national security | The Contracting Education Academy

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/

September 24, 2020 By cs

Comments on government supply chain rule push for better definitions and more time

Industry groups and other comments highlight the difficulty of complying with a provision of last year’s defense authorization act that requires the removal of products from companies including Huawei and ZTE.

The broad, ambiguous language of Congressionally-mandated rule for government contractors to remove products and services from companies that pose threats to national security is complicating implementation, according to public comments.

The comment period for the interim Federal Acquisition Rule implementing Part B of Section 889 — a provision of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act — closed last week, and the more than 30 comments submitted raise questions related to fundamental compliance issues.

While in general, commenters agree with the rule’s intent, groups representing industry, including the National Defense Industrial Association, BSA | The Software Alliance, the Coalition for Government Procurement and the Internet Association submitted detailed letters to Regulations.gov outlining compliance challenges. Nearly all asked for extended timelines for implementation and better definitions for key terms and phrases used in the regulation.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2020/09/comments-government-supply-chain-rule-push-better-definitions-and-more-time/168460/

September 22, 2020 By cs

Why the Pentagon’s JEDI saga is far from over

The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure procurement may be grounded until at least February, according to a new timeline agreed to by the government and Amazon Web Services.

On September 4, the Defense Department awarded Microsoft its Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud contract for a second time, concluding — amid a legal protest filed by Amazon Web Services—that Microsoft’s bid again represented “the best value to the government.”

Yet JEDI remains under a court-ordered injunction first issued in April, shelving any work under the contract until AWS’ protest is resolved. On Sept. 15, the Defense Department submitted—under seal—the source selection documentation it used to re-award the JEDI contract to Microsoft. The move formally concludes nearly five months of time that the Pentagon requested from Federal Judge Patricia Campbell-Smith to correct the JEDI procurement, and represents a significant step to potentially lifting the injunction.

“If there is an injunction imposed by the court, nothing can move forward,” Stan Soloway, president and CEO of Celero Strategies and a former Defense Department acquisition official, told Nextgov. “But, even if a protest is still in play, theoretically the government could declare an urgent need and proceed.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2020/09/why-pentagons-jedi-saga-far-over/168516/

September 9, 2020 By cs

Pentagon awards JEDI cloud contract to Microsoft for the second time

The decision follows a months-long legal challenge filed by Amazon Web Services.

The Pentagon awarded its Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud computing contract Friday to Microsoft.

The decision follows a 10-month legal battle initiated by Amazon Web Services after the Pentagon selected Microsoft in October 2019 for the contract, worth up to $10 billion over the next 10 years if all options are exercised.

The award comes after numerous controversies and delays for JEDI — in addition to four legal protests filed by companies once in the running for it — that has the contract two years behind schedule.

“The Department has completed its comprehensive re-evaluation of the JEDI Cloud proposals and determined that Microsoft’s proposal continues to represent the best value to the government,” the department said in a statement Friday.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2020/09/pentagon-awards-jedi-cloud-contract-microsoft-second-time/168259/

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/

Industry groups and other comments highlight the difficulty of complying with a provision of last year’s defense authorization act that requires the removal of products from companies including Huawei and ZTE.

The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure procurement may be grounded until at least February, according to a new timeline agreed to by the government and Amazon Web Services.

The decision follows a months-long legal challenge filed by Amazon Web Services.

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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