Deadline extended for grocers to explore commissary privatization

The move extended a previous deadline, giving respondents more time to complete a questionnaire and review information.

The Fort Lee, Va.-based agency originally issued the request for information Sept. 19 on behalf of the Department of Defense. The first response deadline was midnight Oct. 21, but the government shutdown began Oct. 1.

The request seeks industry input on the potential privatization of 178 commissary stores across the United States and Puerto Rico, including the commissary at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

“The purpose of this RFI (request for information) is to determine whether commercial grocery operators and investment firms are both interested in and capable of assuming commissary operations, with no government subsidy or with a materially reduced subsidy, while preserving the critical military benefit of a 23.7% average savings for authorized patrons,” the agency said.

The agency added that the request was “strictly market research only and is only intended to determine industry interest and capability to operate Defense Commissary Agency commissaries on military installations.”

It’s not clear when or if the department will make a decision about making commissary stores private. A spokesman for the Pentagon said Wednesday there was nothing new to announce.

However, the Alexandria, Va.-based Military Officers Association of America has questioned the notion of privatization.

“Congress appropriates about $1.4 billion annually to cover (the Defense Commissary Agency’s) operating costs,” Jen Goodale, the association’s director of government relations for veterans retired affairs, wrote in September. “A private company taking over commissary operations would need to recoup those costs, most likely through higher prices and diluting the very benefit the system is meant to provide.

“For military families living on tight budgets, retirees on fixed incomes, and survivors reliant on commissary savings, even a modest increase in prices could erode a benefit that has stood for more than 150 years,” Goodale added.