Pentagon's Household-Goods Rules, Including CMMC Level 2, Could Drive Movers From Military Market, Industry Warns

The companies that pack and haul military families' belongings say the Pentagon's draft moving rules could shrink the pool of carriers willing to do the work. Movers for America, a coalition that advocates for the moving industry, is pressing the Defense Department's Personal Property Activity (PPA) to drop or soften two provisions: a requirement that movers meet Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Level 2, and new language that would bar crews from asking service members to sponsor them onto bases.

PPA, which now manages the permanent change-of-station (PCS) and household goods moving process, issued the proposed rules for the Defense Personal Property program earlier in October, according to Federal News Network. Stars and Stripes describes the package as proposed changes for 2027. Public comments closed Oct. 26, the same day Movers for America filed formal comments, and PPA is expected to publish final rules by the end of November.

The details below come from Federal News Network and Stars and Stripes reporting on the proposal.

Why Movers Call CMMC Level 2 Disproportionate

CMMC Level 2 is the tier most defense contractors that handle controlled unclassified information must reach. Movers for America argues the cost is out of line with the data a moving company actually touches.

"Our industry is primarily made up of small businesses, and the cost of getting to level 2 CMMC compliance is very high," Katie McMichael, the group's executive director, told Federal News Network.

To coordinate a move, carriers typically receive a service member's full name, address and phone number. McMichael compared that with food delivery drivers, who also keep customers' credit card information on file. "We just fundamentally think that the application of CMMC to our industry is not necessary," she said.

The industry's labor model compounds the cost. Many of the drivers and crews who move household goods are independent contractors who work for themselves and serve different regions. McMichael said getting all of those independent contractors to the level CMMC requires is very difficult, and that some are already leaving for general freight trucking instead.

The group's own survey puts a number on the risk: nearly half of moving professionals said they might scale back their DoD business if CMMC Level 2 becomes mandatory. McMichael said the industry cannot afford to have almost half of carriers scale back and still move service members where they need to be.

How the Sponsorship Ban Would Change Base Access

The second fight centers on getting trucks through the gate. According to Stars and Stripes, one proposed change says movers would be "explicitly prohibited from requesting sponsorship from Armed Forces personnel," and a violation would result in "punitive action," the proposal states.

Today, movers sometimes contact service members or family members to escort or sponsor a truck and crew onto an installation, and some service members escort shipments through the gate to avoid hours of waiting. Under the draft rule, crews could not make that request.

"It just seems counterintuitive for PPA to make base access more difficult than it already is," McMichael told Stars and Stripes.

She said service members should not be required to sponsor movers but should keep the option. Access has long been inconsistent because installation commanders set their own security levels, and it became harder early this year as security at domestic installations tightened, according to Stars and Stripes. McMichael described crews that entered a base in the morning, left for lunch and could not get back on that afternoon because the security level had changed.

The group also objects to penalizing carriers for missed access. "The standards for getting on base are set at the base commander level. PPA doesn’t control that," McMichael told Federal News Network, adding that penalizing the industry for something outside everyone's control "seems a little punitive."

In a Wednesday news release, Movers for America said PPA should "collaborate with industry on solutions to smooth base access, rather than increasing penalties which only restrict capacity in an already strained market."

Scorecards and the $75 Waiting-Time Fee

Beyond the two headline issues, the coalition asked PPA to lengthen the period used to evaluate carrier performance from nine months to one year.

It also called for changes to the $75 waiting-time fee, which the group says does not adequately compensate moving companies when crews sit at a gate waiting to get onto a base.

McMichael described the relationship with PPA as positive so far and said the agency has held multiple in-person meetings with industry. She called this round "our first real iteration of going through the business rules together" and said the industry is waiting to see whether PPA acts on its comments.

A Moving Program Headed Toward Agency Status

The rules arrive as the organization behind them reorganizes. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced PPA's formation in January to oversee household goods shipments during PCS moves, following years of complaints from customers and movers, Stars and Stripes reported. Army Maj. Gen. Lance Curtis, the organization's first commander, said at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual conference that it is now moving toward standalone agency status.

"The joint organization is now in the process of transitioning towards an agency," Curtis said, according to Federal News Network, comparing the planned structure to the Defense Logistics Agency and the Defense Information Systems Agency. He added that he could not make promises but expected the organization to officially become an agency sometime this year.

The activity plans to replace the Defense Personal Property System, which service members use to schedule and track shipments, with a platform called MilMove over roughly two years. Service members can now book household goods shipments 48 days earlier if they have orders in hand, and the claim filing window for lost or damaged property has grown from nine to 12 months.

What It Means for Contractors

For household goods carriers, the final rules due by the end of November will decide whether CMMC Level 2 becomes a condition of doing military moves in 2027. Companies that rely on independent drivers should start mapping which of those operators would be affected by the requirement and what a third-party assessment would cost, because Movers for America's concern is that the burden reaches the independent drivers and crews, not just the prime carrier.

Carriers should also plan for gate operations without service member sponsorship and track whether PPA revises the $75 waiting-time fee, because delay costs could rise if the ban survives. For the wider defense industrial base, the episode is a test of whether CMMC Level 2 extends to logistics and service contracts that handle only basic personal data. Small firms in similar service lines should watch how PPA answers the movers' proportionality argument.