Counterfeit items have penetrated the Defense Department supply chain thanks in part to lack of a departmentwide definition of "counterfeit" and a lack of databases for reporting counterfeit items, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.

The two primary Defense databases used to report deficient items--the Product Data Reporting and Evaluation Program (PDREP) and the Joint Deficiency Reporting System (JDRS)--allow users to report counterfeit items in an unstructured field, but have no structured counterfeit item identifier, according to the report. But, the report adds, there is no common terminology for describing counterfeit items, meaning that a search of unstructured database entries might not capture all counterfeit item reports.

Defense, like other federal agencies, has access to the Government-Industry Data Exchange Program counterfeit database, but DoD employees shy away from using it, the GAO report says. GIDEP places an automatic 15-day hold on displaying new counterfeit item reports, allowing time for the supplier to respond. But during those 15 days, the items could continue to be purchased. Defense workers also expressed worry that reporting GIDEP could lead to a lawsuit, and that a GIDEP entry could tip off a counterfeit supplier of an investigation.

Meanwhile, among the counterfeit items that military purchasers have unknowingly bought are fake Global Positioning System oscillators used for navigation in over 4,000 Air Force and Navy systems. The Navy also acquired counterfeit network machines with high rates of failure, although a two-year FBI investigation led to 10 convictions.

For more:
- read GAO report 10-389 (.pdf)
- check out a Jan. 11, 2008 FBI presentation on its investigation into counterfeit Cisco routers (.ppt)

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