US Embassy Requires Hikvision Cameras

Published Aug 29, 2016 15:50 PM
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The US Embassy in Kabul Afghanistan has required only Hikvision cameras in a new US federal government bid.

However:

Quiz: See how well you know the relationship between Hikvision and the Chinese government with this 5 question quiz.

Bid Requirement Hikvision

The US federal bid calls for:

And only Hikvision will be accepted:

bids containing substitutions will be viewed as UNACCEPTABLE. If you are not able to deliver the line item as requested, DO NOT BID.

The cameras required are $100 - $150 commercial EXIR models:

Those cameras are solid commercial offerings (see our Hikvision EXIR test results) common in small to medium sized businesses but, even without the Chinese government ownership, are a strange choice for the high standards of sole source justification for federal facilities.

But the US government has filed a request for that with no meaningful visible defense:


On the positive side for Hikvision, it is a great endorsement for them and their massively growing US sales and marketing organization to get locked in to US federal installations. 

On the other hand, it is a risk for the US government to be deploying Chinese government controlled surveillance cameras into high security federal facilities.

UPDATE Nov 2016

The State Department has cancelled this procurement and removed Hikvision cameras from this US embassy.

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