MILITARY COMMISSARIES TO SHARE SHAW'S SYSTEM

DENISE ZIMMERMAN

EAST BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Shaw's Supermarkets here, well-regarded for implementing best practices for operational efficiency, will share its information management prowess with 300 commissaries worldwide.

Shaw's Retail Grocery System, which integrates automated inventory management, labor scheduling and direct-store-delivery data, will initially be tested in eight commissaries as part of a broad-based contract between the U.S. Air Force and Computer Sciences Corp., El Segundo, Calif.

According to the pact, valued at $58 million if all options are exercised, CSC's Integrated Systems division, Moorestown, N.J., will develop a plan to revamp the military's commissaries. The eight-year agreement includes participation from subcontracting companies like Shaw's, which will provide its grocery information management software, and Oracle Corp., Redwood Shores, Calif., which will provide a core data base management system, tools and training.

Shaw's said it is not planning to market its proprietary software elsewhere and declined to disclose financial terms of its deal with CSC.

Shaw's system will be customized for the military with pilot testing to begin next fall at three commissaries in Washington state, one site in Montana and four locations in Okinawa, Japan. In addition, a central distribution center in Okinawa will be included in the test, according to a spokesman at CSC.

"This gives us worldwide recognition for what we think is a very fine program," said Bernie Rogan, Shaw's spokesman.

The military's 300 commissaries employ about 19,000 people domestically and abroad and generate annual sales of $5.5 billion.

The contract to re-engineer operations at military commissaries was signed July 29 following three years of negotiations between CSC and the Standard Systems Group at Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Ala.