New York Storage Facilities

Pentagon to save $23M in U.S. Bank deal over soldiers' effects

WASHINGTON, May 18 (UPI) -- The Pentagon stands to save at least $23 million a year after changing the way it pays the cost of transporting military personnel's effects during redeployment or in response to other logistical needs related to service personnel.

Part of an ongoing cost-cutting operation across the board in government departments the military's saving plan is the result of a deal the Pentagon reached with U.S. Bank, the fifth largest bank in the United States.

The bank said the expected saving would occur because of its expanded relationship with the Pentagon. The U.S. Defense Department has entrusted U.S. Bank with the task of automating payments for the shipment of redeployed personnel's effects, called "non-temporary storage."

By moving to electronic billing and payment of storage and related costs through U.S. Bank freight payment program, U.S. Bank anticipates saving the military services nearly $23 million a year over the current paper-based process.

The government pays storage facilities using paper invoices that can take up to 120 days to process. With U.S. Bank freight payment's automated process, the average turnaround for payment will be reduced to 72 hours, the bank said.

The new agreement expands on U.S. Bank's existing contract with the Defense Department, which covers payment of transportation-related costs connected with service member relocations.

With conflicts continuing in the Middle East and U.S. personnel deployment across the globe a routine occurrence, the savings came as welcome news.

U.S. Bank provides both the Pentagon and its transportation service providers with online access to shipment data as well as analytical reporting tools in addition to payment processing. The bank processed more than 8.2 million invoices for the department last year.

The new system will add further transparency and increase cost-saving opportunities, said Doug Ichiuji, senior vice president and head of government services for U.S. Bank corporate payment systems.

U.S. Bancorp, the parent company of U.S. Bank, had $311 billion in assets as of March 31.

The bank was forged during the 1990s from the combination of several major regional banks, which in turn grew from mergers and acquisitions of smaller banks.

The bank has headquarters in Minneapolis and employs more than 63,000 people.

In January, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced the largest reduction in the Pentagon's budget since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. The projected savings effectively froze parts of the budget right through 2016, although officials say funding for combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan remains largely unaffected.

Behind The Yellow Door: Abbottabad Comes To Long ... - Read New York

Newbies in the newly-hot riverside district of Long Island City can be forgiven if they wonder about the mustard yellow compound with sealed windows and a parking lot surrounded by fences topped with razor wire in their midst. But it's not a terrorist hideout and Ayman al-Zawahiri is probably not in residence. Rembrandt, Picasso and Warhol might be, though. Fortress New York is a world-class museum that you can't visit--a high-security, temperature controlled storage facility for fine art. The freestanding building shares no walls with neighbors to ensure against a Kandahar-prison-style break-in. "Access is completely controlled," boasts the Fortress web site. "Facilities are equipped with 24-hour monitored State of the Art Electronic Security Systems with direct lines to police and fire department. Integrated Intrusion Detection systems are used along with Closed Circuit TV monitoring. Motion detectors are installed throughout the building with photo-electric beams, passive infrared motion detectors and shock sensors in all exterior walls."

Entry is granted only to clients whose signatures are on file. Among those who gain entrance to its private vaults: Christie's and Sotheby's, the Guggenheim and the Museum of Modem Art. "We store for anyone," says Thomas Burns, its Vice President and General Manager, "collectors, galleries, artists, foundations and museums." Maybe ol' Ayman ought to check it out.

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