National Defense Authorization Act
On January 1, 2021, the National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) for Fiscal Year (“FY”) 2021 became law (
Public Law 116-283), marking the 60th straight year of the NDAA’s passage into law. The President vetoed the bill on December 23, 2020 as was widely expected. The President had long threatened to veto the bill if it did not include a repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which prevents social media websites from being held liable for users’ comments. On December 28, 2020, the House voted 322-87 to override the President’s veto. The Senate followed suit and voted 81-13 to override the veto on January 1, 2021. This law contains several provisions that significantly impact government contractors, which are summarized below:
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The Department of Defense (DoD) issued a final rule on Covered Telecommunications Equipment or Services that implements Section 1656 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (Pub. L. 115-91).
The regulations promulgated under the rule prohibit DoD from buying any equipment, system or service that uses certain Chinese or Russian telecommunications equipment or services in connection with DoD s nuclear deterrence and homeland defense missions. According to DoD, this will increase the security of systems and critical technology, and is structured to align with the broader, government-wide implementation of Section 889(a)(1)(A) (Section 889 Part A) of the FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act in the Federal Acquisition Regulation.