TikTok Notification to HUD Industry Partners (041723).pdf

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Washington, D.C. 20410

CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER

1 https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/2617

Dear Contractor, I am writing to all contractors doing business with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under an active contract to remind you of a requirement contained in all HUD contracts that you must be fully aware of as it relates to the recent enactment of the No TikTok on Government Devices Act (“the Act”)1. TikTok is a software application owned and operated by ByteDance Limited (“Bytedance”), a privately held company headquartered in Beijing, China.

All HUD contracts contain the Agency-Specific clause AS-2315, Cybersecurity and

Privacy Requirements (eff. APRIL 2022). You should review this clause to ensure you are compliant and note Item #3 which states the following:

“The Contractor shall use, maintain, enhance, develop, and upgrade all information technology software and system documentation under this contract in accordance with Federal Laws, Regulations, NIST guidance (https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/sp) and HUD Policies.”

In short, this clause applies to your contract and requires you to comply with the Act, which requires the removal of “the social networking service TikTok or any successor application or service of TikTok developed or provided by ByteDance Limited or an entity owned by ByteDance Limited (“covered application”) as that term is defined in 40 U.S.C.

§ 11101(6) which is used in performance of Federal contract services.”

This notification is being sent to ensure your awareness of this newly enacted Federal law and your compliance with the Act as required by aforementioned clause in your HUD contract.

Please take steps to remove this application or service from any devices being used for contract performance and note that HUD is already taking steps to ensure removal from HUD-furnished devices. If you wish to request an exception to this requirement, please contact your contracting officer immediately.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/2617 https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/sp https://www.hud.gov/sites/dfiles/OCHCO/documents/240025CIOH.pdf

We appreciate the support that you provide toward fulfilling the important missions of the Department. If you have any questions, please contact your assigned contracting officer directly. Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely, Jimmy Fleming-Scott, Gregg R. Kendrick, Chief Procurement Officer Chief Information Security Officer