Regulators to discuss how to get authentic IT

Government officials want to meet with industry to discuss reasonable ways to ensure the government buys authentic information technology products, according to a Federal Register notice.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council are hosting six public meetings this summer, and according to the notice published June 3, people in the meetings will discuss:

• The effects of counterfeit IT products on performance and security.
• Contractor liability.
• Competition between the original manufacturer and authorized distributor.
• Identifying reasonable means to authenticate IT products.
• Contractors' supply chain risk management requirements as an evaluation factor in the procurement of IT products.

The meeting dates are June 23, July 15, July 22, July 29, Aug. 5 and Aug. 12

The meetings will be held at 9 a.m. at the General Services Administration headquarters in Washington.

Acquisition officials have been considering ways to tighten the controls on their IT contractors’ global supply chains to improve security and reduce the amount of counterfeit products.

Officials, who are in the preliminary stages of writing regulations on the authenticity issue, held a meeting with industry in December. An underlying theme of the discussion was an old debate about whether to award contracts based on the lowest bid or the best value.