DoD Can Exclude Contractors Based on Supply Chain Security
The Defense Department may now officials exclude contractors or subcontractors from receiving information technology contracts based on the risk their supply chain poses to national security systems, Fierce Government reports.
This authority comes from earlier national defense authorization bills, and it expires in September 2018. An interim rule from DoD says that the authority applies to the acquisition of any IT product or service, including commercial items, as long as the contractor in question operates a supply chain that poses a significant risk to a particular national security system. The rule also specifies that the exclusion clause can only apply to national security systems, and then only to items “the loss of integrity of which could result in a supply chain risk to the entire system.”