Defense Department reveals its RFID rollout plans

The US Department of Defense (DoD) has announced the details of its plans for obligatory use of RFID among its suppliers.

The DoD has approved the mandating of RFID tags across the supply chain, with all contracts signed from 1 October to make the technology mandatory and for suppliers to have the technology in place by 1 January 2005 on case, pallet and item packaging.

After a draft agreed earlier this year and a pilot underway with IBM; the DoD has decided RFID is a winner.

The Defense Department will use both 'passive' and 'active' tags and has set out its stall for future installations, in a memo saying the tags will "provide global transit visibility" for foreign shipments.

Come 1 January next year, two distribution depots - one in California, one in Pennsylvania - are lined up to receive a variety of tagged goods, including clothes and rations. The following year will see 32 more facilities receiving an expanded range of chipped goods, including ammunition and drugs.

The tags will be phased in gradually, according to "procurement methods, classes/commodities, location and layers of packaging for passive RFID," with the tags added by the manufacturer or vendor.

By the dawn of 2007, all locations and products will carry the tracking tags. The Department said in the memo: "Considering the volume of contracts and the variety of commodities managed, the Department has developed a plan for passive RFID tagging that delivers best value to the warfighting customer."

While the DoD is keeping its eye out for commercial tie-ins, it has warned the vendors not to get too excited about the project.

"In order to take advantage of RFID commercial infrastructure not within the DoD's control, the DoD… will assess the ability to leverage any compatible active RFID commercial infrastructure may establish. This should not be viewed as a direction to commercial carriers and port operators to establish an active RFID infrastructure," the memo said.