FCC: Applications for funds to replace Chinese comms kit lack evidence

The saga of the US government's plan to rip and replace China-made communications kit from the country's networks has a new twist: following reports that applications for funding far outstripped the cash set aside, it appears two-thirds of such applications lack adequate cost estimates or sufficient supporting evidence. The US …

[Mike 137]

"two-thirds of such applications lack adequate cost estimates or sufficient supporting evidence"

The "fake it 'till you make it" brigade. Exactly what happened in the UK in respect of covid PPE - and we spent billions on useless stuff that had to be incinerated.

[Paul Kinsler]

Re: The "fake it 'till you make it" brigade.

Or, less cynically, and at least in part, the result of many organizations - which might well be entirely unused to the required bureaucracy and form-filling - trying to conform to unfamiliar processes, and simply making a hash of it.

[VoiceOfTruth]

The rest of the world

Needs to wake up, and have a rip out all American equipment. It is full of backdoors and spy holes.

[ecofeco]

Obvious money grab

Is obvious.

[Paul Hovnanian]

"a lack of adequate cost estimates or sufficient supporting materials to justify the amount of funding being requested"

So, am I correct in assuming that this equipment hasn't been replaced yet? Otherwise it would be a simple matter of submitting a box full of receipts and asking for reimbursement.

[DevOpsTimothyC]

An invoice should be enough

I'd take it one step further,

If the FCC want me to replace a piece of kit and I am saying it will cost too much, I should be able to send the FCC the details (including serial number) of the piece of kit that needs replacing along with the invoice for it's replacement.

If the FCC pay the invoice I get a nice new shiny toy delivered and I just need to schedule replacement of the old with the new. It's up to the FCC to determine if the nice new shiny kit is an appropriate replacement for the old equipment.

With the make, model and serial number of the old equipment the FCC should be able to determine if it's a reasonable replacement and I'm not trying to swap an 8 port 10/100 Netgear switch for a 6U 10GB Cisco switch/router

[martinusher]

Well, you put this bucket full of cash with a sign saying "Free Money" at the garden gate.

Then you're surprised that it gets descended upon. Who could have thought that this would happen?

The whole motivation behind "rip and replace" was political grandstanding. The policy was never thought through -- which kit, how much of it, replaced with what and so on. Like everything else, it was noise for the base to lap up, with no thought for the consequences from politicians and public alike.