The PCS System Is Being Rebuilt: HomeSafe's Contract Is Gone, a Pentagon Activity Now Runs Household Goods, and the Services Were Ordered to Cut Discretionary Moves in Half by 2030

If your last move ran through HomeSafe Alliance and the next one does not, that is not a rumor from the base Facebook group. It is the result of four signed memoranda, all public on media.defense.gov, that together rebuilt the Defense Personal Property Program (DP3) and set a five-year plan to move fewer people. This article walks through what each memo actually ordered, in its own words, and then prices the part that reaches your bank account: the entitlements a PCS pays, by rank, from the 2026 tables on this site.

Settled: the contract termination, the new organization, the PPM reimbursement rule and the budget-reduction directive are all in force. Not settled: how each service will hit its reduction targets, because the implementation plans the memo required are internal and the memo itself lists options rather than decisions.

May 20, 2025: the emergency fixes to the 2025 peak season

The first memo, from the Secretary of Defense to senior Pentagon leadership, cited "recent deficiencies in the performance of the Global Household Goods Contract (GHC)" and directed U.S. Transportation Command to act "immediately": hold GHC and the legacy Tender of Service (ToS) program to their performance indicators with weekly reports, use both programs for maximum coverage, offramp unserviced GHC shipments into ToS, set up a hotline and operations center, and, because "current GHC rates fail to reflect market rates," raise the government-constructed cost used to reimburse personally procured moves to 130 percent of current GHC rates from May 15, 2025 through September 30, 2025. It also ordered a PCS Task Force with authority to "improve, expand, terminate, or transfer" GHC or ToS responsibilities.

That 130% window is why 2025 PPM payouts were unusually generous and why every PPM number you see from that summer overstates what a move pays now. The window closed September 30, 2025; reimbursement is back to 100% of the government cost, which is what the PPM / DITY calculator uses.

May 22, 2025: cut discretionary PCS budgets in half by FY2030

Two days later the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness told the military departments that the Department "currently spends approximately $5 billion annually" on PCS moves and that "the frequency can reduce quality of life for Service members and their families, harm spousal employment, and disrupt functional communities, unit cohesion, and long-term talent management." The tasking: develop plans to reduce "discretionary move" budgets, meaning CONUS operational moves, OCONUS rotational moves and training travel, by 10 percent in FY2027, 30 percent in FY2028, 40 percent in FY2029 and 50 percent in FY2030, "cumulatively, based upon the FY 2026 budget" and adjusted for inflation.

Two lines in that memo matter more than the percentages. First, the services were told to "clearly delineate where any such proposal would impose greater cost to Service members (e.g., due to reductions in weight limits, temporary lodging reimbursements, or dislocation allowances)." The entitlements themselves were not cut; the memo requires any plan that would shift cost onto you to say so. Second, it asks for career models that "prioritize geographic stability and permit some officers and NCOs to specialize," and for promotion authorities to keep uniquely skilled people in place longer. Implementation plans were due in 120 days, by late September 2025, and have not been published.

June 13 and June 18, 2025: the PCS Joint Task Force and the end of the GHC

The Secretary's June 13, 2025 implementation memo formally stood up the Permanent Change of Station Joint Task Force under Army Maj. Gen. Lance G. Curtis, reporting to the Secretary every two weeks, with authority to approve short-term fixes, issue DP3 guidance and set PPM reimbursement at either "100% of the Government's constructed 'Best Value' Tender of Service rate" or "130% of the Global Household Goods Contract rate," and a September 5, 2025 deadline for long-term reform recommendations. Every service was ordered to give the task force a full-time representative "vested with decision-making authority."

Five days later the Pentagon's chief spokesman announced that the Department "terminated HomeSafe Alliance LLC (HSA), the DoD HHGs contractor, for cause due to HSA's demonstrated inability to fulfill their obligations and deliver high quality moves to Service members," with shipments redirected to the legacy Tender of Service system. For a family that means the counseling, booking and claims path runs through the installation personal property office and the Defense Personal Property System again, not a single commercial portal.

January 21, 2026: the Personal Property Activity

The fourth memo makes the task force permanent. The Secretary designated the Personal Property Activity (PPA) "as a Department of War (DoW) Special Activity headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois," reporting through the Under Secretary for Acquisition and Sustainment, with "authority, direction, and control of all Defense Personal Property Program (DP3) operations and functions." Its mission is "to provide global household goods and vehicle shipment, storage-in-transit, and non-temporary storage services." The military departments must reassign their shipping offices and DP3 claims-office functions and people to the PPA, funding aligns to it "beginning in Fiscal Year 2027," the organizing issuance was due by May 1, 2026, and initial operational capability is due within one year of the memo. Maj. Gen. Curtis commands both the task force and the PPA until then.

In an Army.mil article published January 26, 2026, Curtis put the scale at "more than 300,000 warfighters worldwide who move somewhere every new year" and the goal as reliable, on-time household goods and vehicle shipment. The practical change for you: one organization owns the mover, the claim and the vehicle shipment, and the office on your installation now works for it.

What a PCS pays you now, by rank

None of the four memos changed an entitlement rate. What changed is the mover, the organization and, from FY2027, the number of discretionary moves. So the money question is the same as before: what does a move pay, and is a PPM worth it at 100%? The table applies the 2026 tables to one common move: 1,200 official miles, one POV, member plus spouse plus one child 12 or older, 10 days of Temporary Lodging Expense at the standard CONUS rate. Household goods shipped by the government cost you nothing; a PPM adds an incentive on top of this table.

The mechanics: DLA is the CY2026 primary rate for the grade (JTR par. 0505); MALT is $0.23 a mile on the official distance (par. 050203, rate for travel beginning on or after July 1, 2026); four travel days come from the 1,200 miles divided by 350 with a day added for the remainder (par. 050205); per diem is the flat $178.00 standard CONUS rate for the member and 75% for each dependent 12 or older (Table 5-4); TLE is the $110.00 plus $68.00 standard rate times the 135% family percentage for a member with two dependents, $240.30 a day under the $290 cap, for ten days (par. 0506, Table 5-17). Run your own orders through the PCS calculator, which adds every line from one set of inputs, and then the PPM / DITY calculator if you are thinking about moving yourself.

What to do with this

• Book through the personal property office, early. With shipments back on the Tender of Service system and the PPA still building capacity, peak-season slots are the constraint. The PCS checklist puts the counseling appointment at the front of the timeline.
• Price the PPM at 100%, not at 2025's 130%. The Task Force can set the reimbursement basis, but the published 130% window ended September 30, 2025. Use the PPM decision engine with the current basis and your real weight; check the weight allowance first, because the government pays for authorized weight only.
• Read the FY2027 cut as fewer moves, not smaller entitlements. The May 22 memo targets move budgets and requires the services to flag any plan that would cut weight limits, TLE or DLA. If your service publishes a career-model change, that is the document to read; until then DLA, MALT, per diem and TLE are the rates on this site.
• Keep every receipt and photograph everything. Claims now run through the PPA's consolidated claims function; the DLA guide and the PPM guide cover the paperwork that decides how much you actually keep.

The bottom line

Between May 2025 and January 2026 the Pentagon terminated the HomeSafe contract for cause, moved household goods back to the Tender of Service system, created a single Personal Property Activity at Scott AFB to own the program from FY2027, and ordered the services to plan a 10% cut in discretionary PCS budgets in FY2027 rising to 50% by FY2030. The entitlement rates did not change: a 1,200-mile family move still pays roughly $8,000 to $10,000 in DLA, MALT, per diem and TLE depending on rank, plus a PPM incentive at 100% of the government cost if you move yourself. Rates shown are 2026 JTR and DTMO figures; verify with your finance office and personal property office before you sign for a move.