UID or Unique Identification is a standard mandated by the Department of



Defense (DoD). According the DoD, all assets and personal property including

assets in the possession of the contractors must be marked with a unique

serialized identification number in accordance with MIL STD 130.Whether it

is a legacy or newly requisitioned government property in possession of

contractors (PIPC), UID compliance applies equally to every qualifying

government items with an objective of placing 100 percent of property and

deliverables in the new UID Registry for lifecycle management. The DoD aims

at achieving continuous reporting via their Wide Area Workflow system and

their IUID Registry through proper marking and scanning of each of such

items. Hence, it is imperative for all the products and services be designed

in a way so that they meet the UID compliance standards.

Steps Required For UID Compliance

The following are the steps and procedures that must be completed by the

PIPC and legacy items:

Print & Mark

According to the MIL STD 130, all the qualifying end time deliverables,

government furnished PIPC, and legacy items must be marked with a machine

readable 2D Data Matrix Bar Code. Moreover, such bar code must meet the

printing or marking specifications irrespective of your choice to use a

direct part mark technology (laser etch, ink jet, dot peen, or chemical

etch) or a durable polyester label.

Verify

As per the standard specifications of ISO 15415 and SAE AS9132, all 2D Data

Matrix bar codes must meet their verification standards for mark quality. As

a norm, the metrics for measuring the quality of 2D Data Matrix bar codes

are chosen on the basis of the bar code generating process such as printing

or direct part marking.

Validation

Some ISO 15434 standards should be met by all 2D Data Matrix bar codes.

Usually, these standards are set for formatting and syntax such as

identifiers, message header, non-printable characters and the like.

Scan & Receive

Although this step is not mandatory, it is, however, regarded highly

essential for seamless performance. It is a standard norm of UID Guide v1.5

to ensure that all qualifying items with UIDs should be scanned and tracked

before they are taken into custody. Besides, the UID and acquisition data is

essential for submission to the UID Registry.

Track Item & Location

As an essential procedure of UID Compliance, all qualifying items must

conform to the UID Guide v1.5 and internal business best practice norms.

They should be tracked to a particular location by their UID marks to

ascertain the accuracy in reporting. Again, this step is not a mandatory for

achieving UID Compliance.

Register

As per the standard procedure of UID Compliance, MIL STD 130 necessitates

the submission of the UID date to the UID Registry and WAWF. Whether the UID

data is submitted through the WAWF and UID Registry websites, what is more

important is that it must be in the correct electronic format.