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Department of Defense Names RFID Printer Providers
Article courtesy of Frontline RFID
Aug. 31, 2005 -- The U.S. Department of Defense's Information Technology, E-Commerce and Commercial Contracting Center (ITEC4) has awarded blanket purchase agreements (BPAs) for RFID printer/encoders.
Ten companies were granted BPAs for Electronic Product Code (EPC) 96-bit Class 1 printers that will expire in June 2007 in this latest round of contracts. The DoD previously issued BPAs for Class 1 tags, fixed and transportable readers, and technical engineering services.
The ten companies include Avery Dennison, CDO Technologies, Cheval Rouge, Culver Group, Intermec Technologies, Lowry Computer Products, RSI ID Technologies, SC Logic, Sys-Tec, and WFI Government Services.
Intermec and Avery Dennison will sell their own printers, while the other companies resell equipment from Datamax, Printronix, and Zebra Technologies.
Public comment on the proposed RFID Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations Supplement (DFARS) rule closed in June, and the final rule is expected to be published by this October, according to Paul Donato, speaking for the Office of Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, Supply Chain Integration, at the Land & Maritime Supply Chains conference in Columbus, Ohio, this week.
Donato presented an update on the DoD's RFID activities during the conference. The Department is currently deploying RFID at its depots in San Joaquin, Calif., and Susquehanna, Pa., and is also testing the technology at an ocean terminal in Norfolk, Va., and Camp Lejeune, N.C. Marines in Iraq are also testing passive RFID to track shipments between operating units, an application traditionally served by active RFID.
A "lessons learned" document based on these early trials will be posted at the www.dodrfid.org Web site within the next month.
In addition to the DFARS publication, several other elements of the DoD's program are also under development. The military has yet to perform safety certification testing for using passive RFID to track munitions. The Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) is also working on quality control and compliance standards to ensure supplier performance.