Electronic tags: contractors urged to comply with smart-tag policy.

• Author: Kennedy, Harold
• Position: DEFENSE RESEARCH

Companies that supply military equipment to the Defense Department should begin voluntarily to put electronic tags on shipments, advised Alan Estevez, assistant deputy undersecretary of defense for supply-chain integration.

In January, contractors were supposed to begin applying the tags, which use a passive radio-frequency identification technology, but they have been slow to act, partly because many say they don't understand what they have to do. Also, the defense federal acquisition regulation, requiring application of the tags has been delayed perhaps until late spring. Nevertheless, Estevez told an industry summit, companies can begin using the tags voluntarily.

Two industry giants, General Electric and Lockheed Martin, already have begun compliance, noted Army Maj. Gen. Daniel G. Mongeon, director of operations for the Defense Logistics Agency. "We welcome additional volunteers," he said.

Defense officials want contractors to start placing the tags on all cases and pallets of military rations, clothing, individual equipment, tools and weapons parts being shipped to defense distribution depots in Susquehanna, Pa., and San Joaquin, Calif., for transportation to the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and other overseas destinations.

For the most part, contractors are asked to place only passive RFID tags, not the more expensive active versions, on their shipments, explained Estevez's special assistant, Kathy Smith. "Suppliers are rarely obligated to apply active tags," she said.

RFID is an automatic identification technology that uses a device called a reader or "interrogator" to record data from a transponder embedded in a tag attached to a shipment. It is being used in the civilian world by such major retail chains as Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy and Albertsons to ship goods to their stores.

Active RFID uses a battery, while passive RFID relies upon RF energy transferred from the reader to power the tag.

The proposed regulation is aimed only at those companies with new contracts taking effect in January or later, but eventually it is intended to cover everyone who ships defense-related materials, officials said. "It's going to be good for us, and it's going to be good for you," Estevez told industry representatives.

The pace will pick up in January 2006, when RFID tags will be required on all classes of shipping containers, palletized unit loads and exterior containers headed for DLA's key depots inside the continental United States, U.S...