Lawmakers have moved to prevent the Defense Department from privatizing military commissaries as part of Congress’ proposed compromise defense policy bill.
In the proposed fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act released Sunday night, lawmakers reinforced previous restrictions on privatizing commissaries under law. The proposed legislation includes language stating that DOD “may not take” any action that conflicts with an existing provision that restricts private companies from managing the commissary system or a commissary store.
Lawmakers’ actions come in response to an April 7 DOD memorandum that directed all functions that are not inherently governmental to be prioritized for privatization. It specifically cited recreation and retail sales as examples, which would include the Defense Commissary Agency’s grocery stores on military installations.
It’s not clear whether the term “may not” instead of “shall not” could give DOD leeway to potentially proceed with privatizing commissaries. Both the reinforced current language and the previous provision in law use the term “may not.”
On Sept. 19, the Defense Commissary Agency issued a request for information, seeking input from the commercial grocery industry on whether they could take over the operation of 178 commissaries across the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. It was not a request for proposals.
The purpose of the RFI, commissary officials stated at the time, was “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 deadline for the RFI was extended to Nov. 5, and the listing is now inactive on the government contracting site.
Neither Defense Commissary Agency officials nor Defense Department officials would provide any information about the number of companies that responded.
“Congress has consistently rejected efforts to privatize commissary operations, out of concern that no private entity can both profitably operate these facilities and deliver the statutory 23.7 % savings required by law,” wrote Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., also a member of the HASC, in an Oct. 10 letter to Anthony Tata, under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness. They asked how DOD planned to avoid privatization failures such as those seen with the household goods contract and some companies involved in the privatization of military housing.
Lawmakers have been supportive of commissaries over the last several years, and proposed fully funding DOD’s request for commissary operations at $1.53 billion for fiscal 2026.
The House is expected to vote on the negotiated version of the defense policy bill this week, and the Senate is expected to vote on it the week of Dec. 15.
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book “A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families.” She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
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