Federal Acquisition Security Council would get ‘teeth’ under bipartisan House bill
The Federal Acquisition Security Council would be empowered to better protect the federal supply chain from adversarial technology companies and products under a new bipartisan bill from a quartet of House lawmakers.
The Federal Acquisition Security Council Improvement Act of 2024 — from Reps. James Comer, R-Ky. and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the chair and ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and Reps. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., chair and ranking member of the chamber’s Select Committee on the CCP — would improve the council’s abilities to safeguard the federal supply chain by excluding or expelling entities “owned or controlled by a foreign adversary” from federal information systems.
Comer said in a press release that the bill equips the council with “teeth” by allowing it to issue binding removal and exclusion orders through a standardized process from Congress, while also expanding the focus of the FASC to “include acquisition more broadly.” Part of that expanded focus would include acquisition security at large and a requirement of the council to “proactively monitor and evaluate certain covered articles for ongoing risk.”
“We have bipartisan consensus that protecting our nation’s supply chains is key to national security,” Raskin said in the release. “This legislation takes an important step to protecting the federal government against the purchase of products and services from our foreign adversaries. It will help address any vulnerabilities in our technology infrastructure and guard against national security threats.”
The council itself would undergo changes in membership and administrative location pending passage of the legislation. The bill would move the council to the White House’s Office of the National Cyber Director to provide “operational, legal and policy support.” According to the bill’s text, the program office would provide the council with “analysis and subject matter expertise on information communications technology acquisition security” and supply chain risk.
Additionally, membership from the council would include officials from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the General Services Administration, ONCD and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Officials who are granted membership must “have expertise in supply chain management, acquisitions, law or information and communications technology,” according to the bill’s text.
