DHS Acquisition Review Board Act of 2019

IIB 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2609 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 12, 2019 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs AN ACT To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish the Acquisition Review Board in the Department of Homeland Security, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:39 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2609.RFS H2609 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 HR 2609 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘DHS Acquisition Re- 2 view Board Act of 2019’’. 3 SEC. 2. ACQUISITION REVIEW BOARD. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle D of title VIII of the 5 Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 391 et seq.) 6 is amended by adding at the end the following new section: 7 ‘‘SEC. 836. ACQUISITION REVIEW BOARD. 8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish an 9 Acquisition Review Board (in this section referred to as 10 the ‘Board’) to— 11 ‘‘(1) strengthen accountability and uniformity 12 within the Department acquisition review process; 13 ‘‘(2) review major acquisition programs; and 14 ‘‘(3) review the use of best practices. 15 ‘‘(b) COMPOSITION.— 16 ‘‘(1) CHAIR.—The Under Secretary for Man- 17 agement shall serve as chair of the Board. 18 ‘‘(2) PARTICIPATION.—The Secretary shall en- 19 sure participation by other relevant Department offi- 20 cials with responsibilities related to acquisitions as 21 permanent members of the Board. 22 ‘‘(3) OVERSIGHT.—The Under Secretary for 23 Management shall designate a full time employee of 24 the Department to oversee the operations of the 25 Board. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:39 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2609.RFS H2609 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 HR 2609 RFS ‘‘(c) MEETINGS.—The Board shall meet regularly for 1 purposes of ensuring all acquisitions processes proceed in 2 a timely fashion to achieve mission readiness. The Board 3 shall convene at the Secretary’s discretion and at any 4 time— 5 ‘‘(1) a major acquisition program— 6 ‘‘(A) requires authorization to proceed 7 from one acquisition decision event to another 8 throughout the acquisition life cycle; 9 ‘‘(B) is in breach of its approved require- 10 ments; or 11 ‘‘(C) requires additional review, as deter- 12 mined by the Under Secretary for Management; 13 or 14 ‘‘(2) a non-major acquisition program requires 15 review, as determined by the Under Secretary for 16 Management. 17 ‘‘(d) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The responsibilities of the 18 Board are as follows: 19 ‘‘(1) Determine whether a proposed acquisition 20 has met the requirements of key phases of the acqui- 21 sition life cycle framework and is able to proceed to 22 the next phase and eventual full production and de- 23 ployment. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:39 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2609.RFS H2609 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 HR 2609 RFS ‘‘(2) Oversee whether a proposed acquisition’s 1 business strategy, resources, management, and ac- 2 countability is executable and is aligned to strategic 3 initiatives. 4 ‘‘(3) Support the person with acquisition deci- 5 sion authority for an acquisition in determining the 6 appropriate direction for such acquisition at key ac- 7 quisition decision events. 8 ‘‘(4) Conduct systematic reviews of acquisitions 9 to ensure that such acquisitions are progressing in 10 compliance with the approved documents for their 11 current acquisition phases. 12 ‘‘(5) Review the acquisition documents of each 13 major acquisition program, including the acquisition 14 program baseline and documentation reflecting con- 15 sideration of tradeoffs among cost, schedule, and 16 performance objectives, to ensure the reliability of 17 underlying data. 18 ‘‘(6) Ensure that practices are adopted and im- 19 plemented to require consideration of trade-offs 20 among cost, schedule, and performance objectives as 21 part of the process for developing requirements for 22 major acquisition programs prior to the initiation of 23 the second acquisition decision event, including, at a 24 minimum, the following practices: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:39 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2609.RFS H2609 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 HR 2609 RFS ‘‘(A) Department officials responsible for 1 acquisition, budget, and cost estimating func- 2 tions are provided with the appropriate oppor- 3 tunity to develop estimates and raise cost and 4 schedule matters before performance objectives 5 are established for capabilities when feasible. 6 ‘‘(B) Full consideration is given to possible 7 trade-offs among cost, schedule, and perform- 8 ance objectives for each alternative. 9 ‘‘(e) ACQUISITION PROGRAM BASELINE REPORT RE- 10 QUIREMENT.—If the person exercising acquisition decision 11 authority over a major acquisition program approves such 12 program to proceed into the planning phase before such 13 program has a Department-approved acquisition program 14 baseline, the Under Secretary for Management shall cre- 15 ate and approve an acquisition program baseline report 16 regarding such approval, and the Secretary shall— 17 ‘‘(1) within 7 days after an acquisition decision 18 memorandum is signed, notify in writing the Com- 19 mittee on Homeland Security of the House of Rep- 20 resentatives and the Committee on Homeland Secu- 21 rity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate of such 22 decision; and 23 ‘‘(2) within 60 days after the acquisition deci- 24 sion memorandum is signed, submit to such commit- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:39 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2609.RFS H2609 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 HR 2609 RFS tees a written explanation of the rationale for such 1 decision and a plan of action to address acquisition 2 program baseline requirements for such program. 3 ‘‘(f) REPORT.