Are you ITAR certified? Want to do defense work??

[scadvice]

ITAR certification was $600 per year 5 years ago and now it's gotten out of hand. If you do work for a defense contractor or want to... or are planning on...You better write your Congressman or woman. This is another knife in back of the small business man. Homeland Security is pushing all the defense contractors to make sure their suppliers comply with this law. The defense contractors are not happy with how this coming down either. They are losing the small and important shops that are compliant but cannot afford to pay this tax under the guise of protecting our technology from this country’s enemies. We all want to protect our weapon technology from those who would do us harm, but this IMO is a unfair, unrealistic, and downright slap in the face to the small businessman who can’t afford to pay this kind of blatant tax. It's an out and out ripoff I've done these audits for a large defense contractor and I know it doesn't cost that much. What the h#ll... who is representing us out there?
Yes, they are calling it a registration fee. Ya…right. You read this and tell me what you think!

Steve

THREE-TIER ITAR REGISTRATION FEE SCHEDULE

The State Department is proposing to amend the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) by increasing the registration fees, changing the registration renewal period, and making other minor administrative changes.
Three-Tier Registration System
The department is adopting a three-tier registration fee schedule, as part of its effort to bring registration fees into closer alignment with the cost of licensing, compliance and other related activities.
The first tier will be a set fee of $2,250 per year for registrants who are renewing a registration, required to register by law and who have not submitted any applications during the twelve month period ending 90 days prior to the expiration of their current registration. This tier includes those registering with the department for the first time.
The second tier is for registrants who have submitted ten or fewer applications during the twelve month period ending 90 days prior to the expiration of their current registration. For this tier, registrants will pay a set fee of $2,750 per year.
The third tier is for registrants who have submitted more than ten applications during the twelve month period ending 90 days prior to the expiration of their current registration. For this tier, registrants will pay a fee of $2,750 plus an additional fee that is based on the number of applications they submitted during the twelve months ending 90 days prior to the expiration of their current registration. The additional fee will be determined by multiplying $250 times the number of applications over ten submitted during the twelve month period ending 90 days prior to the expiration of the current registration.
Fees for registrants whose total registration fee is greater than 3 percent of the total value of applications submitted during the twelve month period ending 90 days prior to expiration of the current registration will be reduced to three percent of such total application value or $2,750, which ever is greater. Fees for universities and other registrants who are exempt from income taxation may be reduced to the first tier registration fee provided proof of such status is submitted with their registration package.

[Jim Estes]

I don't know anything about this kind of certification, but it's the same way with all the quality certifications. A company has to put out thousands to become certified, and for what? I wonder how many different certifications Toyota had, and now they are recalling millions of thier product.

I'm not knocking Toyota, not at all. I just believe that when you try to dumb down every single step of a process and make it idiot proof with step by step instruction and endless procedures.....what you end up with is a process where nobody is thinking about anything except what is written in the book.

Common sence went out the window when they put up the "____ Certified" banner.

Just my two uncertified cents worth.

Jim

[JamesG]

Just another way for those who can't to make a buck of those who can...

[SanDiegoCNC]

Its just another cost of doing business. It sucks I know, but that's life. Just be thankful that you guys aren't in California. Out here, we pay a 1% tax per year on all machinery. That means if you have $500k in machine tools on your floor, you're paying $5k per year in taxes on said machine tools.

[ImanCarrot]

Yup, we are ITAR cleared. Have been for some time now, though I agree it's just another stealth tax.