Department of Veterans Affairs Information Technology Reform Act of 2022

117TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 2250 AN ACT To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the management of information technology projects and in- vestments of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 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 2 •HR 2250 EH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of Vet- 2 erans Affairs Information Technology Reform Act of 3 2022’’. 4 SEC. 2. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS AND AC- 5 TIVITIES. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 81 of title 38, United 7 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 8 lowing new subchapter: 9 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER VI—INFORMATION 10 TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES 11 ‘‘§ 8171. Definitions 12 ‘‘In this subchapter: 13 ‘‘(1) The term ‘appropriate congressional com- 14 mittees’ means— 15 ‘‘(A) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 16 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 17 Senate; and 18 ‘‘(B) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 19 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 20 House of Representatives. 21 ‘‘(2) The term ‘information technology’ has the 22 meaning given that term in section 11101 of title 23 40. 24 ‘‘(3)(A) The term ‘information technology 25 project’ means a project or program of the Depart- 26 3 •HR 2250 EH ment (including a project or program of any element 1 of the Department) for, or including, the acquisition 2 or implementation of information technology. 3 ‘‘(B) In cases where the Secretary transmits to 4 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg- 5 et information regarding information technology in- 6 vestments, which may consist of individual or mul- 7 tiple projects, the term ‘information technology 8 project’ refers to an individual project or program or 9 a grouping of multiple projects or programs result- 10 ing in the acquisition or implementation of discrete 11 information technology. 12 ‘‘(4) The term ‘life cycle costs’ means all direct 13 and indirect costs to acquire, implement, operate, 14 and maintain information technology, including with 15 respect to costs of any element of the Department. 16 ‘‘(5) The term ‘major information technology 17 project’ means an information technology project 18 if— 19 ‘‘(A) the project is designated by the Sec- 20 retary, the Chief Information Officer of the De- 21 partment, or the Director of the Office of Man- 22 agement and Budget as a major information 23 technology investment, as defined in section 24 11302 of title 40; or 25 4 •HR 2250 EH ‘‘(B) the dollar value of the project is esti- 1 mated by the Secretary to exceed— 2 ‘‘(i) $1,000,000,000 (as adjusted for 3 inflation pursuant to section 1908 of title 4 41) for the total life cycle costs of the 5 project; or 6 ‘‘(ii) $200,000,000 (as adjusted for 7 inflation pursuant to section 1908 of title 8 41) annually. 9 ‘‘(6) The term ‘business owner’ means, with re- 10 spect to an information technology project, the pro- 11 gram manager, project manager, or other super- 12 visory official of the Department responsible for the 13 project. 14 ‘‘§ 8172. Management of major information tech- 15 nology projects 16 ‘‘(a) COST, SCHEDULE, AND PERFORMANCE INFOR- 17 MATION.—(1) The Secretary, acting through the Chief In- 18 formation Officer of the Department, shall submit to the 19 appropriate congressional committees a report containing 20 information on the cost, schedule, and performance of 21 each major information technology project that begins 22 after the date of the enactment of the Department of Vet- 23 erans Affairs Information Technology Reform Act of 24 5 •HR 2250 EH 2022, as generated by the business owner of the project, 1 prior to the commencement of such project. 2 ‘‘(2) Each report submitted under paragraph (1) for 3 a project shall include, with respect to such project, the 4 following: 5 ‘‘(A) An estimate of acquisition costs, imple- 6 mentation costs, and life cycle costs. 7 ‘‘(B) An intended implementation schedule indi- 8 cating significant milestones, initial operating capa- 9 bility, and full operating capability or completion. 10 ‘‘(C) Key business, functional, and performance 11 objectives. 12 ‘‘(b) BASELINE.—(1) The Secretary shall use the in- 13 formation on the cost, schedule, and performance of a 14 major information technology project included in the re- 15 port under subsection (a) as the baseline against which 16 changes or variances are measured during the life cycle 17 of such project. 18 ‘‘(2) The Secretary shall— 19 ‘‘(A) annually update the baseline of a major 20 information technology project pursuant to sub- 21 section (c); and 22 ‘‘(B) include such updated baseline in the docu- 23 ments providing detailed information on the budget 24 for the Department that the Secretary submits to 25 6 •HR 2250 EH Congress in conjunction with the President’s budget 1 submission pursuant to section 1105 of title 31. 