—The Under Secretary for Manage- 4 ment shall provide information to the Committee on 5 Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and 6 the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 7 Affairs of the Senate on an annual basis through fiscal 8 year 2024 on the activities of the Board for the prior fiscal 9 year that includes information relating to the following: 10 ‘‘(1) For each meeting of the Board, any acqui- 11 sition decision memoranda. 12 ‘‘(2) Results of the systematic reviews con- 13 ducted pursuant to paragraph (4) of subsection (d). 14 ‘‘(3) Results of acquisition document reviews re- 15 quired pursuant to paragraph (5) of subsection (d). 16 ‘‘(4) Activities to ensure that practices are 17 adopted and implemented throughout the Depart- 18 ment pursuant to paragraph (6) of subsection (d). 19 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 20 ‘‘(1) ACQUISITION.—The term ‘acquisition’ has 21 the meaning given such term in section 131 of title 22 41, United States Code. 23 ‘‘(2) ACQUISITION DECISION AUTHORITY.—The 24 term ‘acquisition decision authority’ means the au- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:39 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2609.RFS H2609 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 HR 2609 RFS thority, held by the Secretary acting through the 1 Deputy Secretary or Under Secretary for Manage- 2 ment to— 3 ‘‘(A) ensure compliance with Federal law, 4 the Federal Acquisition Regulation, and De- 5 partment acquisition management directives; 6 ‘‘(B) review (including approving, pausing, 7 modifying, or cancelling) an acquisition pro- 8 gram through the life cycle of such program; 9 ‘‘(C) ensure that acquisition program man- 10 agers have the resources necessary to success- 11 fully execute an approved acquisition program; 12 ‘‘(D) ensure good acquisition program 13 management of cost, schedule, risk, and system 14 performance of the acquisition program at 15 issue, including assessing acquisition program 16 baseline breaches and directing any corrective 17 action for such breaches; and 18 ‘‘(E) ensure that acquisition program man- 19 agers, on an ongoing basis, monitor cost, sched- 20 ule, and performance against established base- 21 lines and use tools to assess risks to an acquisi- 22 tion program at all phases of the life cycle of 23 such program to avoid and mitigate acquisition 24 program baseline breaches. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:39 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2609.RFS H2609 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 HR 2609 RFS ‘‘(3) ACQUISITION DECISION EVENT.—The term 1 ‘acquisition decision event’, with respect to an acqui- 2 sition program, means a predetermined point within 3 each of the acquisition phases at which the acquisi- 4 tion decision authority determines whether such ac- 5 quisition program shall proceed to the next acquisi- 6 tion phase. 7 ‘‘(4) ACQUISITION DECISION MEMORANDUM.— 8 The term ‘acquisition decision memorandum’, with 9 respect to an acquisition, means the official acquisi- 10 tion decision event record that includes a docu- 11 mented record of decisions, exit criteria, and as- 12 signed actions for such acquisition, as determined by 13 the person exercising acquisition decision authority 14 for such acquisition. 15 ‘‘(5) ACQUISITION PROGRAM.—The term ‘acqui- 16 sition program’ means the process by which the De- 17 partment acquires, with any appropriated amounts, 18 by contract for purchase or lease, property or serv- 19 ices (including construction) that support the mis- 20 sions and goals of the Department. 21 ‘‘(6) ACQUISITION PROGRAM BASELINE.—The 22 term ‘acquisition program baseline’, with respect to 23 an acquisition program, means a summary of the 24 cost, schedule, and performance parameters, ex- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:39 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2609.RFS H2609 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 HR 2609 RFS pressed in standard, measurable, quantitative terms, 1 which must be met in order to accomplish the goals 2 of such program. 3 ‘‘(7) BEST PRACTICES.—The term ‘best prac- 4 tices’, with respect to acquisition, means a knowl- 5 edge-based approach to capability development that 6 includes— 7 ‘‘(A) identifying and validating needs; 8 ‘‘(B) assessing alternatives to select the 9 most appropriate solution; 10 ‘‘(C) clearly establishing well-defined re- 11 quirements; 12 ‘‘(D) developing realistic cost assessments 13 and schedules; 14 ‘‘(E) securing stable funding that matches 15 resources to requirements; 16 ‘‘(F) demonstrating technology, design, 17 and manufacturing maturity; 18 ‘‘(G) using milestones and exit criteria or 19 specific accomplishments that demonstrate 20 progress; 21 ‘‘(H) adopting and executing standardized 22 processes with known success across programs; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:39 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2609.RFS H2609 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 HR 2609 RFS ‘‘(I) establishing an adequate workforce 1 that is qualified and sufficient to perform nec- 2 essary functions; and 3 ‘‘(J) integrating the capabilities described 4 in subparagraphs (A) through (I) into the De- 5 partment’s mission and business operations. 6 ‘‘(8) MAJOR ACQUISITION PROGRAM.—The term 7 ‘major acquisition program’ means a Department 8 acquisition program that is estimated by the Sec- 9 retary to require an eventual total expenditure of at 10 least $300 million (based on fiscal year 2019 con- 11 stant dollars) over its life cycle cost.’’. 12 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 13 in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 14 U.S.C. 101 et seq.) is amended by inserting after the item 15 relating to section 835 the following new item: 16 ‘‘Sec. 836. Acquisition Review Board.’’. Passed the House of Representatives June 11, 2019. Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:39 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2609.RFS H2609 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS