What This Bill Does
This bill directs the Chief Acquisition Officer of the Department of Veterans Affairs to hire an outside company to check and verify certain technology modernization projects at the VA. The outside company will provide ongoing oversight and submit reports to the VA Secretary about how these projects are working.
Who It Affects
The Department of Veterans Affairs, the VA Secretary, the Chief Acquisition Officer of the VA, eligible contractor companies that do verification and validation work, and Congress (House and Senate Veterans' Affairs Committees).
Key Provisions
• The Chief Acquisition Officer must sign a contract with an eligible company within 90 days of the bill becoming law to oversee certain modernization projects (Sec. 2(a)).
• An eligible company must have completed at least three similar oversight contracts for major defense projects in the previous three years, but cannot have done any work for the VA in the past five years (Sec. 2(b)).
• The contractor must conduct an initial assessment of each modernization project and then yearly assessments, submitting written reports to the VA Secretary about project status, costs, schedules, contractor performance, and system testing (Sec. 2(c)).
• The VA Secretary must send any yearly reports to Congress within 30 days of receiving them (Sec. 2(d)).
• The VA must pay for this contract using money from the budgets of the departments managing these modernization projects (Sec. 2(e)).
What Changes
If this bill becomes law, the VA must hire an independent outside company to watch over five specific modernization projects: the Electronic Health Record Modernization Program, the Financial Management and Business Transformation Program, supply chain modernization programs, human resources technology modernization programs, and the Veterans Benefits Management System.
Important Definitions
"Covered program" means: the Electronic Health Record Modernization Program or any successor, the Financial Management and Business Transformation Program or any successor, supply chain modernization programs, human resources technology modernization programs, and the Veterans Benefits Management System (Sec. 2(f)).
I
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 1659
To direct the Chief Acquisition Officer of the Department of Veterans Affairs
to enter into a contract for the independent verification and validation
of certain modernization efforts of the Department, and for other pur-
poses.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 17, 2023
Mr. TAKANO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To direct the Chief Acquisition Officer of the Department
of Veterans Affairs to enter into a contract for the
independent verification and validation of certain mod-
ernization efforts of the Department, and for other pur-
poses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
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This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of Vet-
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erans Affairs IT Modernization Improvement Act of
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2023’’.
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SEC. 2. INDEPENDENT VERIFICATION AND VALIDATION OF
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CERTAIN MODERNIZATION EFFORTS OF DE-
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PARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.
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(a) CONTRACTING AUTHORITY.—Not later than 90
4
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Chief
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Acquisition Officer of the Department of Veterans Affairs
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established pursuant to section 1702 of title 41, United
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States Code, shall enter into a contract with an eligible
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entity under subsection (b) to carry out the oversight func-
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tions described in subsection (c).
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(b) ELIGIBILITY.—An entity is eligible under this
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subsection if the Chief Acquisition Officer of the Depart-
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ment determines that, with respect to the solicitation by
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the Department for a contract under subsection (a), the
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entity—
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(1) is currently performing or has performed,
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during the three-year period preceding the date of
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the issuance of such solicitation, not fewer than
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three
prime
contracts
for
the
independent
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verification and validation, or equivalent technical
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and program oversight support, of major defense ac-
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quisition programs or priority defense business sys-
22
tems, in accordance with guidance of the Depart-
23
ment of Defense relating to such acquisition pro-
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grams or such business systems; and
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•HR 1659 IH
(2) is not currently performing and has not per-
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formed, for at least the five-year period preceding
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the date of the issuance of such solicitation, any con-
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tract or subcontract for the Department of Veterans
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Affairs (including such a contract or subcontract re-
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lating to a covered program).
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(c) FUNCTIONS.—The oversight functions described
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in this subsection are the following:
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(1) Conducting an initial assessment of each
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covered program and submitting to the Secretary a
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report containing the findings of such assessment.
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(2) On an annual basis, conducting an overall
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assessment of each covered program and submitting
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to the Secretary a report containing the findings of
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each such assessment.
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(3) Conducting continuous oversight of the ac-
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tivities carried out under, and the systems associated
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with, each covered program, including oversight of
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the status, compliance, performance, and implemen-
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tation of recommendations with respect to, for each
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covered program, the following:
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(A) Management, including governance,
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costs, and implementation milestones and
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timelines.
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(B) Contracts for implementation, includ-
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ing financial metrics and performance bench-
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marks for contractors.
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(C) Effect on the functions, business oper-
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ations, or clinical organizational structure of
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the health care system of the Department.
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(D) Supply chain risk management, con-
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trols, and compliance.
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(E) Data management.
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(F) With respect to associated systems, the
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following:
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(i) Technical architectural design, de-
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velopment, and stability of the systems.
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(ii) System interoperability and inte-
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gration with related information technology
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systems.
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(iii) System testing.
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(iv) Functional system training pro-
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vided to users.
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(v) System adoption and use.
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(d) SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 30
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days after the date on which the Secretary receives any
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annual report under subsection (c)(2), the Secretary shall
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submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the
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House of Representatives and the Senate such report.
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(e) AWARDED AMOUNTS.—Not later than 90 days
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after the date on which the Chief Acquisition Officer of
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the Department enters into the contract under subsection
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(a), the Chief Financial Officer of the Department, in co-
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ordination with the heads of such office of the Department
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responsible for the management of a covered program,
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shall ensure that amounts awarded to an eligible entity
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under such contract are derived, in proportionate
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amounts, from amounts otherwise authorized to be appro-
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priated for each such office of the Department, respec-
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tively.
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(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:
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(1) The term ‘‘covered program’’ means the fol-
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lowing:
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(A) The Electronic Health Record Mod-
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ernization Program (or any successor program).
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(B) The Financial Management and Busi-
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ness Transformation Program (or any successor
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program).
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(C) Any program of the Department relat-
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ing to supply chain modernization.
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(D) Any program of the Department relat-
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ing to the modernization of information tech-
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nology systems associated with human re-
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sources.
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(E) Any program of the Department relat-
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ing to the Veterans Benefits Management Sys-
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tem.
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(2) The term ‘‘priority defense business sys-
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tem’’ has the meaning given such term in section
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2222(i)(5) of title 10, United States Code.
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(3) The term ‘‘major defense acquisition pro-
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gram’’ has the meaning given such term in section
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4201 of title 10, United States Code.
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Æ
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