Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr, Paul S. Sarbanes, and Barbara A. Mikulski letter to Alan Dixon, March 23, 1995

United States Senate WASHINGTON, DC 20510 March 23, 1995 The Honorable Alan Dixon Chairman Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission 1700 N. Moore Street, Suite 1425 Arlington, VA 22209 Dear Senator Dixon: We believe that the U.S. Array's recommendation to close the Publications Distribution Center (USAPDC-B) in Middle River, Maryland is seriously flawed. As your staff prepares to visit this center, we wanted to draw your attention to our concerns and to some of the specific items that will be highlighted tomorrow. Because of the small size of this facility, we are especially concerned that the very real mistakes that have been made in the justification for this closure will be overlooked. In fact, closing this facility would preclude the Department of Defense from achieving tremendously significant savings from a service-wide consolidation of distribution centers. Tomorrow, your staff will be presented with substantial evidence from the Army which acknowledges these potential savings . 11 USAPDC-B is highly automated. о The closure justification submitted to the BRAC Commission is flat out wrong when it labels the Baltimore facility "manual" in comparison to St. Louis, which is labelled "automated." Both are highly automated, and by objective standards, Baltimore more fully so. о The automation at USAPDC-B has been studied by other services and by private companies from around the world. It compares favorably to the most advanced private-sector warehouses. о The automation architectures of Baltimore and St. Louis are quite different. St. Louis is heavily dependent upon a single robotic structure, while Baltimore has taken a more modular approach. Both are world-class facilities; both are far more technologically-advanced than other distribution centers within the DOD.