Registration now open for Symposium on Counterfeit Parts and Materials 2021 Technical Program – August 3-4, 2021

The program for the Symposium on Counterfeit Parts and Materials 2021 is organized by SMTA in conjunction with CALCE has been announced. …

Symposium on Counterfeit Parts and Materials 2021 Technical Program

Chip Shortage Has Spawned a Surplus of Fraudsters and Fake Parts – WSJ

I think we saw this coming …

Chip Shortage Has Spawned a Surplus of Fraudsters and Fake Parts

CALCE/SMTA Symposium on Counterfeit Parts and Materials 2021 Technical Program

“The symposium is organized by SMTA in conjunction with Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering (CALCE) at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA. This symposium is a valuable resource for quality and reliability managers, supply chain managers, brand protection specialists, inspectors, marketing and procurement policy makers, contracts and legal management, security specialists and government agencies. Our focus is to provide relevant information to the professionals that can be used for solving problems today while planning for a different business and technology environment in the future…..”

August 3 – 5, 2021

More at CALCE

Microchip security continues to confound Pentagon – Roll Call

“Congress and the Pentagon want to ensure that the chips, wherever they come from, are certified in tests to be trustworthy and reliable. …”

More at “Roll Call”

SMTA / CALCE Symposium on Counterfeit Parts and Materials – Call for Abstracts

The next symposium is scheduled for August 3-4, 2021. 

The submission deadline for abstracts is Friday, April 23, 2021

More information available here.

CBP Has Taken Steps to Combat Counterfeit Goods in Small Packages but Could Streamline Enforcement – GAO-20-692

Counterfeiters sometimes post photos of authentic goods on e-commerce sites, but then fill orders with fakes. These counterfeit goods infringe on intellectual property rights, and can harm the U.S. economy and threaten consumer safety.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection and European customs officials are trying to combat the increasing numbers of small packages containing counterfeit goods that are being sent directly to consumers. But CBP officials said the seizure and forfeiture processes that U.S. law requires are time and resource intensive.

We recommended that CBP develop a more streamlined approach to enforcement in this area.

Webinar – New NASA FAR Supplement Requirements for Counterfeit Avoidance

On 24 Sep, Tony Rodgers, procurement Quality Assurance lead at Armstrong Flight Research Center, discussed the new NASA Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Supplement for Detection and Avoidance of Counterfeit Parts, including the timeline for implementation, definitions, and what the relationship between NASA and its supplier partners looks like moving forward for electronic parts procurement.

A video recording of the webinar is available here.

Thoughts on DFARS Case 2019-D009 — Use of Supplier Performance Risk System (SPRS) Assessments

The following DFARS case was published in the Federal Register last week. …

DFARS Case 2019-D009: Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement: Use of Supplier Performance Risk System (SPRS) Assessments

https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2020-18645

“DoD is proposing to amend the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to update the policy and procedures for use of the Supplier Performance Risk System. … The Supplier Performance Risk System (SPRS) is a DoD enterprise application that retrieves quality and delivery data from Government systems to calculate “on time” delivery scores and quality classifications. Contracting officers will use the overall risk assessment generated by the SPRS module to evaluate quotes and offers received under all solicitations for supplies and services, including solicitations using part 12 procedures for the acquisition of commercial items. …”

The more I digest this, the more questions and concerns I have about how past performance data will be harvested and translated into the “SPRS Evaluation Criteria”
( https://www.sprs.csd.disa.mil/pdf/SPRS_DataEvaluationCriteria.pdf )

New DFARS Case 2019-D009: Use of Supplier Performance Risk System (SPRS) Assessments

DoD is proposing to amend the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to update the policy and procedures for use of the Supplier Performance Risk System. …

The Supplier Performance Risk System (SPRS) is a DoD enterprise application that retrieves quality and delivery data from Government systems to calculate “on time” delivery scores and quality classifications. Contracting officers will use the overall risk assessment generated by the SPRS module to evaluate quotes and offers received under all solicitations for supplies and services, including solicitations using part 12 procedures for the acquisition of commercial items. The system generates three risk assessments using the SPRS Evaluation Criteria and calculations at https://www.sprs.csd.disa.mil/pdf/SPRS_DataEvaluationCriteria.pdf. These risk assessments are described as follows:

• Item Risk. SPRS collects data to generate the probability that a product or service, based on intended use, will introduce counterfeit or nonconforming material entering the DoD supply chain, which can result in significant personnel safety issues, mission degradation, or monetary loss. SPRS “flags” items identified by Government sources as “high risk” and provides suggested mitigations, or as “not high risk”.
• Price Risk. SPRS collects historical pricing data from Government sources and applies a common statistical method to calculate the average price paid for a product or services, generating a price range that contracting officers can use in the evaluation of fair and reasonable pricing. Price Risk determines whether “a proposed price is consistent with historical prices paid for that item and is depicted by high, low, or within range”.
• Supplier Risk. SPRS calculates a supplier risk score, for contracting officers to compare competing suppliers. This score includes three years of relevant supplier performance information from existing Government data sources. … “

More at federalregister.gov

NASA Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement: Detection and Avoidance of Counterfeit Parts (NFS Case 2017-N010)

AGENCY: National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: NASA is finalizing a revision to the NASA Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (NFS) requiring covered contractors and subcontractors at all tiers to use electronic parts that are currently in production and purchased from the original manufacturers of the parts, their authorized dealers, or suppliers who obtain such parts exclusively from the original manufacturers of the parts or their authorized dealers. These changes implement section 823(c)(2)(B) of Pub. L. 115-10, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Transition Authorization Act of 2017.

 

https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2020-16986