I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1252 To provide for certain construction-related authorities of the Department of State, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 23, 2021 Mr. MCCAUL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To provide for certain construction-related authorities of the Department of State, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Improving Embassy 4 Design and Security Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. STANDARD DESIGN IN CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION. 6 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 7 gress that the Department’s Bureau of Overseas Building 8 Operations (OBO) or successor office should give appro- 9 priate consideration to standardization in construction, in 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1252.IH H1252 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1252 IH which each new United States embassy and consulate 1 starts with a standard design and keeps customization to 2 a minimum. 3 (b) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary of State shall 4 carry out any new United States embassy compound or 5 new consulate compound project that utilizes a non-stand- 6 ard design, including those projects that are in the design 7 or pre-design phase as of the date of the enactment of 8 this Act, only in consultation with the appropriate con- 9 gressional committees. The Secretary shall provide the ap- 10 propriate congressional committees, for each such project, 11 the following documentation: 12 (1) A comparison of the estimated full lifecycle 13 costs of the project to the estimated full lifecycle 14 costs of such project if it were to use a standard de- 15 sign. 16 (2) A comparison of the estimated completion 17 date of such project to the estimated completion 18 date of such project if it were to use a standard de- 19 sign. 20 (3) A comparison of the security of the com- 21 pleted project to the security of such completed 22 project if it were to use a standard design. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1252.IH H1252 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1252 IH (4) A justification for the Secretary’s selection 1 of a non-standard design over a standard design for 2 such project. 3 (5) A written explanation if any of the docu- 4 mentation necessary to support the comparisons and 5 justification, as the case may be, described in para- 6 graphs (1) through (4) cannot be provided. 7 (c) SUNSET.—The consultation requirement under 8 subsection (b) shall expire on the date that is 4 years after 9 the date of the enactment of this Act. 10 SEC. 3. CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION TRANSPARENCY. 11 Section 118 of the Department of State Authorities 12 Act, Fiscal Year 2017 (22 U.S.C. 304) is amended— 13 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘AN- 14 NUAL REPORT ON EMBASSY CONSTRUCTION 15 COSTS’’ and inserting ‘‘BIANNUAL REPORT ON 16 OVERSEAS CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION 17 PROJECTS’’; and 18 (2) by striking subsections (a) and (b) and in- 19 serting the following new subsections: 20 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after 21 the date of the enactment of this subsection and every 180 22 days thereafter until the date that is four years after such 23 date of enactment, the Secretary of State shall submit to 24 the appropriate congressional committees a comprehensive 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1252.IH H1252 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1252 IH report regarding all ongoing overseas capital construction 1 projects and major embassy security upgrade projects. 2 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—Each report required under sub- 3 section (a) shall include the following with respect to each 4 ongoing overseas capital construction project and major 5 embassy security upgrade project: 6 ‘‘(1) The initial cost estimate as specified in the 7 proposed allocation of capital construction and main- 8 tenance funds required by the Committees on Appro- 9 priations for Acts making appropriations for the De- 10 partment of State, foreign operations, and related 11 programs. 12 ‘‘(2) The current cost estimate. 13 ‘‘(3) The value of each request for equitable ad- 14 justment received by the Department to date. 15 ‘‘(4) The value of each certified claim received 16 by the Department to date. 17 ‘‘(5) The value of any usage of the project’s 18 contingency fund to date and the value of the re- 19 mainder of the project’s contingency fund. 20 ‘‘(6) An enumerated list of each request for ad- 21 justment and certified claim that remains out- 22 standing or unresolved. 