The U.S. government has imposed prohibitions on agency procurement and grant purchase of certain Chinese video surveillance and other communications equipment, over national security concerns, has imposed various sanctions on certain manufacturers and has longstanding procurement policies under the Trade Agreements Act (TAA) that prevent purchase of Chinese equipment under many circumstances. Agencies continue to grapple with issues stemming from implementation and compliance with these policies. For example, in January 2024, an inspector general's report noted that the General Services Administration used “egregiously flawed” market research in its decision to purchase 150 non-TAA compliance Chinese-made video conferencing cameras. Numerous recent polices direct agencies to protect against counterfeits, tampering, theft, insertion of malicious software, poor manufacturing and development practices, etc., throughout a systems development life cycle. This session will present these and share lessons learned in finding and addressing prohibited or counterfeit equipment and malware, involving chips, boards and devices.
