RFID: CDO Technologies partners with Department of Defense

CDO will deliver passive RFID services to the military, integrating products from partner companies.

By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 10/2/2008

Systems integrator CDO Technologies will deliver passive RFID hardware, software and professional services to the Department of Defense, U.S. Coast Guard, North Atlantic Treaty Organization and other federal agencies--a contract with a potential value of $75.5 million.

Under the contract terms, CDO can be awarded task orders from the Army, Defense Logistics Agency and others to integrate RFID infrastructure with their supply chain, including bar code and RFID readers, printers and tags from partnering companies. 

CDO will partner with GlobeRanger Corporation, Sirit Corporation, Concurrent Technologies Corporation, HCI Integrated Solutions, Inc., Bartec Corporation, Avery Dennison-Paxar and XIO Strategies.

One of the leaders in the march to RFID implementation, the DoD and Marines moved toward limiting the use of active tags to identify container loads, choosing to work with less expensive passive tags. The advantage of a passive RFID tag is that it is disposed of at the end of its shipping cycle, saving the expense of tag recovery and repair. Passive RFID consists of an antenna only, without a chip or power source, and acts as a license plate as much as bar codes do, costing less than 5 cents per item. 

RFID and the military

DoD began experimenting with reusable RFID tags in 1992. By 2004, the DoD announced a new mandatory RFID policy on solicitations and delivery of specific products. All DoD suppliers of those products into those facilities are required to meet the new requirements, not just the top suppliers.

One Marine unit using RFID reduced its inventory value from $127 million to $70 million and its order backlog from 92,000 requests for supplies to 11,000, thanks to more accurate and timely information. 

In September, the Defense Logistics Agency awarded global security company Lockheed Martin a 10-year contract to provide maintenance and parts to support all of the military’s land-based vehicles, using company’s SCM+ supply chain management solution will provide asset visibility information and progress-tracking metrics. The contract has a potential value of $5.6 billion over the next decade.