Risk mitigation is necessary when commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) parts are used outside of their guaranteed specifications, and when plastic parts are used in high reliability systems. This is especially true for COTS parts used in Space applications where the requirements and environments of Space are unique and hazardous to electronics. Choosing an evaluation process should depend on the application and critical requirements imposed on the part. Typically, risk mitigation must be traded against program cost, schedule, and requirements.