Service members who have household goods damaged or lost during government-directed moves will be reimbursed under a more robust "full replacement value" standard starting by at least March of 2008.

Congress set the deadline in the 2007 defense authorization act signed into law Oct. 17. The National Military Family Association and other service advocacy groups had urged the action after the Department of Defense fell behind in implementing "Families First," a personal property program initiative that includes a goal of full replacement value (FRV) reimbursement.

Air Force Col. Steven Amato, director of passenger and personal property for the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, said the start of FRV might still take effect sooner, perhaps by this time next year.

But if Families First is not fully implemented by March 2008, the department still will shift to FRV reimbursements on household claims, Amato told Military Update.

DoD is the moving industry's largest customer with 500,000 moves contracted for every year. About 1300 moving companies get a share. The department has worked for over a decade on what became Families First, a comprehensive effort to improve quality of moves, reduce claims, quicken the claims process and run the entire personal property program more efficiently through technology. When Families First is fully implemented, a sophisticated information management system will link customers, carriers and transportation offices across the U.S. military.

But a long-standing complaint for military members, reflected in after-move surveys going back years, is low reimbursements for damaged goods. Congress now feels that solution should not be delayed until bigger challenges for Families First are worked out.

Historically, about 35 percent of military moves result in damage claims. The figure has been nearer to 20 percent in recent years but it still tops the list of complaints tied to moves.

Currently, when household items are lost or destroyed, members receive only a depreciated value for the goods. On rare occasions when an entire shipment is lost, carrier liability to members is capped at $40,000.

A sofa that cost $1,000 five years ago, for example, would be valued using the depreciation formula 25 percent below replacement cost, a depreciation rate of 5 percent per year. Other items depreciate at 10 percent. The concept, used for decades, is that household items are "used" and so the government should pay replacement value of used items.

Under FRV reimbursement, however, if a carrier lost an item the member would get a new one. Exceptions involve cars, motorcycles and boats because replacements of equal value are easily found. But with items like furniture and appliances carriers would buy new items or settle so members could buy them new.