Improving Embassy Design and Security Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 193 To improve the design and construction of diplomatic posts, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 3, 2019 Mr. MCCAUL (for himself and Ms. KELLY of Illinois) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To improve the design and construction of diplomatic posts, 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. STANDARDIZATION IN CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION. 6 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 7 gress that the Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas 8 Building Operations (OBO) or successor office should 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:27 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H193.IH H193 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 193 IH prioritize the standardization of embassy design and keep 1 customization to a minimum. 2 (b) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary of State shall 3 carry out any new embassy compound project or new con- 4 sulate compound project that utilizes a non-standard de- 5 sign, including those projects that are in the design phase 6 or pre-design phase as of the date of the enactment of 7 this Act, only in consultation with the appropriate con- 8 gressional committees. The Secretary shall provide such 9 committees, for each such project, the following docu- 10 mentation: 11 (1) A comparison of the estimated full lifecycle 12 costs of the project at issue to the estimated full 13 lifecycle costs of such project if such project were to 14 use a standard design. 15 (2) A comparison of the estimated completion 16 date of such project to the estimated completion 17 date of such project if such project were to use a 18 standard design. 19 (3) A comparison of the security of such com- 20 pleted project to the security of such completed 21 project if such completed project were to use a 22 standard design. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:27 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H193.IH H193 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 193 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 September 30, 2023. 9 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 10 It is the policy of the United States that the Bureau 11 of Overseas Building Operations of the Department of 12 State or its successor office shall continue to balance 13 functionality and security with accessibility as defined by 14 guidelines established by the United States Access Board 15 in constructing embassies and consulates and shall ensure 16 compliance with the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 17 (42 U.S.C. 4151 et seq.) to the fullest extent possible. 18 SEC. 4. CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION TRANSPARENCY. 19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 118 of the Department of 20 State Authorities Act, Fiscal Year 2017 (22 U.S.C. 304) 21 is amended— 22 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘AN- 23 NUAL REPORT ON EMBASSY CONSTRUCTION 24 COSTS’’ and inserting ‘‘QUARTERLY REPORT ON 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:27 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H193.IH H193 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 193 IH OVERSEAS CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION 1 PROJECTS’’; and 2 (2) by amending subsections (a) and (b) to read 3 as follows: 4 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after 5 the date of the enactment of this subsection, and every 6 90 days thereafter until September 30, 2023, the Sec- 7 retary shall submit to the appropriate congressional com- 8 mittees a comprehensive report regarding all ongoing over- 9 seas capital construction projects and major embassy secu- 10 rity upgrade projects. 11 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—Each report required under sub- 12 section (a) shall include the following with respect to each 13 ongoing overseas capital construction project and major 14 embassy security upgrade project: 15 ‘‘(1) The initial cost estimate as specified in the 16 proposed allocation of capital construction and main- 17 tenance funds required by the Committees on Appro- 18 priations for Acts making appropriations for the De- 19 partment of State, foreign operations, and related 20 programs. 21 ‘‘(2) The current cost estimate. 22 ‘‘(3) The value of each request for equitable ad- 23 justment received by the Department of State to 24 date. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:27 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H193.IH H193 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 193 IH ‘‘(4) The value of each certified claim received 1 by the Department of State to date. 2 ‘‘(5) The value of any usage of the project’s 3 contingency fund to date and the value of the re- 4 mainder of the project’s contingency fund. 5 ‘‘(6) An enumerated list of each request for ad- 6 justment and certified claim that remains out- 7 standing or unresolved. 8 ‘‘(7) An enumerated list of each request for eq- 9 uitable adjustment and certified claim that has been 10 fully adjudicated or that the Department has settled, 11 and the final dollar amount of each adjudication or 12 settlement. 13 ‘‘(8) The date of estimated completion specified 14 in the proposed allocation of capital construction 15 and maintenance funds required by the Committees 16 on Appropriations not later than 45 days after the 17 date of the enactment of an Act making appropria- 18 tions for the Department of State, foreign oper- 19 ations, and related programs. 20 ‘‘(9) The current date of estimated comple- 21 tion.’’. 22 (b) INITIAL REPORT.—The first report required 23 under subsection (a) of section 118 of the Department of 24 State Authorities Act, Fiscal Year 2017 (as amended by 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:27 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H193.IH H193 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 193 IH this section) shall include an annex regarding all overseas 1 capital construction projects and major embassy security 2 upgrade projects completed during the 10-year period end- 3 ing on December 31, 2018, including, for each such 4 project, the elements specified in subsection (b) of such 5 section 118 (as amended by this section). 6 SEC. 5. CONTRACTOR PERFORMANCE INFORMATION. 7 (a) DEADLINE FOR COMPLETION.—The Secretary of 8 State shall complete by October 1, 2021, all contractor 9 performance evaluations required by subpart 42.15 of the 10 Federal Acquisition Regulation. 11 (b) PRIORITIZATION SYSTEM.— 12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 13 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 14 of State shall develop a prioritization system for 15 clearing the current backlog of required evaluations 16 referred to in subsection (a). 17 (2) ELEMENTS.—The system required under 18 paragraph (1) should prioritize such evaluations as 19 follows: 20 (A) Project completion evaluations should 21 be prioritized over annual evaluations. 22 (B) Evaluations for relatively large con- 23 tracts should have priority. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:27 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H193.IH H193 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 193 IH (C) Evaluations that would be particularly 1 informative for the awarding of government 2 contracts should have priority. 