Huawei ban postponed

Waiver for DOD vendors until Sept. 30

      Defense Dept. contractors have won a temporary waiver until Sept. 30 of a government-wide ban on utilizing Huawei and other Chinese-made telecommunications equipment.

      The prohibition went into effect Aug. 13. However, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe granted the Pentagon a temporary waiver, while also considering a broader waiver.

      The Trump Administration, citing national security, ordered vendors to self-certify that they do not use equipment produced by five Chinese firms, including Huawei and ZTE. The rule was mandated under Section 889 of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act.

      The National Defense Industrial Association and the Professional Services Council had asked to delay the ban, in part because the terms of the ban were not well defined.

      “Many of our members have been asked to attest to not ‘using,’ from a still-undefined list, systems and components in their respective supply chains; otherwise, they risk losing current and future contracts,” the NDIA said in a statement.

      The NDIA also said it’s the “worst time” to implement the provisions because industry is reeling from the pandemic and from new cybersecurity standards.

More information:
Ratcliffe memo: https://bit.ly/2Q3c4kx
Defense News: https://bit.ly/2E64F17

(URLs in Set-Aside Alert have been shortened by the bit.ly URL shortener)

Small biz buys rose to $132.9B in FY2019; WOSB 5% goal met

USPS mail delays rising

Little gain from WOSB set-asides

Huawei ban postponed

SBA’s 'Certify' not effective

FPDS reports go to beta.SAM.gov

Industry seeks pandemic paid leave reimbursement extension

Executive order on govcon labor

Washington Insider:

Coronavirus Update