August 14, 2023

No TikTok on Government Devices Federal Contracts & FAR 52.204-27

The Department of Defense (DoD), General Services Administration (GSA), and NASA have issued an interim rule for federal contracts that prohibits the presence or use of ByteDance applications or services, including the social networking service TikTok, by federal contractors. This interim rule applies to federal contracts awarded or modified on or after June 2, 2023.

When the FAR clause (FAR 52.204-27) is incorporated into the contract terms, this ban applies not only to equipment owned by the UW and used on the project, but also any personal devices contractors may use when carrying out the project. We highly recommend that Principal Investigators working on a federal contract with the clause inform their research teams (including students), to avoid using their personal devices for UW business pertaining to these federal contracts. This includes emails, calls, texts, viewing data, or any project-related activity performed with their personal devices.

UW systems, equipment and technology do not have the barred software or services installed. We recommend strict use of UW-owned systems, equipment and technology for any project that includes this ban.

If this poses a practical difficulty, another option to adhere to this requirement is to ask individuals who may use a personal device for the federal contract- related activity to uninstall the TikTok app (or any other ByteDance app/service) from that personal device for the duration of the contract on which they participate.

OSP and OR continue to monitor the issuance of the final rule, at which time further guidance may be provided.