The Presidential Inauguration Fleet Needed Fuel. The Bolling Express Team Was Ready to Help.

A week before President Donald J. Trump’s Inauguration, the Exchange received a call asking for support: Vehicles from the inauguration fleet, possibly more than 50, would need fuel for the event.

The Exchange was the solution—the contracting officer who initiated the contact said that he had worked with the Exchange before in the Balkans. The Bolling Express at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling was ready to help. But this was more than a matter of just keeping pumps open for the fleet.

“The biggest challenge was that they wanted to fill up the vehicles and make one payment for the transactions after they had completed filling them up and then reimburse the Exchange after the inauguration,” said North East Region Vice President Amanda Hartfield. “To solve for yes, we had to work out the details on how to account for the fuel sales when they were being done periodically”

JBAB General Manager Natalia Meyer, working with Financial Operations Manager Charlotte Gipson in the Finance & Accounting Directorate, found a solution to process the payment. A daily log was created to track the fuel transactions. Express managers authorized each transaction, which was then finalized and cashed out. A copy of the receipts, along with the daily log, was sent to FA and Loss Prevention to track daily cash variances.

In the days leading up to the inauguration, many of the fleet vehicles made practice runs and needed to fill up. Starting Jan. 14, the Express team extended its hours from 6 a.m.-8 p.m. to 4 a.m.-10 p.m. to accommodate vehicles from the fleet. Most of the vehicles came through separately, but the Express was prepared for the possibility of about 50 of them coming in at 10 p.m. Sunday.

The long Sunday-night line didn’t happen, but there were still challenges. Ford, Chevy and GMC lent the vehicles to the inauguration team, and because they weren’t on a contract, the vehicles couldn’t use the fuel point on the installation, so fleet representatives turned to the Exchange.

“Every day since the 14^th, fleet vehicles have come in for gas, but they didn’t come in at the same time,” Meyer said. “A few cars came in Sunday morning to fill up, and some came in on Tuesday on their way back from the inauguration.”

Bolling Express Assistant Store Manager Andre Manning and shift managers Kim Connor-Edwards and Danyele Wilburn provided the on-site support for the inauguration fleet, sometimes staying as late as midnight. The Express pumped 869 gallons for the inauguration vehicles.

Meyer praised the team effort.

“On short notice, the Bolling management team adjusted their schedules, and the Express management team received guidance from FA on how to process these transactions,” Meyer said. “FA quickly trained the Express associates, who provided seamless assistance to all inauguration fleet drivers.”