3 (c) BRIEFING.—Not later than 90 days after the date 4 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall 5 brief the appropriate congressional committees on the De- 6 partment of State’s plan for completing all evaluations by 7 October 1, 2021, and the prioritization system developed 8 pursuant to this section. 9 (d) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 10 gress that— 11 (1) contractors deciding whether to bid on De- 12 partment of State contracts would benefit from 13 greater understanding of the Department as a client; 14 and 15 (2) the Department should develop a forum 16 through which contractors can rate the Depart- 17 ment’s project management performance. 18 SEC. 6. GROWTH PROJECTIONS FOR NEW EMBASSIES AND 19 CONSULATES. 20 (a) IN GENERAL.—For each new embassy compound 21 project (NEC) and new consulate compound project 22 (NCC) in or not yet in the design phase as of the date 23 of the enactment of this Act, the Office of Management 24 Policy, Rightsizing, and Innovation of the Department of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:27 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H193.IH H193 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 193 IH State shall project growth over the estimated life of the 1 facility at issue using all available and relevant data, in- 2 cluding the following: 3 (1) Relevant historical trends for Department 4 personnel and personnel from other agencies rep- 5 resented at the NEC or NCC that is to be con- 6 structed. 7 (2) An analysis of the tradeoffs between risk 8 and the needs of United States Government policy 9 conducted as part of the most recent Vital Presence 10 Validation Process, if applicable. 11 (3) Reasonable assumptions about the strategic 12 importance of the NEC or NCC, as the case may be, 13 over the life of the building at issue. 14 (4) Any other data that would be helpful in pro- 15 jecting the future growth of NEC or NCC. 16 (b) OTHER AGENCIES.—Each Federal agency rep- 17 resented at an embassy or consulate shall provide to the 18 Department of State, upon request, growth projections for 19 the personnel of such agency over the estimated life of 20 such embassy or consulate, as the case may be. 21 (c) BASIS FOR ESTIMATES.—The Department of 22 State shall base growth assumption for all NECs and 23 NCCs on the estimates required under subsections (a) and 24 (b). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:27 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H193.IH H193 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 193 IH (d) CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATION.—Any congres- 1 sional notification of site selection for a NEC or NCC sub- 2 mitted after the date of the enactment of this Act shall 3 include the growth assumption used pursuant to sub- 4 section (c). 5 SEC. 7. LONG-RANGE PLANNING PROCESS. 6 (a) PLANS REQUIRED.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 8 after the date of the enactment of this Act and an- 9 nually thereafter for five years, the Secretary of 10 State shall develop— 11 (A) a comprehensive six-year Long-Range 12 Overseas Buildings Plan (LROBP) docu- 13 menting the Department of State’s overseas 14 building program for the replacement of over- 15 seas diplomatic facilities taking into account se- 16 curity factors under the Secure Embassy Con- 17 struction and Counterterrorism Act of 1999 (22 18 U.S.C. 4865 note) and other relevant statutes 19 and regulations, as well as occupational safety 20 and health factors pursuant to the Occupational 21 Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 651 22 et seq.) and other relevant statutes and regula- 23 tions, including environmental factors such as 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:27 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H193.IH H193 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 193 IH indoor air quality that impact employee health 1 and safety; and 2 (B) a comprehensive six-year plan detailing 3 the Department’s long-term planning for the 4 maintenance and sustainment of completed fa- 5 cilities, known as a Long-Range Overseas Main- 6 tenance Plan (LROMP), which takes into ac- 7 count security factors under the Secure Em- 8 bassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act of 9 1999 and other relevant statutes and regula- 10 tions, as well as occupational safety and health 11 factors pursuant to the Occupational Safety 12 and Health Act of 1970 and other relevant 13 statutes and regulations, including environ- 14 mental factors such as indoor air quality that 15 impact employee health and safety. 16 (2) INITIAL REPORT.—The first plan developed 17 pursuant to paragraph (1)(A) shall also include a 18 one-time status report on existing small diplomatic 19 posts and a strategy for establishing a physical dip- 20 lomatic presence in countries in which there is no 21 current physical diplomatic presence. The report, 22 which may include a classified annex, shall include 23 the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:27 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H193.IH H193 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •HR 193 IH (A) A description of the extent to which 1 each small diplomatic post furthers the national 2 interest of the United States. 3 (B) A description of how each small diplo- 4 matic post provides American Citizen Services, 5 including data on specific services provided and 6 the number of Americans receiving services over 7 the previous year. 8 (C) A description of whether each small 9 diplomatic post meets current security require- 10 ments. 11 (D) A description of the full financial cost 12 of maintaining each small diplomatic post. 13 (E) Input from the relevant chiefs of mis- 14 sion on any unique operational or policy value 15 the small diplomatic post provides. 16 (3) UPDATED INFORMATION.—The annual up- 17 dates of the plans developed pursuant to paragraph 18 (1) shall highlight any changes from the previous 19 year’s plan to the ordering of construction and 20 maintenance projects. 21 (b) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 22 (1) SUBMISSION OF PLANS TO CONGRESS.—Not 23 later than 60 days after the completion of the 24 LROBP and the LROMP, the Secretary of State 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:27 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H193.IH H193 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •HR 193 IH shall submit such plans to the appropriate congres- 1 sional committees. 2 (2) REFERENCE IN BUDGET JUSTIFICATION 3 MATERIALS.—In the budget justification materials 4 submitted to the appropriate congressional commit- 5 tees in support of the Department of State’s budget 6 for any fiscal year (as submitted with the budget of 7 the President under section 1105(a) of title 31, 8 United States Code), the plans specified in the 9 LROBP and LROMP shall be referenced to justify 10 funding requested for building and maintenance 11 projects overseas. 12 (3) FORM OF REPORT.—The plans required to 13 be submitted under paragraph (1) shall be submitted 14 in unclassified form but may include classified an- 15 nexes. 16 (c) SMALL DIPLOMATIC POST DEFINED.—In this 17 se [Text truncated for display. 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