23 ‘‘(7) An enumerated list of each request for eq- 24 uitable adjustment and certified claim that has been 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1252.IH H1252 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1252 IH fully adjudicated or that the Department has settled, 1 and the final dollar amount of each adjudication or 2 settlement. 3 ‘‘(8) The date of estimated completion specified 4 in the proposed allocation of capital construction 5 and maintenance funds required by the Committees 6 on Appropriations not later than 45 days after the 7 date of the enactment of an Act making appropria- 8 tions for the Department of State, foreign oper- 9 ations, and related programs. 10 ‘‘(9) The current date of estimated comple- 11 tion.’’. 12 SEC. 4. CONTRACTOR PERFORMANCE INFORMATION. 13 (a) DEADLINE FOR COMPLETION.—The Secretary of 14 State shall complete all contractor performance evalua- 15 tions outstanding as of the date of the enactment of this 16 Act required by subpart 42.15 of the Federal Acquisition 17 Regulation for those contractors engaged in construction 18 of new embassy or new consulate compounds by April 1, 19 2022. 20 (b) PRIORITIZATION SYSTEM.— 21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 22 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 23 of State shall develop a prioritization system for 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1252.IH H1252 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1252 IH clearing the current backlog of required evaluations 1 referred to in subsection (a). 2 (2) ELEMENTS.—The system required under 3 paragraph (1) should prioritize the evaluations as 4 follows: 5 (A) Project completion evaluations should 6 be prioritized over annual evaluations. 7 (B) Evaluations for relatively large con- 8 tracts should have priority. 9 (C) Evaluations that would be particularly 10 informative for the awarding of government 11 contracts should have priority. 12 (c) BRIEFING.—Not later than 90 days after the date 13 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall 14 brief the appropriate congressional committees on the De- 15 partment’s plan for completing all evaluations by October 16 1, 2021, in accordance with subsection (a) and the 17 prioritization system developed pursuant to subsection (b). 18 (d) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 19 gress that— 20 (1) contractors deciding whether to bid on De- 21 partment contracts would benefit from greater un- 22 derstanding of the Department as a client; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1252.IH H1252 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1252 IH (2) the Department should develop a forum 1 where contractors can comment on the Department’s 2 project management performance. 3 SEC. 5. GROWTH PROJECTIONS FOR NEW EMBASSIES AND 4 CONSULATES. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—For each new United States em- 6 bassy compound (NEC) and new consulate compound 7 project (NCC) in or not yet in the design phase as of the 8 date of the enactment of this Act, the Department of State 9 shall project growth over the estimated life of the facility 10 using all available and relevant data, including the fol- 11 lowing: 12 (1) Relevant historical trends for Department 13 personnel and personnel from other agencies rep- 14 resented at the NEC or NCC that is to be con- 15 structed. 16 (2) An analysis of the tradeoffs between risk 17 and the needs of United States Government policy 18 conducted as part of the most recent Vital Presence 19 Validation Process, if applicable. 20 (3) Reasonable assumptions about the strategic 21 importance of the NEC or NCC, as the case may be, 22 over the life of the building at issue. 23 (4) Any other data that would be helpful in pro- 24 jecting the future growth of NEC or NCC. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1252.IH H1252 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1252 IH (b) OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES.—The head of each 1 Federal agency represented at a United States embassy 2 or consulate shall provide to the Secretary, upon request, 3 growth projections for the personnel of each such agency 4 over the estimated life of each embassy or consulate, as 5 the case may be. 6 (c) BASIS FOR ESTIMATES.—The Department of 7 State shall base its growth assumption for all NECs and 8 NCCs on the estimates required under subsections (a) and 9 (b). 10 (d) CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATION.—Any congres- 11 sional notification of site selection for a NEC or NCC sub- 12 mitted after the date of the enactment of this Act shall 13 include the growth assumption used pursuant to sub- 14 section (c). 15 SEC. 6. LONG-RANGE PLANNING PROCESS. 16 (a) PLANS REQUIRED.