EL SEGUNDO – Reported incidents of counterfeit electronic component parts this year are maintaining the record pace set in 2011, at a time when US defense representatives are scheduled to update acquisition rules, says IHS.

Counterfeit incident reports from the beginning of 2012 through the end of August averaged 107.3 per month, up slightly from 107.1 in 2011, says the research firm.

On a sequential 12-month basis, 1,336 separate verified counterfeit part incidents have been made for transactions involving a minimum of 834,079 purchased parts. These figures are conservative because purchased parts reflect only a subset of all reported incidents, says IHS.

As IHS recently noted, incidents of counterfeit parts have quadrupled since 2009. On average, more than 1.4 million purchased parts have been involved in suspect counterfeit and high-risk transactions during each year for the past decade, the firm says.

The US Department of Defense is scheduled to update the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement to the Federal Acquisition Regulation tomorrow. These updates are part of measures intended to regulate the detection and avoidance of counterfeit electronic parts as part of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012.

NDAA Section 818 seeks to improve systems for the detection and avoidance of counterfeit electronic parts at all tiers in the supply chain, at the same time shifting the burden of costs associated with rework or corrective action for issues involving these parts back on defense contractors. They specifically spell out new requirements for analyzing, assessing and acting on these reports of counterfeit electronic parts and suspect counterfeit electronic parts.

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