Editor’s Note: The critical importance of supply chain security should not be underestimated.
From: FederalNewsRadio.com 1500AM
By Jason Miller
About a dozen industry associations are asking Congress to change the law prohibiting agencies under the Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations bill from buying technology or services from a company that is owned, directed or subsidized by China.
In a letter to House Appropriations Committee leaders, the technology associations are asking lawmakers to adopt the language in the Senate’s version of the fiscal 2014 Commerce, Justice, Science spending bill that would let agencies make risk-based decisions about from whom they purchase technology.
Under the Senate’s language, the agencies under Commerce, Justice, Science along with NASA and the National Science Foundation must first review “the supply chain risk for the information systems against criteria developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology to inform acquisition decisions for high- impact information systems within the federal government and against international standards and guidelines, including those developed by NIST; reviewed the supply chain risk from the presumptive awardee against available and relevant threat information provided by the FBI and other appropriate agencies; and developed, in consultation with NIST and supply chain risk management experts, a mitigation strategy for any identified risks.”
The associations called the Senate’s approach a collaboration among lawmakers, industry experts, security professionals and others that supports “a common-sense alternative approach that would focus on real risks-an approach that can improve security of government information systems without putting unnecessary regulatory and economic burdens on industry.”
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