Privatized commissary shops could come to military installations across the country—including the two at Fort Bragg.
The Department of Defense is soliciting information from grocery stores on what it would take to privatize the 178 commissary locations across the United States. The information is for “market research purposes only,” and the Pentagon is not looking for bids or quotes.
What DOD does want is data on whether any company would be interested in taking on the commissaries—and an accompanying $2.4 billion maintenance backlog—while keeping the 23.7% average savings for eligible military shoppers.
The military commissary system has been in place for over 150 years. Active-duty service members, retirees, reservists, National Guard troops, and their immediate families are all eligible to shop for discounted groceries at the stores. Purchases are tax-free, but the commissary charges a 5% surcharge to cover maintenance.
The Pentagon has increasingly looked to privatized solutions, including a major push to privatize housing on installations—with mixed success. Earlier this year, the Army started looking for a private contractor to update the dining hall options at Fort Bragg to modernize its facilities and provide more food options. Last year The Assembly documented that almost a third of soldiers and military families at the installation had difficulty accessing food.
Fort Bragg, the country’s largest Army base by population, has both a North and South Post commissary. A handful of additional commissaries are spread across North Carolina, including at the Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.
A spokesperson for the XVIII Airborne Corps, which is handling press inquiries for Fort Bragg during the government shutdown, referred CityView to the Defense Commissary Agency.
The Defence Commissary Agency did not comment on when a decision could be made about privatizing commissaries after the request for information closes on Nov. 5 or how many, if any, companies have submitted information.
A spokesperson for the agency did provide a brief press release. The release does not include much detail on why the agency was looking into privatization, other than citing a memo from April 7 of this year outlining a DOD-wide review of its workforce.
The bottom of the memo includes a line stating that “all functions that are not inherently governmental (e.g., retail sales and recreation) should be prioritized for privatization.”
The actual request for information provides more details on what the agency is looking for: whether grocery stores are “interested in and capable of” maintaining the commissary discount without governmental subsidy.
The agency also wants input on whether stores could address $2.4 billion in a maintenance backlog, along with $250 million in annual maintenance costs for the commissaries.
The request for information also suggests that alternative proposals are welcome—such as providing a 23.7% discount to military shoppers at the commercial operator’s stores rather than using existing commissaries. A private company could also be offered the facilities rent-free.
North Carolina-based grocery chain Food Lion did not respond to a request for comment from CityView on whether the company would submit information to the Pentagon.
The commissaries provide a useful benefit to military families, according to Victoria Case, a military spouse living on Fort Bragg with her husband, who is a staff sergeant, and their three children.
“I will go to six stores if that is what it takes to get the best deals,” Case told CityView. “And I would say most of the time [the commissaries] have better prices than anywhere else.”
Case’s family has been stationed at the installation twice, most recently since 2018. Given the size of Bragg, having the commissary on site is helpful, she said.
“I actually have a neighbor a few houses down—her and her husband share a vehicle,” she said. “And if he takes the car and she needs something, I mean, we have literally walked across the street to the commissary before.”
The maintenance issues are real at both commissaries, in Case’s experience. Multiple times in a year, she has observed a broken freezer or fridge section that caused the food to be moved or discarded. And there are other minor issues, like not enough check-out lanes open on busy days, she said.
But the commissaries also provide extra benefits—including regular Sidewalk Sales for military families looking to stock up on bulk goods. Fort Bragg’s commissaries most recently organized a Sidewalk Sale in early September, offering an opportunity to buy discounted baby products, toilet paper and other supplies.
Case is not opposed to a potential privatization in theory, but she is skeptical that a private company can make money and provide the same services.
“You would love for a business to come in and be like, ‘We’re going to make it better, because we want to support our troops,’” Case said. “But that’s why I feel like the only way a proposal works is if a company is more or less trying to give back to the community than to line their own pockets.”