2 ‘‘(c) CHANGES AND VARIANCES.—(1) Not later than 3 60 days after the date on which the Secretary identifies 4 a change or variance described in paragraph (2) in the 5 cost, schedule, or performance of a major information 6 technology project, the Secretary, acting through the Chief 7 Information Officer, shall submit to the appropriate con- 8 gressional committees a notification of such change or 9 variance, including a description and explanation for such 10 change or variance. 11 ‘‘(2) A change or variance in the cost, schedule, or 12 performance of a major information technology project de- 13 scribed in this paragraph is— 14 ‘‘(A) with respect to the acquisition, implemen- 15 tation, or life cycle cost of the project, or develop- 16 ment increment therein, a change or variance that is 17 10 percent or greater compared to the baseline; 18 ‘‘(B) with respect to the schedule for a develop- 19 ment increment or for achieving a significant mile- 20 stone, initial operating capability, or full operating 21 capability, or for the final completion of the project, 22 a change or variance that is 180 days or greater 23 compared to the baseline; or 24 7 •HR 2250 EH ‘‘(C) with respect to the performance, an in- 1 stance where a key business, functional, or perform- 2 ance objective is not attained, or is not anticipated 3 to be attained, in whole or in part. 4 ‘‘(d) MANAGEMENT.—The Secretary shall ensure 5 that each major information technology project is man- 6 aged by an interdisciplinary team consisting of the fol- 7 lowing: 8 ‘‘(1) A project manager who— 9 ‘‘(A)(i) is certified in project management 10 at level three by— 11 ‘‘(I) the Department; 12 ‘‘(II) the Federal Acquisition Institute 13 pursuant to section 1201 of title 41; or 14 ‘‘(III) the Department of Defense 15 pursuant to section 1701a of title 10; or 16 ‘‘(ii) holds an equivalent certification by a 17 private sector project management certification 18 organization, as determined appropriate by the 19 Secretary; and 20 ‘‘(B) is an employee of the Office of Infor- 21 mation and Technology of the Department or 22 an employee of an element of the Department 23 at which the project originates. 24 8 •HR 2250 EH ‘‘(2) A functional lead who is an employee of 1 the element of the Department at which the project 2 originates. 3 ‘‘(3) A technical lead who is an employee of the 4 Office of Information and Technology of the Depart- 5 ment. 6 ‘‘(4) A contracting officer. 7 ‘‘(5) Sufficient other project management, func- 8 tional, technical, and procurement personnel as the 9 Secretary determines appropriate. 10 ‘‘§ 8173. Information technology activities of the Fi- 11 nancial Services Center 12 ‘‘(a) MANAGEMENT.—Consistent with sections 11302 13 and 11319 of title 40— 14 ‘‘(1) the Chief Information Officer of the De- 15 partment shall— 16 ‘‘(A) exercise authority over the manage- 17 ment, governance, and oversight processes relat- 18 ing to existing or proposed information tech- 19 nology of the Financial Services Center of the 20 Department, or such successor office; and 21 ‘‘(B) supervise the information technology 22 employees and contractors of the Financial 23 Services Center; and 24 9 •HR 2250 EH ‘‘(2) the Director of the Financial Services Cen- 1 ter of the Department, or the head of such successor 2 office, may not enter into a contract or other agree- 3 ment for information technology or information tech- 4 nology services unless the contract or other agree- 5 ment has been reviewed and approved by the Chief 6 Information Officer. 7 ‘‘(b) OVERSIGHT.—The Chief Information Officer 8 shall have oversight and operational authority over all in- 9 formation security practices of the Financial Services Cen- 10 ter of the Department. 11 ‘‘§ 8174. Submission of annual reviews of information 12 technology 13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 14 the Chief Information Officer of the Department, shall 15 submit to the appropriate congressional committees each 16 annual review of the information technology portfolio of 17 the Department conducted pursuant to section 18 11319(d)(3) of title 40. 19 ‘‘(b) FIRST SUBMISSION.—The first annual review 20 submitted under subsection (a) shall include a copy of 21 each previous annual review conducted under section 22 11319(d)(3) of title 40. 23 10 •HR 2250 EH ‘‘§ 8175. Information technology matters to be in- 1 cluded in budget justification materials 2 for the Department 3 ‘‘(a) LIST OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS 4 IN EFFECT.—The Secretary shall ensure that whenever 5 the budget justification materials are submitted to Con- 6 gress in support of the Department budget for a fiscal 7 year (as submitted with the budget of the President for 8 such fiscal year under section 1105(a) of title 31), such 9 budget justification materials include a list of every infor- 10 mation technology project currently in effect at the De- 11 partment (including not only congressional projects and 12 subprojects as determined by the Director of the Office 13 of Management and Budget or the Secretary). 