telecommunications | The Contracting Education Academy

December 3, 2019 By cs

DHS acquisitions are steady despite CIO departure

Technology procurement at the Department of Homeland Security remains on steady ground despite the departure of CIO John Zangardi earlier this month for an industry job.

“We’re going to miss Dr. Zangardi, but the next CIO will come in,” said Soraya Correa, the chief acquisition officer at DHS, said on the sidelines of an industry event hosted by the Association for Federal Information Resources Management. “What I’ve seen is that CIOs are pretty much aligned with things like cloud and the strategies we’re trying to implement.”

Correa added: “Leadership changes are going to happen. That’s the nature of government. The question is: do goals and strategies still align. Dr. Zangardi and his staff knew where we were trying to go. He brought his deputy in, and we started working those strategies.”

DHS Deputy CIO, Beth Cappello, is expected to move into the acting CIO post.

On the procurement front, DHS has yet to issue its solicitation for the General Services Administration’s $50 billion, 15-year, next-generation telecommunications contract.

Keep reading this article at: https://fcw.com/articles/2019/11/21/dhs-acquistion-cio-change.aspx?m=1

September 23, 2019 By cs

First wave of acquisition prohibitions take effect

The FAR Council released an Interim Rule in August implementing part of Section 889 of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019.

In this briefing, we highlight points where the Interim Rule provides clarity; definitional issues that remain unresolved; and new procedural requirements that government contractors should track.

The Interim Rule covers the portion of Section 889, subsection (a)(1)(A), that prohibits the federal government from acquiring certain telecommunications equipment/services from Huawei, ZTE, and other Chinese companies. Specifically: “The head of an executive agency may not … procure or obtain or extend or renew a contract to procure or obtain any equipment, system, or service that uses covered telecommunications equipment or services as a substantial or essential component of any system, or as critical technology as part of any system.”

Section (a)(1)(A) took effect on August 13, 2019, although a 60-day window remains open for stakeholders to submit comments to be considered in the development of a final rule. Comments on the (a)(1)(A) Interim Rule are due by October 15, 2019.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2019/09/section-889-update-first-wave-of-acquisition-prohibitions-take-effect/

August 22, 2019 By cs

A ban on Chinese tech is on the books — are feds ready?

Federal agencies have less than a week to update their upcoming and in-process contracts to include provisions that prohibit telecommunications equipment or services — or components of equipment or services — that are produced by Huawei Technologies Company, ZTE Corporation, Hytera Communications Corporation, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Company or Dahua Technology Company.

The interim rule added to the Federal Acquisition Regulation Aug. 7 by the Department of Defense, General Services Administration and NASA notified agencies that they have until Aug. 13 to update their acquisitions to reflect the prohibition of products that are produced by companies with suspected links to the Chinese government.

The rule change is not unexpected, as the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act initially codified the prohibition on such acquisitions, but the new rule formally implements such requirements for federal agencies.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.federaltimes.com/acquisition/2019/08/08/a-ban-on-chinese-tech-is-on-the-books-are-feds-ready

August 14, 2019 By AMK

New rule bans government purchase of Chinese telecom gear

Three departments in charge of federal purchasing policy have unveiled an interim rule amending Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to ban agencies from purchasing telecommunications and video surveillance equipment from five Chinese firms, including Huawei.

The interim rule from the General Services Administration, the Department of Defense and NASA took effect Aug. 13 and stems from a provision in the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) prohibiting federal agencies from purchasing telecommunications and video surveillance equipment, along with any “substantial or essential component of any system, or as critical technology as part of any system” from the Chinese tech firms or their affiliates. The regulation language will apply to all new contracts and procurements as well as existing indefinite delivery contracts, as well as options picked up for existing contracts.

While the NDAA does allow for the issuance of individual, one-time waivers to agencies, the rule requires contractors to identify as part of their offer any telecommunications equipment or services that will be provided to the government, including those provided by subcontractors. Acknowledging that such a rule could result in a heavy “information collection burden” on federal agencies, the three departments are updating the System for Award Management to allow contractors to disclose these parts and components on an annual basis.

Keep reading this article at: https://fcw.com/articles/2019/08/07/china-telecom-regulation-johnson.aspx?m=1

March 28, 2019 By AMK

Security authorizations trickle in as deadlines near on $50 billion telecom contract

Agencies have until September to award task orders off the massive Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions telecommunications contract, but as of last Thursday, only one vendor has met the security requirements to be eligible for award.

The EIS contract is expected to be worth $50 billion over 15 years, as every federal agency — civilian and defense — is preparing to solicit services ranging from basic telecom to video and voice over IP to wholesale infrastructure modernization. As the backbone infrastructure for all data and communications transiting in and out of agency networks, the nine companies with spots on the contract will have to meet stringent cybersecurity standards, documented and verified through an authority to operate, or ATO.

CenturyLink announced last week that it was the first to complete the ATO process.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2019/03/security-authorizations-trickle-deadlines-near-50-billion-telecom-contract/155751/

Technology procurement at the Department of Homeland Security remains on steady ground despite the departure of CIO John Zangardi earlier this month for an industry job.

The FAR Council released an Interim Rule in August implementing part of Section 889 of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019.

Three departments in charge of federal purchasing policy have unveiled an interim rule amending Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to ban agencies from purchasing telecommunications and video surveillance equipment from five Chinese firms, including Huawei.

Agencies have until September to award task orders off the massive Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions telecommunications contract, but as of last Thursday, only one vendor has met the security requirements to be eligible for award.

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