Call for Abstracts – CALCE/SMTA Counterfeit Symposium: 2022

” … This long-running symposium continues to provide information that addresses the supply chain concerns of today while planning for a different business and technology environment in the future. Counterfeiting of technology-based products, through compromise of physical materials, software alteration through cyberattack, as well as tampering with IP such as design data or Bill of Materials, needs to be addressed if we are to build products on which we depend for safety and security. … “

More here

Intersections of Illicit Trafficking and Counterfeit Parts Workshop

On Thursday, October 28 at 10:30 a.m. ET, START and the Center of Advanced Life Cycle Engineering (CALCE) will co-host the Intersections of Illicit Trafficking and Counterfeit Parts Workshop, sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). This event is free and open to the public, but RSVPs are required. …

More here.

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 )