Standards Representative Handbook

The National Technology Transfer Act of 1995 (Public Law 104-113) states, "Federal Participation in the Development and Use of Voluntary Standards, that are transitioning the Executive branch of the Federal Government from a developer of internal standards to a customer of external standards. Specifically, section 12 "Standards Conformity" states, "...all Federal agencies and departments shall use technical standards that are developed and adopted by voluntary consensus standards bodies, using such technical standards as a means to carry out policy objectives or activities determined by the agencies and departments. Federal Agencies and departments shall consult with voluntary, private sector, consensus standards bodies, and shall.. participate with such bodies in the development of technical standards." [1] NAC participates in standards work to serve our customers better by providing military acceptable commercially available products at lower costs. DoD purchase of commercially available products will be enhanced when NGS are available which define the needs of the DoD in terms of the commercial marketplace. However, one must note the difference between New Technology Standards and reforming Old MIL SPEC Standards. New Technology Standards focus on emerging technologies that are being developed in industry and the government, while Old MIL SPEC conversion takes existing standards focused more on component parts and attempts to add the necessary military requirements. They are equally important; however, with emerging technologies, the government has the opportunity at their inception to put the necessary language into the standard to make them more compatible with military applications.