14 ‘‘(b) PRIORITIZED LIST OF UNFUNDED PROJECTS.— 15 (1) In addition to the list included in the budget justifica- 16 tion materials required by subsection (a), the Secretary 17 shall ensure that the budget justification materials de- 18 scribed in such subsection also include summary descrip- 19 tions and a prioritized list, in rank order, of every informa- 20 tion technology project of the Department, proposed or in- 21 tended to be proposed for the following one, two, or three 22 fiscal years, that is unfunded as of the time of the inclu- 23 sion of the list under this paragraph. 24 ‘‘(2) In producing the list required by paragraph (1), 25 the Secretary shall— 26 11 •HR 2250 EH ‘‘(A) ensure such list represents a ranking of all 1 proposed information technology projects that re- 2 flects the needs of all elements of the Department; 3 ‘‘(B) produce one unified list for the entire De- 4 partment demonstrating how the various proposed 5 information technology projects of each of the ele- 6 ments of the Department rank in priority with the 7 information technology projects of the other ele- 8 ments of the Department; and 9 ‘‘(C) ensure that the list— 10 ‘‘(i) does not disaggregate and rank infor- 11 mation technology projects based on element of 12 the Department; and 13 ‘‘(ii) does identify the element of the De- 14 partment requesting the information technology 15 project. 16 ‘‘(3)(A) In producing each list under paragraph (1), 17 the Secretary shall prioritize and rank each information 18 technology project based on an assessment of each of the 19 following factors: 20 ‘‘(i) Degree of collaboration between business 21 owners and the Chief Information Officer with re- 22 spect to joint functional-technical planning, require- 23 ments, and management. 24 12 •HR 2250 EH ‘‘(ii) Operational or efficiency benefits to em- 1 ployees of the Department created or produced by 2 the information technology project. 3 ‘‘(iii) The life cycle cost of the information tech- 4 nology project. 5 ‘‘(iv) The cost savings or cost avoidance yielded 6 by the information technology project. 7 ‘‘(v) Time to completion of the information 8 technology project. 9 ‘‘(vi) The difficulty of the information tech- 10 nology project, the likelihood the information tech- 11 nology project will be completed, or the risks associ- 12 ated with undertaking the information technology 13 project. 14 ‘‘(vii) Tangible benefits to veterans created or 15 produced by the information technology project. 16 ‘‘(viii) Such other factors as the Secretary con- 17 siders appropriate. 18 ‘‘(B) The Secretary shall ensure that each list pro- 19 duced under paragraph (1) includes, for each information 20 technology project included in the list, a brief description 21 of the findings of the Secretary with respect to each as- 22 sessment carried out by the Secretary for each factor for 23 the information technology project under subparagraph 24 (A). 25 13 •HR 2250 EH ‘‘(c) PROJECTED FUNDING NEEDS.—(1) In addition 1 to the matters included under subsections (a) and (b), the 2 Secretary shall ensure that the budget justification mate- 3 rials described in subsection (a) also include a projection 4 of the one-year, two-year, and three-year funding needs 5 of the Department for information technology, 6 disaggregated by— 7 ‘‘(A) portfolio; and 8 ‘‘(B) the product line of the Department that 9 requires the funding. 10 ‘‘(2) In addition to the projections under paragraph 11 (1), with respect to each of the periods set forth in such 12 paragraph, the Secretary shall include a description of the 13 funding required for each technology business manage- 14 ment category used by the Office of Information Tech- 15 nology of the Department (commonly referred to as ‘cost 16 pools’ and ‘towers’).’’. 17 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 18 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by adding 19 at the end the following: 20 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER VI—INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES ‘‘Sec. 8171. Definitions. ‘‘Sec. 8172. Management of major information technology projects. ‘‘Sec. 8173. Information technology activities of the Financial Services Center. ‘‘Sec. 8174. Submission of annual reviews of information technology. ‘‘Sec. 8175. Information technology matters to be included in budget justifica- tion materials for the Department.’’. 14 •HR 2250 EH (c) APPLICATION AND REPORT REGARDING MANAGE- 1 MENT OF MAJOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 2 PROJECTS.— 3 (1) CURRENT AND NEW MAJOR PROJECTS.— 4 Except as specifically provided in subsection (a) of 5 section 8172 of title 38, United States Code, as 6 added by subsection (a) of this section, such section 7 8172 shall apply with respect to major information 8 technology projects [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]