Female Body Armor Modernization Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2970 To improve the fielding of newest generations of personal protective equipment to the Armed Forces, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 3, 2019 Ms. ERNST (for herself, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Ms. MCSALLY, and Mr. BLUMENTHAL) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re- ferred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To improve the fielding of newest generations of personal protective equipment to the Armed Forces, 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 ‘‘Female Body Armor 4 Modernization Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS. 6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find- 7 ings: 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Dec 06, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2970.IS S2970 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2970 IS (1) Ill-fitting personal protective equipment 1 (PPE) for members of the Armed Forces impedes 2 performance and lethality by reducing range of mo- 3 tion, speed, and agility, and can interfere with the 4 aim of shoulder-braced weapons. 5 (2) Access to female-specific personal protective 6 equipment, or smaller sized unisex personal protec- 7 tive equipment, has traditionally been limited. Such 8 equipment has typically been provided only to some 9 deploying members of the Armed Forces, but not to 10 those going through initial entry training (IET), or 11 for regular unit training events. 12 (3) Members of the Armed Force need to be fa- 13 miliarized with and train in their combat gear before 14 deploying in order to be fully prepared and mission 15 capable. 16 (4) Research shows that poorly fitting personal 17 protective equipment is a leading cause of prevent- 18 able injury for all members of the Armed Forces, 19 whether deployed or in training. 20 (5) Studies on operational physical performance 21 and fitness in female members of the Armed Forces 22 suggest that the best way to decrease the likelihood 23 of injury is through consistent physical training with 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Dec 06, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2970.IS S2970 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2970 IS equipment that mirrors that which is used in a com- 1 bat environment. 2 (6) Properly fitting personal protective equip- 3 ment for training and deployment will assist in the 4 gender-integration process in the Armed Forces as 5 well as improve overall combat effectiveness, while 6 simultaneously bringing about a reduction in inju- 7 ries. 8 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 9 gress— 10 (1) that committed resources for new genera- 11 tion personal protective equipment for female 12 warfighters is essential to their warfighting readi- 13 ness; 14 (2) to encourage the Armed Forces to expedite 15 contracting for and procurement and fielding of new 16 generation personal protective equipment that better 17 fits and protects all members of the Armed Forces, 18 including female members, and reduces preventable 19 injuries; and 20 (3) to encourage collaboration between the 21 Armed Forces, academia, and industry on the use of 22 emerging technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence 23 (AI), human factors modeling, and digital predictive 24 human modeling, in the development of next genera- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Dec 06, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2970.IS S2970 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2970 IS tion of combat equipment and personal protective 1 equipment. 2 SEC. 3. REPORTS ON FIELDING OF NEWEST GENERATIONS 3 OF PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT TO 4 THE ARMED FORCES. 5 (a) REPORTS REQUIRED.—Not later than January 6 31, 2021, each Secretary of a military department shall 7 submit to Congress a report on the fielding of the newest 8 generations of personal protective equipment to the Armed 9 Forces under the jurisdiction of such Secretary. 10 (b) ELEMENTS.—Each report under subsection (a) 11 shall include, for each Armed Force covered by such re- 12 port, the following: 13 (1) A description and assessment of the fielding 14 of newest generations of personal protective equip- 15 ment to members of such Armed Force, including 16 the following: 17 (A) The number (aggregated by total num- 18 ber and by sex) of members of such Armed 19 Force issued the Army Soldiers Protective Sys- 20 tem and the Modular Scalable Vest Generation 21 II body armor as of December 31, 2020. 22 (B) The number (aggregated by total num- 23 ber and by sex) of members of such Armed 24 Force issued Marine Corps Plate Carrier Gen- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Dec 06, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2970.IS S2970 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2970 IS eration III (PC Gen III) body armor as of that 1 date. 2 (C) The number (aggregated by total num- 3 ber and by sex) of members of such Armed 4 Force fitted with legacy personal protective 5 equipment as of that date. 6 (2) A description and assessment of the bar- 7 riers, if any, to the fielding of such generations of 8 equipment to such members. 9 (3) A description and assessment of challenges 10 in the fielding of such generations of equipment to 11 such members, including cost overruns, contractor 12 delays, and other challenges. 13 SEC. 4. SYSTEM FOR TRACKING DATA ON INJURIES AMONG 14 MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES IN THE 15 USE OF NEWEST GENERATION PERSONAL 16 PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT. 17 (a) SYSTEM REQUIRED.— 18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Defense 19 Health Agency (DHA) shall develop and maintain a 20 system for tracking data on injuries among members 21 of the Armed Forces in and during the use of newest 22 generation personal protective equipment. 23 (2) SCOPE OF SYSTEM.—The system required 24 by this subsection may, at the election of the Direc- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Dec 06, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2970.IS S2970 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2970 IS tor, be new for purposes of this subsection or within 1 or a modification of an appropriate existing system 2 (such as the Defense Occupational And Environ- 3 mental Health Readiness System (DOEHRS)). 4 (b) REPORT.—Not later than January 31, 2025, the 5 Director shall submit to Congress a report on the preva- 6 lence among members of the Armed Forces of preventable 7 injuries attributable to ill-fitting or malfunctioning per- 8 sonal protective equipment. 9 SEC. 5. INCLUSION IN ANNUAL PERIODIC HEALTH ASSESS- 10 MENTS OF MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES 11 OF QUESTIONS ON INJURIES INCURRED IN 12 CONNECTION WITH ILL-FITTING OR MAL- 13 FUNCTIONING PERSONAL PROTECTIVE 14 EQUIPMENT. 15 The annual Periodic Health Assessment (PHA) of 16 members of the Armed Forces undertaken after the date 17 of the enactment of this Act shall include one or more 18 questions on whether members incurred an injury in con- 19 nection with ill-fitting or malfunctioning personal protec- 20 tive equipment during the period covered by such assess- 21 ment, including the nature of such injury. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Dec 06, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2970.IS S2970 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS