AMIS plays integral role for DOD during COVID-19

FORT BELVOIR, Va. – The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the Department of Defense (DOD) to demonstrate emergency operational readiness and deployment capabilities at lightning speed. PEO EIS’s Automated Movement and Identification Solutions (AMIS) is one of the many program offices specifically tapped to support these efforts. In order to plan and execute unit movements and coordinate transportation requests throughout the world, the DOD relies on the essential services provided in the AMIS Transportation Coordinators’ Automated Identifications Movement Solutions II (TC-AIMS II) application Unit Move module.  

Additionally, AMIS uses the Enterprise TC-AIMS II/Convoy Planning Highway Regulation (CPHR) module to request and report interstate or intrastate convoys moving in response to the pandemic, providing greater efficiency in planning the route and ensuring reliable arrival times. For overseas destinations, the TC-AIMS II Unit Move module supports and assists these more complex missions in well-coordinated movements through various customs and checkpoints with uniform cargo data registry as required by different countries and with associated tracking coordinates.

In the United States from roughly March 23 to April 7, 2020, AMIS supported 34 convoys moving in response to COVID-19 relief efforts. The AMIS TC-AIMS II Unit Move and CPHR applications, when combined with Radio Frequency/In-Transit Visibility (RF-ITV), allowed principals to track convoy movements and provide continuous location status updates. AMIS’s unique RF-ITV Tracking Portal delivers enhanced movement visualization and tracks the identity, status and last known location of cargo from departure to destination using radio-frequency identification, cellular and satellite transponders on shipments of supplies and equipment.

As of April 7, the RF-ITV Tracking Portal was tracking 104 written tags for COVID-19 missions around the country. One example was the deployment of the 9th Hospital Center from Fort Hood, Texas, to Fort Dix, New Jersey. The hospital operations convoy used AMIS for well-planned access routes and full convoy tracking of the attached personnel, equipment and supplies. The result was the accurate delivery of a full-service hospital with 240 beds and 300 personnel to one of the areas hardest hit by the pandemic.  

AMIS also provided similar tracking services for the National Guard and Army Reserve in their delivery of medical, communication, transportation and logistic support to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) units in a number of states including New York and Washington. These convoys relied on AMIS and its TC-AIMS II and RF-ITV modules to plan movements and track their assets. According to Chief Daniel E. Duncan, transportation coordinator with the National Guard Mobility Coordination Center, “Tracking movement with the CPHR program in TC-AIMS is a process the National Guard will definitely continue as it supports our overall mission success.”

The relevancy of AMIS transportation applications to support essential missions around the world has never been more evident, as its tracking modules are doing the important work of assisting COVID-19 care teams and first responders on all fronts.