— 17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 18 after the date of the enactment of this Act and an- 19 nually thereafter for the next five years as the Sec- 20 retary of State considers appropriate, the Secretary 21 shall develop— 22 (A) a comprehensive 6-year plan docu- 23 menting the Department’s overseas building 24 program for the replacement of overseas diplo- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1252.IH H1252 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 1252 IH matic posts taking into account security factors 1 under the Secure Embassy Construction and 2 Counterterrorism Act of 1999 and other rel- 3 evant statutes and regulations, as well as occu- 4 pational safety and health factors pursuant to 5 the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 6 1970 and other relevant statutes and regula- 7 tions, including environmental factors such as 8 indoor air quality that impact employee health 9 and safety; and 10 (B) a comprehensive 6-year plan detailing 11 the Department’s long-term planning for the 12 maintenance and sustainment of completed dip- 13 lomatic posts, which takes into account security 14 factors under the Secure Embassy Construction 15 and Counterterrorism Act of 1999 and other 16 relevant statutes and regulations, as well as oc- 17 cupational safety and health factors pursuant to 18 the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 19 1970 and other relevant statutes and regula- 20 tions, including environmental factors such as 21 indoor air quality that impact employee health 22 and safety. 23 (2) INITIAL REPORT.—The first plan developed 24 pursuant to paragraph (1)(A) shall also include a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1252.IH H1252 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 1252 IH one-time status report on existing small diplomatic 1 posts and a strategy for establishing a physical dip- 2 lomatic presence in countries in which there is no 3 current physical diplomatic presence and with which 4 the United States maintains diplomatic relations. 5 Such report, which may include a classified annex, 6 shall include the following: 7 (A) A description of the extent to which 8 each small diplomatic post furthers the national 9 interest of the United States. 10 (B) A description of how each small diplo- 11 matic post provides American Citizen Services, 12 including data on specific services provided and 13 the number of Americans receiving services over 14 the previous year. 15 (C) A description of whether each small 16 diplomatic post meets current security require- 17 ments. 18 (D) A description of the full financial cost 19 of maintaining each small diplomatic post. 20 (E) Input from the relevant chiefs of mis- 21 sion on any unique operational or policy value 22 the small diplomatic post provides. 23 (F) A recommendation of whether any 24 small diplomatic posts should be closed. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1252.IH H1252 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 1252 IH (3) UPDATED INFORMATION.—The annual up- 1 dates of each of the plans developed pursuant to 2 paragraph (1) shall highlight any changes from the 3 previous year’s plan to the ordering of construction 4 and maintenance projects. 5 (b) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 6 (1) SUBMISSION OF PLANS TO CONGRESS.—Not 7 later than 60 days after the completion of each plan 8 required under subsection (a), the Secretary of State 9 shall submit the plans to the appropriate congres- 10 sional committees. 11 (2) REFERENCE IN BUDGET JUSTIFICATION 12 MATERIALS.—In the budget justification materials 13 submitted to the appropriate congressional commit- 14 tees in support of the Department of State’s budget 15 for any fiscal year (as submitted with the budget of 16 the President under section 1105(a) of title 31, 17 United States Code), the plans required under sub- 18 section (a) shall be referenced to justify funding re- 19 quested for building and maintenance projects over- 20 seas. 21 (3) FORM OF REPORT.—Each report required 22 under paragraph (1) shall be submitted in unclassi- 23 fied form but may include a classified annex. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1252.IH H1252 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 1252 IH (c) SMALL DIPLOMATIC POST DEFINED.—In this 1 section, the term ‘‘small diplomatic post’’ means any 2 United States embassy or consulate that has employed five 3 or fewer United States Government employees or contrac- 4 tors on average over the 36 months prior to the date of 5 the enactment of this Act. 6 SEC. 7. VALUE ENGINEERING AND RISK ASSESSMENT. 7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find- 8 ings: 9 (1) Federal departments and agencies are re- 10 quired to use value engineering (VE) as a manage- 11 ment tool, where appropriate, to reduce program and 12 acquisition costs pursuant to OMB Circular A–131, 13 Value Engineering, dated D [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]