DoD's Proposed Counterfeit Electronic Parts Rules Are Short on Details

Following up on its publication of an instruction on counterfeit parts on May 16, DoD issued a long-expected proposed rule on counterfeit electronic parts avoidance, detection, and liability, with comments due by July 15. As discussed on our blog, the rule -- which applies only to CAS-covered prime contractors but will have a much broader impact on subcontractors and suppliers -- requires that business systems include DoD-approved avoidance and detection systems, but leaves the details of the newly required systems to be fleshed out, it would seem, by DCAA and/or DCMA, and, while it imposes potentially unlimited liability for counterfeit parts, it has an exceedingly narrow "safe harbor."