Elizabeth Leigh
The Pentagon has imposed new standards on the traceability of electronic parts in all defense contracts in order to avoid fake components from getting into military systems, the Washington Business Journal reported Tuesday.
Jill Aitoro writes the Defense Department’s final rule, published in the Federal Register, requires companies to adopt a counterfeit detection and avoidance system for electronic components before they can be eligible to bid on federal work.
DoD intends to use the risk-based system to identify entry points where fake parts might potentially enter the supply chain with the goal of “reducing the opportunities for counterfeit parts to slip through into end items,” the report says.
The new requirement follows two years of public meetings and consultations with industry associations and the private sector on liability, cost and other contractor concerns under the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012.
