What's Brewin: An RFID Game Plan

$744 million: That's what the Defense Department plans to spend on integrating radio frequency identification into its supply chain between now and 2013, based an automatic identification technology deployment plan signed by the head of U.S. Transportation Command, Air Force Gen. Norton Schwartz, earlier this year, and kindly forwarded to me by a reader.

The plan (TRANSCOM calls it an "implementation plan," a phrase that makes me want to rend my garments and bay at the moon) shows planned funding at about $120 million or more each year for the next five years:

• 2008: $119 million

• 2009: $119 million

• 2010: $123 million

• 2011: $126 million

• 2012: $129 million

• 2013: $128 million

The plan notes that TRANSCOM does not intend to open up its own purse, but instead wants the military services and Defense agencies to pony up their own funds.

"Components/agencies must have and will commit necessary resources to accomplish tasks in this plan at their respective sites," the plan stated. "That commitment must be accomplished within current annual budgets and personnel resources, as outlined in each service's POM." That stands for program objective memorandum, which determines budget allocations.

One wonders if this is wishful thinking. Even though "joint" has become a Defense mantra, adherence to the ideal sometimes screeches to a dead halt when it comes to forking over money.

The budget, as far as I can determine, primarily covers installation of a passive RFID infrastructure -- which scans tags placed on cases and pallets -- throughout Defense, and integration of data gathered from scanning those tags at various points into back-end systems. Ultimately, RFID data would be integrated into enterprise resource planning systems in 2013.

Hmm…The Pentagon required suppliers of practically everything it buys to tag cases and pallets as of January 2007, but Defense won't complete its end of the deal until six years after the supplier tagging mandate went into effect? I wonder what the suppliers -- who went to considerable expense to buy RFID gadgets and gizmos, as well as software -- think of this.

Active vs. Passive

Passive RFID has a range of about 30 feet and is used to scan materiel in distribution centers and warehouses at the case or pallet level. Defense currently uses active RFID tags -- which, unlike passive tags, are battery-powered and have a range of about 300 feet -- to track 24-foot shipping containers transported by ship or truck. Active tags cost about $100 each; passive tags cost less than a dollar when bought in bulk.

Active tags have allowed Defense to track practically every container shipped to Afghanistan and Iraq since the start of operations in both countries, and also incorporate onboard data storage to identify the items stuffed into containers. Defense tracks 98 percent of the 20,000 containers inbound every month to Central Command's area of responsibility, according to Dave Dias, TRANSCOM's chief of asset visibility.

The new TRANSCOM plan calls for replacing these data-rich tags with license plate-type tags that identify containers only for tracking purposes. The container ID is then linked to cargo information in a supply database.

Defense spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin told me the switch to a license plate approach will save money. But she added that users still will have the option of using data-rich tags at locations with limited connectivity, where it's difficult to match up a tag identifier with information in a database.

Justin Patton, managing director of the RFID Research Center of the University of Arkansas, agreed that switching to license plate tags will cut costs. But he told me that security could be the real reason behind the switch. Using only a license plate tag means "the bad guys can't find out everything that is in a container," he noted.

The Savi Technology unit of Lockheed Martin Corp. controls the Defense active RFID market under contracts dating back to 1997. In February 2008, Defense boosted the ceiling of the current Savi contract, awarded in 2003, by $60 million to $483 million.

Savi now faces competition. In July, the Army put out an RFP for an active RFID contract vehicle. It will be interesting to watch how the competition develops -- a business worth almost $500 million over three years is bound to get some attention.

Navy Big RFID Winner?

TRANSCOM has set up five teams to manage the RFID deployment plan, with most of it managed by TRANSCOM itself, the Defense Logistics Agency or Joint Forces Command.

The Navy is the only service with a key role under the plan. It will manage supply distribution processes at the delivery end of the supply chain, work with TRANSCOM to evaluate potential cost savings from use of the active tags and help determine requirements.

Sounds like this means more jobs at Naval Supply Systems Command headquarters in Mechanicsburg, Pa.

Let's Hope VA Doesn't Have Another Financial System Meltdown

Last week, I reported that the Veterans Affairs Department had issued two requests for proposals to upgrade its financial and asset management systems under a project known as the Financial and Logistics Integrated Technology Enterprise program.

A VA reader and correspondent said he hoped the department makes FLITE fly better than its last attempt to field a financial system, the $472 million Core Financial and Logistics System that burned out in tests at the Bay Pines, Fla., VA Medical Center.

Yancy Dorn, a union president at Bay Pines, said the system was so bad that hospital personnel bought their own surgical gloves rather than run the purchases through the system. "The employees here are sick of it," he told the St. Petersburg Times four years ago. We're trying to take care of the veterans, and we can't even get gloves to put on to draw blood."

Hey Soldier, That's $100 Extra for the Duffel Bag

When Army Staff Sgt. Ashley Serrano checked in last month at American Airlines in El Paso, Texas, with three bags full of the gear he needed for training prior to deployment to Iraq, he was told he would have to pay $100 for the third bag, the El Paso Times reported.

Serrano, a member of the Texas National Guard, said he had never been hit with such a fee while in uniform, and could not quite understand it.

Neither does George Lisicki, commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He wants all the airlines to waive extra bag fees for uniformed personnel traveling on orders.

I suggest Lisicki gently remind American and the U.S. airline industry that they collect about $1 billon a year from Defense on military charter flights.