Counterfeit Part Reporting Trends Revisited – Observations in anticipation of forthcoming regulations

Last summer, I prepared a paper on counterfeit part reporting trends…

 Livingston, H., “Counterfeit Part Reporting Trends – Observations in anticipation of forthcoming regulations”, August 2013

Below is an updated chart adding data for the latter part of 2013. The chart shows the quantity of GIDEP reports (“Alerts” and “Problem Advisories”) published from January 2011 through December 2013 describing counterfeit or suspect counterfeit instances.

My observations from this updated data set are consistent with those I offered in August of 2013…

• Though the 8 November 2011 SASC hearing and FY2012 NDAA, signed by the President on 31 December 2011, may have stimulated an increase in reporting, this increase subsided and reporting has declined over the past year.
• Only three (3) reports were submitted by a DoD organization; all three of these reports were submitted by one DoD organization.
• Nearly one-half of the reports published after the SASC hearing were submitted by one defense contractor.
• The total of GIDEP reports for 2013 calendar year was approximately one-half of the total reports published in the 2011 calendar year.

This reporting trend suggests that the anticipation of forthcoming regulations and the legislative remedies in place to address industry concerns have yet to stimulate reporting of counterfeit parts and suspect counterfeit parts via GIDEP.

This data could be an indicator that the counterfeit parts threat is on the decline. However, data on counterfeiting instances reported through other organizations, such as ERAI, do not support this possibility.

An article published by Electronics Purchasing Strategies in July 2013 may provide some insight – “The stigma of being known as a source or receiver of counterfeit or substandard parts has been one of the reasons behind the failure to report such activities”.

Henry Livingston

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11 Feb update

The following is a more thorough paper on the subject:

Livingston, H., “Counterfeit Part Reporting Trends Revisited– Observations in anticipation of forthcoming regulations”, February 2014