Huawei | The Contracting Education Academy

January 5, 2021 By cs

More guidance on contracting prohibition with entities using telecom equipment and services

Federal agencies, particularly the General Services Administration (GSA), continue to publish guidance relating to the prohibitions of Section 889 of the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Section 889 prohibits the federal government from obtaining, and federal contractors from using, certain telecommunications equipment and services offered by Chinese companies, such as Huawei and ZTE. Previous posts on Section 889 are available here, here, here, and here.

More recently, GSA published a series of resources for federal contractors, including webinar slides and an updated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) guide to provide details regarding GSA’s implementation of Section 889.

These resources give federal contractors insight into GSA’s strategy for implementing Section 889, and they help to resolve some of the ambiguities and administrative uncertainties contained in the interim rule.

Read some of the highlights from these resources at: https://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/government-contracts-procurement-ppp/1013820/more-gsa-guidance-on-section-88939s-prohibition-on-contracting-with-entities-using-certain-telecommunications-equipment-and-services

September 29, 2020 By cs

Pentagon acquisition chief hints Section 889 supply chain waiver may be extended

The Pentagon and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence are discussing extending a waiver that gives the defense industrial base more time to ensure certain noncritical weapons systems comply with a new rule aimed at excising Chinese telecommunications equipment from the supply chain, according to the Defense Department’s acquisition chief.

Undersecretary for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord talked briefly about implementation of Section 889 Part B, a provision of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, during a Defense News Conference. Her remarks came a day ahead of a feedback webinar the General Services Administration will host to solicit questions, comments and concerns from stakeholders about Section 889 implementation.

“So what we did is we got a waiver from ODNI for noncritical weapons systems,” Lord said. “We continue to discuss an extension beyond September of that with them.”

Part B of Section 889 officially went into effect August 13, about a month after the final version of the rule was released in July. The rule prohibits federal agencies from contracting with entities that use equipment from certain covered companies including Huawei and ZTE. In effect, Part B requires contractors to search through their supply chains to determine and disclose to the government whether they use any of the covered equipment or services.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2020/09/pentagon-acquisition-chief-hints-section-889-supply-chain-waiver-may-be-extended/168332/

August 20, 2020 By cs

Ban on Chinese products starts despite confusion over acquisition rule

The second and more arduous deadline for agencies and vendors to ensure they are no longer using certain Chinese made telecommunications products and services is here, and few are happy about it.

Industry and agencies alike continue to sound the alarm about the potential and real impacts of the interim rule implementing part B of Section 889 of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act.

“There is likely going to be significant impacts that will be felt across the federal sector,” said one government official, who requested anonymity in order to talk more candidly about the interim rule. “It’s very clear that the Defense Department and other agencies fully support the intent of the rule. We all know there is a lot of information about how China transmitted data and stole intellectual property so the intent of the rule is to protect our national security is good. But there will be unintended consequences because of how the specific language was written.”

Under the interim rule, which remains open for comments through mid-September, agencies cannot award new contracts, task orders or modify existing contracts to any vendor who doesn’t self-certify that they are not using products from Chinese companies like ZTE and Huawei.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/acquisition-policy/2020/08/ban-on-chinese-products-starts-today-despite-confusion-over-acquisition-rule/

Federal agencies, particularly the General Services Administration (GSA), continue to publish guidance relating to the prohibitions of Section 889 of the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The second and more arduous deadline for agencies and vendors to ensure they are no longer using certain Chinese made telecommunications products and services is here, and few are happy about it.

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