A $51 million, five-year contract awarded from the U.S. Marine Corps Logistics Command (MARCORLOGCOM) will expand Georgia Tech’s support to Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany in Southwest Georgia and open new opportunities for research to support U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) missions across a broad range of logistics, innovation, supply chain, and applied engineering issues.

Through the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and Supply Chain and Logistics Institute, Georgia Tech has been providing research and training support to personnel at the base, which supports the USMC mission worldwide. Activities under the new contract will be managed through the Albany installation, which has approximately 3,000 civilian staff and slightly more than 400 military personnel, making it one of the largest employers in Southwest Georgia.

The new Information Analysis Center Multiple Award Contract (IAC MAC) was competitively awarded through the Department of Defense Information Analysis Center. In all, the task order contract specifies 22 areas where GTRI, Georgia Tech, and partner organizations can support the USMC, and is the largest contract ever awarded to GTRI from the USMC.

“This award will continue the applied research efforts that support the analysis, assessment, and integration of technologies and methods to enhance the operations of the Marine Corps logistics, storage, and maintenance capabilities, while also providing potential support to the broader Marine Corps and DoD requirements,” said Larry Kimm, manager of GTRI’s Quantico Field Office and project director for the new contract. “This contract builds upon a nearly five-year partnership between Georgia Tech and the U.S. Marine Corps to provide ‘white-hat’ research and analysis support.”

Research projects conducted under earlier contracts have included the development and demonstration of robotic platform prototypes for improved ground vehicle autonomous inventory operations, and the development of a software tool that rapidly collates disparate inventory information to simplify tracking procedures. Additionally, ongoing workflow optimization modeling and simulation, and analytical studies of MARCORLOGCOM parts, repair, paint, and back-shop maintenance operations are supporting enhanced efficiency and mission readiness requirements. 

Georgia Tech’s Supply Chain and Logistics Institute provides research and education in the application of scientific principles to optimize the design and integration of supply chain strategy, infrastructure, processes, and technology. It has taught courses to hundreds of civilian employees and military personnel at Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, providing advanced training and certification in logistics operations and industrial engineering principles. 

“The Supply Chain and Logistics Institute is pleased to continue engaging with GTRI on Marine Corps Logistics Command’s innovation and improvement needs,” said Timothy Brown, managing director of the Institute. “We look to continue delivering professional education programs, applied research by our Industrial and Systems Engineering faculty and graduate students, and operations improvement efforts by our affiliate researchers.”

Graduate and undergraduate programs at Georgia Tech’s H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) have been ranked first in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for more than a quarter century. The school is the largest of its kind in the United States.

In addition to its Georgia Tech collaborators, GTRI has also worked with multiple subcontractors to collaboratively conduct detailed business case analyses and change management support activities to optimize reorganization decisions and processes for MARCORLOGCOM. Georgia Tech has also involved interns from Albany Technical College and Albany State University in serving the organization’s needs.

In addition to supporting MARCORLOGCOM in Albany, the task order contract will allow GTRI and Georgia Tech to serve the broader needs of the USMC in such areas as automation, airborne networks, command-and-control systems, communications, cybersecurity, data exchange standards, electronic combat, human systems integration, manufacturing optimization, modeling and simulation, secure information systems, software assurance, systems engineering, technology insertion, and technology analysis.

GTRI’s connection to Georgia Tech academic colleges and research institutes makes it attractive to organizations interested in promoting innovation and changing organizational approaches. “Agencies gain access to the world-class expertise we have at Georgia Tech, both within GTRI and on the academic side,” Kimm said.

Located on Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, MARCORLOGCOM provides worldwide, integrated logistics, supply chain, and distribution management; depot-level maintenance management; and strategic pre-positioning capability in support of the operating forces and other supported USMC units to maximize their readiness and sustainability and to support enterprise and program-level total life cycle management.

The DoD IAC collects, analyzes, synthesizes, produces, and disseminates scientific and technical information (STI) to DoD and federal government users. IACs support The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (R&E) in carrying out the R&E community's three strategic guiding imperatives: 1) mitigating new and emerging adversary threats that could degrade U.S. (and allied) capabilities; 2) enabling affordable new or extended capabilities in existing military systems; and 3) developing technology surprise through science and engineering applications to military problems.