CPI management Elijah Londo." Where we want to be as an & # 39; organization in shaping and influencing where [Department of Defense] go with blockchain? "

CPI Process Director Daniel Keenaghan described the blockchain as a decentralized and digital "distributed ledger" in which identical copies of data are stored on multiple servers.

Changes to data, or "blocks", such as order updates and the key of information on tracking deliveries to DLA logistics processes, are linked in a "chain" that builds trust through user validation at all times. 39; inside the chain. The changes are immediately viewable by all peers with access to the block of data, improving the transparency and verifiability of the transactions of the agency.

Currently, processes are tracked through centrally managed systems and databases by one agency or another. Visibility can be difficult at times and stakeholders need to synchronize data to make sure everyone is tracking accurate and up-to-date information.

To help figure out if Blockchain could help, the Deputy Director of Construction and Equipment Marko Graham used a map of the C & E actions that link FEMA, the Army Corps of Engineers, troop support and industrial partners – key players who would be equal users in a blockchain scenario – to see where this technology could improve the associated logistics processes.

Graham shared some challenging points in the process and how C & E worked within them, such as the efforts made to maintain an internal spreadsheet that tracked the needs acquired through multiple suppliers while the items were purchased and delivered .

Subsequently, he discussed these points using blockchain features such as transaction processing and in-transit visibility of shipments to evaluate process improvements.

"This is where I can see where blockchain would have been of great help," Graham said. "Flowing [materiel specifications and tracking data] from the producer who buys raw materials to … take the transport and take it on the barges ".

According to Londo, there is the potential of blockchain technology.

"The potential is absolutely enormous," said Londo. "Let's talk about blockchain, [and] you will hear experts who compare it to transform trust or transactions in the same way that the Internet has changed communication. Other agencies and countries are also examining this technology. "

Keenaghan invited one of these agency representatives to share his experience.

Craig Fischer, program director at the Treasury Department's Office for Innovation and Financial Transformation, provided lessons learned from a blockchain pilot conducted for equipment responsibility, a useful application to any government agency.

Keenaghan also shared that the UAE has set a goal to have 50% of government transactions processed via blockchain technology by 2021.

It is still a little bit that technology can not be used by DLA.

"We are researching the technology," said Londo. "[We’re] getting the best we can on what it is, what the industry is saying about it, how it could be the future, how it applies to supply chains and how other industries are using it. We are doing our due diligence. "

Simerly's plan is to bring research as it applies to hurricane response, a use case as it were, and provide information for the DLA to justify and apply research and development efforts with blockchain.

The restoration of power in Puerto Rico is a mission success, but technological advances offer potential improvements to what Keenaghan claims to be "an already extraordinary job".

This is what the CPI office is looking for through their assessment and coordination with governmental and industrial partners, such as the United States Transportation Command and Maersk, a large shipping company, which are already experimenting with blockchain technology.

"There's really no shortage of players out there," Londo said. "At the very least, it's a sharing of sharing and knowledge, and at its best, it's a real partnership and a pilot opportunity."

This CPI office hosted the event in the Troop Support Learning Campaign.

The CoL establishes the conditions to understand the main challenges and conditions of the future support environment. Through readings and events, in co-operation with the military industry, industry and academia, the CoL offers a disciplined and deliberate learning and dialogue path to facilitate understanding and promote recommendations for future chain solutions. of supply.