[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1282 Introduced in House (IH)]
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115th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1282
To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish Acquisition
Review Boards in the Department of Homeland Security, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 1, 2017
Mr. Garrett (for himself and Mr. McCaul) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish Acquisition
Review Boards in the Department of Homeland Security, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``DHS Acquisition Review Board Act of
2017''.
SEC. 2. ACQUISITION REVIEW BOARD.
(a) In General.--Subtitle D of title VIII of the Homeland Security
Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 391 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the
following new section:
``SEC. 836. ACQUISITION REVIEW BOARD.
``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall establish an Acquisition
Review Board (in this section referred to as the `Board') to--
``(1) strengthen accountability and uniformity within the
Department acquisition review process;
``(2) review major acquisition programs; and
``(3) review the use of best practices.
``(b) Composition.--The Under Secretary for Management shall serve
as chair of the Board. The Secretary shall also ensure participation by
other relevant Department officials, including at least two component
heads or their designees, as permanent members of the Board.
``(c) Meetings.--The Board shall meet regularly for purposes of
ensuring all acquisitions processes proceed in a timely fashion to
achieve mission readiness. The Board shall convene at the Secretary's
discretion and at any time--
``(1) a major acquisition program--
``(A) requires authorization to proceed from one
acquisition decision event to another throughout the
acquisition life cycle;
``(B) is in breach of its approved requirements; or
``(C) requires additional review, as determined by
the Under Secretary for Management; or
``(2) a non-major acquisition program requires review, as
determined by the Under Secretary for Management.
``(d) Responsibilities.--The responsibilities of the Board are as
follows:
``(1) Determine whether a proposed acquisition has met the
requirements of key phases of the acquisition life cycle
framework and is able to proceed to the next phase and eventual
full production and deployment.
``(2) Oversee whether a proposed acquisition's business
strategy, resources, management, and accountability is
executable and is aligned to strategic initiatives.
``(3) Support the person with acquisition decision
authority for an acquisition in determining the appropriate
direction for such acquisition at key acquisition decision
events.
``(4) Conduct systematic reviews of acquisitions to ensure
that such acquisitions are progressing in compliance with the
approved documents for their current acquisition phases.
``(5) Review the acquisition documents of each major
acquisition program, including the acquisition program baseline
and documentation reflecting consideration of tradeoffs among
cost, schedule, and performance objectives, to ensure the
reliability of underlying data.
``(6) Ensure that practices are adopted and implemented to
require consideration of trade-offs among cost, schedule, and
performance objectives as part of the process for developing
requirements for major acquisition programs prior to the
initiation of the second acquisition decision event, including,
at a minimum, the following practices:
``(A) Department officials responsible for
acquisition, budget, and cost estimating functions are
provided with the appropriate opportunity to develop
estimates and raise cost and schedule matters before
performance objectives are established for capabilities
when feasible.
``(B) Full consideration is given to possible
trade-offs among cost, schedule, and performance
objectives for each alternative.
``(e) Acquisition Program Baseline Report Requirement.--If the
person exercising acquisition decision authority over a major
acquisition program approves such program to proceed into the planning
phase before such program has a Department-approved acquisition program
baseline, the Under Secretary for Management shall create and approve
an acquisition program baseline report regarding such approval, and the
Secretary shall--
``(1) within seven days after an acquisition decision
memorandum is signed, notify in writing the Committee on
Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and the
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the
Senate of such decision; and
``(2) within 60 days after the acquisition decision
memorandum is signed, submit to such committees a report
stating the rationale for such decision and a plan of action to
require an acquisition program baseline for such program.
``(f) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Acquisition.--The term `acquisition' has the meaning
given such term in section 131 of title 41, United States Code.
``(2) Acquisition decision authority.--The term
`acquisition decision authority' means the authority, held by
the Secretary acting through the Deputy Secretary or Under
Secretary for Management to--
``(A) ensure compliance with Federal law, the
Federal Acquisition Regulation, and Department
acquisition management directives;
``(B) review (including approving, pausing,
modifying, or cancelling) an acquisition program
through the life cycle of such program;
``(C) ensure that acquisition program managers have
the resources necessary to successfully execute an
approved acquisition program;
``(D) ensure good acquisition program management of
cost, schedule, risk, and system performance of the
acquisition program at issue, including assessing
acquisition program baseline breaches and directing any
corrective action for such breaches; and
``(E) ensure that acquisition program managers, on
an ongoing basis, monitor cost, schedule, and
performance against established baselines and use tools
to assess risks to an acquisition program at all phases
of the life cycle of such program to avoid and mitigate
acquisition program baseline breaches.
``(3) Acquisition decision event.--The term `acquisition
decision event', with respect to an acquisition program, means
a predetermined point within each of the acquisition phases at
which the acquisition decision authority determines whether
such acquisition program shall proceed to the next acquisition
phase.
``(4) Acquisition decision memorandum.--The term
`acquisition decision memorandum', with respect to an
acquisition, means the official acquisition decision event
record that includes a documented record of decisions, exit
criteria, and assigned actions for such acquisition, as
determined by the person exercising acquisition decision
authority for such acquisition.
``(5) Acquisition program.--The term `acquisition program'
means the process by which the Department acquires, with any
appropriated amounts, by contract for purchase or lease,
property or services (including construction) that support the
missions and goals of the Department.
``(6) Acquisition program baseline.--The term `acquisition
program baseline', with respect to an acquisition program,
means a summary of the cost, schedule, and performance
parameters, expressed in standard, measurable, quantitative
terms, which must be met in order to accomplish the goals of
such program.
``(7) Best practices.--The term `best practices', with
respect to acquisition, means a knowledge-based approach to
capability development that includes--
``(A) identifying and validating needs;
``(B) assessing alternatives to select the most
appropriate solution;
``(C) clearly establishing well-defined
requirements;
``(D) developing realistic cost assessments and
schedules;
``(E) securing stable funding that matches
resources to requirements;
``(F) demonstrating technology, design, and
manufacturing maturity;
``(G) using milestones and exit criteria or
specific accomplishments that demonstrate progress;
``(H) adopting and executing standardized processes
with known success across programs;
``(I) establishing an adequate workforce that is
qualified and sufficient to perform necessary
functions; and
``(J) integrating the capabilities described in
subparagraphs (A) through (I) into the Department's
mission and business operations.
``(8) Major acquisition program.--The term `major
acquisition program' means a Department acquisition program
that is estimated by the Secretary to require an eventual total
expenditure of at least $300,000,000 (based on fiscal year 2017
constant dollars) over its life cycle cost.''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section 1(b) of
the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 101 et seq.) is further
amended by adding after the item relating to section 835 the following
new item:
``Sec. 836. Acquisition Review Board.''.
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