Hammerstone has been reappointed as the Australian Defence Force’s prime contractor for Unique Identification (UID) labels, marks and Automatic Identification Technology (AIT), under an extension to Deed of Standing Offer SON3786366 running from July 2026, with options through to 2028.
The extension continues an arrangement that began in July 2021, when Hammerstone first became the Department of Defence’s direct prime supplier for UID/AIT, following four years as a delivery partner on the AHQ Codification and Unique Identification Program from 2017 as a result of a open competitive tender.
Over that time, Hammerstone’s UID and Automated Data Capture work has extended standardised, machine-readable asset identification across the Australian Army and Air Force, to more than 300,000 items in total.
The measured results speak for themselves. Stocktaking time was cut by half, with 60 per cent less paperwork and fewer personnel required to do it. Receipts, issues and temporary loan processing were all made 70 per cent faster, with fewer manual errors and greater auditability. Just as importantly, systematic verification and UID marking remediated years of legacy data errors, turning Defence’s own logistics ERP into a trusted data source, while alignment with DEF(AUST) 1000C, STANAG 2290 and MIL-STD-130 kept that data interoperable with NATO partners and industry suppliers throughout. Closing long-standing traceability gaps on mission-critical, sensitive and safety-critical items also supported better decision-making and lower lifecycle costs.
Continuity matters here. UID/AIT isn’t a standalone product, it’s the identity layer that everything else in digital sustainment is built on. D-JMILS, ReadyFleet™ and Defence’s own SAP environment all depend on assets being reliably identified in the first place. A gap in that supply, even briefly, would ripple through every system built on top of it.
“The UID work provides the foundation for accurate information moving from the edge to the enterprise to deliver a informed Joint Integrated Logistics system.” – Matthew Shea
The renewed deed keeps that identity layer under a single, established supplier, working to DEF(AUST) 1000C and aligned with NATO’s STANAG 2290, alongside long-standing technology partners including Camcode, Visible Assets, Hardcat and Zebra Technologies.
The reappointment reflects a track record built over close to a decade of Defence delivery, from the original codification work in 2017 through to the current nation-wide standing offer.
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