Regulators Seek Ideas on Anti-Counterfeiting Rule The Federal Acquisition Regulations councils plan a series of public meetings to discuss ways of blocking counterfeit IT products from making their way into government systems. The FAR councils announced last fall that they were considering a rule requiring vendors to represent that the IT products sold to the government were authentic. (SAA, 11/21/08) A draft rule circulated by the regulators would require agencies to buy IT products from original equipment manufacturers, software developers or authorized distributors or resellers. In a June 3 notice, the councils said the new round of meetings “will continue a dialogue with industry and Government agencies on the impact of counterfeit IT products on matters of performance and security; contractor liability and consequential damages; competitiveness issues associated with procuring IT products from the original equipment manufacturer or authorized distributor; identifying viable means of authenticating IT products; and contractor supply chain risk management requirements as an evaluation factor in the procurement of IT products.” The FAR councils said tighter rules are necessary because of the government’s heavy dependence on IT for everything from missile systems to air traffic control to cars. They said counterfeit products “have a higher failure rate than genuine equipment, and often fail upon installation, or weeks or months after installation. Thus, these counterfeit IT products pose a threat to the national security and consumer safety because when they fail, the entire systems in which they are embedded may also fail.” At a public meeting in December, government and industry officials said contracting officers sometimes open the door to bogus products when they award contracts to the lowest bidder rather than considering best value and a vendor’s past performance. This summer’s meetings will be held in Washington on June 23, July 15, July 22, July 29, Aug. 5 and Aug. 12. (See the June 3 Federal Register.)