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DoD Launches Online Tool

New Web Capability Helps Suppliers Introduce Corrosion Prevention Products

By Ben Craig

Until now, product suppliers hoping to introduce their corrosion prevention and control (CPC) product or service to the DoD often encountered a painstaking process. Without a centralized source, finding the right information and contacts has not been easy. Suppliers familiar with these difficulties now have reason to celebrate.

DoD Corrosion Exchange Web site

The DoD Office of Corrosion Policy and Oversight has just launched a sophisticated and user-friendly Web tool to guide suppliers through the product introduction process. The tool, hosted on the DoD Corrosion Exchange Web site (http://www.dodcorrosionexchange.org), has consolidated the process for CPC product suppliers.

Traditionally, a big problem for suppliers was too many different points of contact. Figuring out which one to use was not always straightforward. Since product requirements vary from agency to agency, information about introducing a product was difficult to collect. Suppliers would sometimes have to perform time-consuming searches or hire consultants to find what they needed.

Now all of that information is in one place.

The Specifications, Standards, and Qualification Processes (SSQP) team (known in DoD circles as a Working Integrated Product Team or "WIPT")-part of a larger DoD effort to combat corrosion-has developed the Product Introduction Process Web tool. The SSQP team efforts are directed by the DoD Office of Corrosion Policy and Oversight.

Robert Herron, leader of the effort, explained how the new Web tool works. "This is an unprecedented process designed to help suppliers match their product to DoD corrosion prevention specifications and standards," said Herron. "If suppliers can describe their product, the tool guides them to a specific group of specs or standards that may be applicable," he added. "Once they select the appropriate spec or standard, the Web tool leads them through the path of introducing their product to the DoD."

Consolidating Vast Amounts of Information

Specs and Standards Matrix developed under Phase One

The refined Web utility is the culmination of Phase Two of a major three-phase project. The Product Introduction Process tool has consolidated a vast amount of information. In the project's first phase, the SSQP team identified more than 16,000 specifications and standards related to corrosion. After reviewing and categorizing these records, the list of relevant specs and standards was narrowed to 861, which were incorporated into a detailed matrix. Phase Two of the project built upon this matrix and focused on developing the Product Introduction Process tool.

Steve Spadafora, head of Materials Engineering at the Naval Air Systems Command, knows just how valuable this online tool is. "I've been working in this field for 29 years," he said. "This is the first time all of this information has been consolidated and organized into a single resource. This didn't exist before."

One Tool for Everyone

A user can select the specifications and standards
that are applicable to his or her product.

The Web utility will benefit everyone, from small businesses to large contractors, said Dan Dunmire, leader of the DoD Office of Corrosion Policy and Oversight. "The reason we did this was to help industry along. In the past, the process has been very frustrating for some companies," he said. "Many suppliers have the impression that each service has a separate product qualification program. When a company gets its product qualified for an Army program, for example, it may need to have it re-tested for use in the Navy, because the Services pursue their missions in different environments."

"Industry was looking for one person, one office, and one place to go to find out how to sell their product," Dunmire said. "At least for CPC products, information on the DoD process for each product introduction path has now been consolidated and described."

The Web-based Product Introduction Tool will not only benefit industry, it will also help the DoD accelerate the implementation of better industry products on DoD assets. The tool provides the information resources, and, in some instances, the testing requirements, and also guides the supplier through the right process for introducing a product. It also provides information to assist the user in identifying the contact information for the appropriate government point of contact (POC) or office. "The best part of this tool is that all of this occurs electronically, and the supplier doesn't need the assistance of a government POC," said Spadafora.

Spadafora also noted that not every product will end up being used by the DoD. "From a government standpoint, we want to have the products available, but we also have a lot of stringent requirements that have to be met. It has to be a quality product and it has to meet the requirements for the intended application."

How to Use the Online Tool

DoD Corrosion Exchange Navigation Bar

Product Information Form

To step into the Product Introduction Process, the user can move the cursor over Product Introduction (located on the navigation bar on the left side of the DoD Corrosion Exchange home page) and click on Product Introduction Process. The sections to follow help the user select applicable specifications with product requirements similar to the characteristics of the user's product or process.

Once the applicable specification(s) have been identified and selected, the Web tool provides instructions on how to proceed. For example, for specifications requiring formal qualification, the user will need to submit a formal request for testing to the appropriate cognizant agency POC.

Another feature allows the user to save his or her progress at any time in a Product Information Form, available on the DoD Corrosion Exchange home page the next time the user logs in. It is important to note that the Web-based tool, in itself, does not qualify a product, nor does it guarantee procurement of the product by DoD.

Working at a Rocket Ship Pace

The online Product Introduction Process tool is a part of the three-phase project that started in September 2004. The SSQP team swiftly completed Phase One in four months. Notably, Phase Two is now finished and is launching this month, six months ahead of schedule.

Dunmire recognizes that the SSQP team has completed several major tasks in such a short amount of time. "They were moving at a rocket ship pace," said Dunmire. "The SSQP has worked very hard to lay out and explain the DoD product introduction process." Though the overall process may still require some effort to get through, a potential supplier can follow the steps outlined in the product introduction Web tool and learn what particular product introduction path(s) they may have to go through to introduce their products into the DoD.

Who is able to access this Web site? Anybody, Herron said. "It's publicly available; the only stipulation is that you have to join the DoD Corrosion Exchange." Free membership on that site is an added bonus.

The next phase of the project will address suppliers who either have a product fundamentally different from what DoD has traditionally used or those proposing a different application for an existing product.