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88 The PCB Magazine • April 2017 Top down accreditation will begin with a review of the prime contractor's accreditation policies and procedures by the accrediting au- thority. The accrediting authority will ensure that the Prime Contractor's policies meet the PrCB Trust Accreditation requirements. There- fore, with little or no change to the prime con- tractor's supply chain management system, a trust accreditation may be ensured. Implementation Implementation of the PrCB Trust Accredi- tation consists of two parallel activities. First is the establishment of the accreditation author- ity. The accreditation authority may be realized in one of the following scenarios: 1. The PrCB EA will create a government auditing and accreditation capability 2. The PrCB EA will utilize the audit capability of another government entity and provide subject matter expertise and final accreditation approval oversight 3. The PrCB EA will contract the audit function to a private sector entity and provide subject matter expertise and final accreditation approval oversight The first scenario will require standing up a completely new audit function. This scenar- io provides for optimum control of policy and process implementation. It is expected that this scenario would be the costliest and time con- suming. The second and third scenarios likely will provide the most efficient path to implemen- tation. Utilizing existing capabilities which al- ready have the experience and knowledge to ex- ecute audits is a significant savings over build- ing the capability from scratch. It is recognized that increases in budget and staffing would be necessary to accommodate the increased work- load. In either case, the PrCB EA (or other gov- ernment entity) will have the final approval oversight. The second parallel activity is the adop- tion of the PrCB Trust Accreditation into DoD policy. As with the DMEA Trusted Foundry program, the PrCB Trust Accreditation process will need to be incorporated into acquisition policy. This will require language in the De- fense Federal Acquisition Regulation which instructs contract officers to flow down PrCB Trust Accreditation requirements language through the contract. Training throughout the DoD Program Office and acquisition commu- nities on what a trusted PrCB is and when the accreditation requirement should be invoked will also be necessary. These parallel activities will occur over the next six to 12 months with an anticipated roll out by the end of 2017. Results of Data The PrCB EA has made efforts to gain feed- back from the industry concerning the imple- mentation of the PrCB Trust Accreditation. Two vehicles have been utilized to communicate the purpose, need, and details of the accreditation: (1) a small sample of 25 PrCB design, manufac- ture, and assembly suppliers solicited to review the requirement and provide feedback and (2) a standard form provided to facilitate compila- tion of the feedback, with a focus on require- ments causing undue burden. There has been about 50% response to the informal solicitation with two negative comments. The comments specifically addressed additional requirements being levied on the supply base. More specifi- cally, there were particular industry certifica- tions that were not possessed. To address these concerns, generic requirements were developed and incorporated as options to the trust accredi- tation which will maintain the intent of the cer- tification compliance. To achieve a wider communication of the accreditation, the PrCB Trust Accreditation re- quirement was presented to an IPC invitation only session at both SMTA/Fall and IPC/APEX conferences. Lively conversations were stimu- lated regarding additional requirements. As a result of this feedback, the top down process was formulated. Conclusion The DoD mandate for trust in the PrCB sup- ply chain is mirrored in DoDI 5200.44, which states: "Employ protections that manage risk in the supply chain for components or subcompo- nent products and services (e.g., integrated cir- EXECUTIVE AGENT FOR PCB AND ELECTRONIC INTERCONNECT TECHNOLOGY PRCB TRUST ACCREDITATION