United States Department of Defense RFID Policy This page is intended solely to provide resources for DoD suppliers. The information contained here is not altered or translated in any way. Contact us to find out what this RFID mandate means to your business.

The Department of Defense will begin requiring suppliers to use RFID tags on shipments to the military by January 2005. Acting Under Secretary of Defense Michael Wynne issued a memo on October 2, 2003 outlining a broad plan for RFID tracking at all packaging levels and on high-value assets. The goal is to reduce stocks and improve forecasting through "Total Asset Visibility".

Excerpts from Wynne's memo:

"Employment of RFID allows us to re-apportion critical manpower resources to war-fighting functions and to streamline our business processes, in partnership with industry, that will benefit both of our enterprises."

"Our policy will require suppliers to put passive RFID tags on lowest possible piece part/case/pallet packaging by January 2005. We also plan to require RFID tags on key high-value items."

LINKS TO RESOURCES - all in PDF format (file size)

DoD Suppliers' Passive RFID Information Guide, version 10.0 NEW! Sep-07

US DoD RFID Policy Memo - July 30, 2004 (2,500k)

DFAR Update  -  July 1, 2004 (30k)

US DoD RFID Policy - February 20, 2004 (1,450k)

Frequently Asked Questions - December 22, 2003 (150k)

RF Tag Return Addresses - November 18, 2003 (145k)

US DoD RFID Policy - October 02, 2003 (1,570k)

RF-Tag Data Format Specification, Version 2.0 - May 10, 2002 (145k)

Standard Practice for Military Marking

MIL-STD-129, Revision P3 - October 29, 2004 (5,600k)

Major Changes from Mil-STD-129 "N" to "P" (400k)