BIRNS understands that the risks associated with use of counterfeit, fraudulent, and/or suspect components are reflected in early product failure, high repair costs, mission failure and even national security catastrophes. Therefore, although BIRNS is not directly subject to the DFARS anticounterfeit rule or the Cost Accounting Standards under section 26 of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 422), BIRNS is nonetheless guided by ethical standards and is committed to providing superior quality products which are free from counterfeit, fraudulent, or suspect components.

BIRNS’ policy is to source components and materials only from known and reputable OEM suppliers. BIRNS procures components only from the Component OEM Direct, the Component OEM authorized distributor, or the Component OEM authorized agent/representative. BIRNS maintains an approved supplier list in accordance with its AS900 certified Quality Management System, and sources of supply are continually monitored for quality, performance and service.

BIRNS’ policy is that any parts or materials suspected of being counterfeit or fraudulent shall be tagged and quarantined, with the suspect items reported to the Quality and Supply Chain Managers, and any supplier suspected of providing of counterfeit or fraudulent items shall be re‐categorized with a “Conditional” rating pending the outcome of a root cause investigation and Supplier Corrective Action Request. BIRNS utilizes SAE AS5553 (Counterfeit Electronic Parts, Avoidance, Detection, Mitigation and Disposition) guidance and participates in the GIDEP (Government Industry Data Exchange Program) to share in reporting of counterfeit parts incidents.