Legislation to bolster national security by keeping adversarial technology out of Federal government supply chains is headed to the Senate after passing the House on Nov. 12.
The Federal Acquisition Security Council Improvement Act of 2024 seeks to expand and strengthen the interagency Federal Acquisition Security Council (FASC) – established under the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act of 2018 to improve the security and resiliency of the Federal government’s supply chains.
The act would help keep entities backed by foreign adversaries – including North Korea, Iran, China, and Russia – out of supply chains by excluding them from procurement processes or removing them from Federal information systems after issuing binding orders.
The legislation also would move the FASC to the White House’s Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) and add membership requirements.
Currently, the council is chaired by a senior member of the Office of Management and Budget, but under the new legislation it would fall under the leadership of ONCD’s director or the director’s designee. Additional members of the council required by the legislation include officials from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the General Services Administration, ONCD, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Members of the council must also “have expertise in supply chain management, acquisitions, law or information and communications technology,” according to the bill’s language.
“This bipartisan bill provides the Federal Acquisition Security Council with the teeth and resources it needs to protect the federal supply chain from technology companies and products owned or controlled by a foreign adversary,” Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said in a statement this September after the legislation passed the Committee on Oversight and Accountability., which he chairs.
The legislation cleared the committee by a vote of 39-0, and was introduced by committee Chairman Comer, Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill.
