Mace Probes Illegal GSA Purchase of Telecomm Equipment Made in China

The procurement violated the Trade Agreements Act, according to the IG

WASHINGTON— Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Chairwoman Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) is investigating the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) procurement of videoconference cameras manufactured in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), in violation of the Trade Agreements Act (TAA) of 1979. In a letter to GSA Chief Information Officer David Shive, Chairwoman Mace requests additional information and relevant documents to assist in oversight efforts in advance of an anticipated subcommittee hearing on February 29, 2024.

“The Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation is conducting oversight of the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) procurement of items manufactured in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in violation of the Trade Agreements Act (TAA) of 1979, and in a manner that ignored vulnerabilities known to the federal government,” wrote Subcommittee Chairwoman Mace. “This procurement is especially concerning given GSA’s broader procurement footprint within the federal government.”

On January 23, 2024, the GSA Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued an audit report that found GSA had purchased 150 videoconference cameras manufactured in the PRC in violation of the TAA. The TAA requires the federal government to only purchase goods manufactured in the U.S. or a TAA-designated country. The PRC is not a TAA designated country. The cameras purchased by GSA were manufactured in the PRC. Specific findings in the audit report raise additional questions. Most alarmingly, the GSA contracting officer who bought the cameras told the OIG she did so based on “egregiously flawed information” provided to her by her own colleagues within GSA, whose multiple misrepresentations to the contracting officer included a false attestation that no TAA-compliant cameras were available for purchase.

“The OIG report would be troubling enough if the buyer were any federal agency. But GSA is not any federal agency; it is the federal government’s purchasing agent, buying tens of billions of dollars of information technology products and services annually on behalf of other agencies through the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) vehicles administered by GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS),” continued Subcommittee Chairwoman Mace.

Read the full letter to GSA CIO David Shive here.