Armed Forces Digital Advantage Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5353 To establish a policy to promote and maintain digital and software development expertise in the workforce of the Department of Defense. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 6, 2019 Ms. HOULAHAN (for herself and Mr. MEADOWS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To establish a policy to promote and maintain digital and software development expertise in the workforce of the Department of Defense. 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 ‘‘Armed Forces Digital 4 Advantage Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. POLICY ON THE TALENT MANAGEMENT OF DIGITAL 6 EXPERTISE AND SOFTWARE PROFESSIONALS. 7 (a) POLICY.— 8 (1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be a policy of the 9 Department of Defense to promote and maintain 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:24 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5353.IH H5353 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 5353 IH digital expertise and software development as core 1 competencies of civilian and military workforces of 2 the Department, and as a capability to support the 3 National Defense Strategy, which policy shall be 4 achieved by— 5 (A) the recruitment, development, and 6 incentivization of retention in and to the civilian 7 and military workforce of the Department of in- 8 dividuals with aptitude, experience, proficient 9 expertise, or a combination thereof in digital ex- 10 pertise and software development; 11 (B) at the discretion of the Secretaries of 12 the military departments, the development and 13 maintenance of civilian and military career 14 tracks related to digital expertise, and related 15 digital competencies for members of the Armed 16 Forces, including the development and mainte- 17 nance of training, education, talent manage- 18 ment, incentives, and promotion policies in sup- 19 port of members at all levels of such career 20 tracks; and 21 (C) the development and application of ap- 22 propriate readiness standards and metrics to 23 measure and report on the overall capability, 24 capacity, utilization, and readiness of digital en- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:24 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5353.IH H5353 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 5353 IH gineering professionals to develop and deliver 1 operational capabilities and employ modern 2 business practices. 3 (2) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sec- 4 tion, ‘‘digital engineering’’ is the discipline and set 5 of skills involved in the creation, processing, trans- 6 mission, integration, and storage of digital data (in- 7 cluding but not limited to data science, machine 8 learning, software engineering, software product 9 management, and artificial intelligence product man- 10 agement). 11 (b) RESPONSIBILITY.— 12 (1) APPOINTMENT OF OFFICER.—Not later 13 than 270 days after the date of enactment of this 14 Act, the Secretary of Defense shall appoint a civilian 15 official responsible for the development and imple- 16 mentation of the policy set forth in subsection (a). 17 The official shall be known as the ‘‘Chief Digital En- 18 gineering Recruitment and Management Officer of 19 the Department of Defense’’ (in this section referred 20 to as the ‘‘Officer’’). 21 (2) EXPIRATION OF APPOINTMENT.—The ap- 22 pointment of the Officer under paragraph (1) shall 23 expire on September 30, 2029. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:11 Dec 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5353.IH H5353 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 5353 IH (c) DUTIES.—In developing and providing for the dis- 1 charge of the policy set forth in subsection (a), the Officer 2 shall work with the Assistant Secretaries of the military 3 departments for Manpower and Reserve Affairs to carry 4 out the following: 5 (1) Develop for, and enhance within, the re- 6 cruitment programs of each Armed Force various 7 core initiatives, programs, activities, and mecha- 8 nisms, tailored to the unique needs of each Armed 9 Force, to identify and recruit civilian employees and 10 members of the Armed Forces with demonstrated 11 aptitude, interest, and proficiency in digital engi- 12 neering, and in science, technology, engineering, and 13 mathematics (STEM) generally, including initiatives, 14 programs, activities, and mechanisms to target pop- 15 ulations of individuals not typically aware of oppor- 16 tunities in the Department of Defense for a digital 17 engineering career. 18 (2) Identify and share with the military depart- 19 ments best practices around the development of 20 flexible career tracks and identifiers for digital engi- 21 neering and related digital competencies and mean- 22 ingful opportunities for career development, talent 23 management, and promotion within such career 24 tracks. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:24 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5353.IH H5353 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 5353 IH (3) Develop and maintain education, training, 1 doctrine, rotational opportunities, and professional 2 development activities to support the civilian and 3 military digital engineering workforce. 4 (4) Coordinate and synchronize digital force 5 management activities throughout the Department 6 of Defense, advise the Secretary of Defense on all 7 matters pertaining to the health and readiness of 8 digital forces, convene a Department-wide executive 9 steering group, and submit to Congress an annual 10 report on the readiness of digital forces and progress 11 toward achieving the policy set forth in subsection 12 (a). 13 (5) Create a Department-wide mechanism to 14 track digital expertise in the workforce, develop and 15 maintain organizational policies, strategies, and 16 plans sufficient to build, maintain, and refresh inter- 17 nal capacity at scale, and report to the Secretary 18 quarterly on the health and readiness the digital en- 19 gineering workforce. 20 (6) Assist the military departments in design- 21 ing, developing, and executing programs and incen- 22 tives to retain, track, and oversee digital expertise 23 among civilian employees of the Department and 24 members of the Armed Forces on active duty. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:24 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5353.IH H5353 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 5353 IH (7) At the request of the Chief of Staff of an 1 Armed Force, or the head of another component or 2 element of the Department, undertake an executive 3 search for key leadership positions in digital engi- 4 neering in such Armed Force, component, or ele- 5 ment, and develop and deploy agile hiring processes 6 to fill such positions. 7 (8) Identify necessary changes in authorities, 8 policies, resources, or a combination thereof to fur- 9 ther the policy set forth in subsection (a), and sub- 10 mit to Congress a report on such changes. 11 (d) IMPLEMENTATION PLAN.—Not later than May 1, 12 2020, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Com- 13 mittees on Armed Services of the House of Representa- 14 tives and the Senate a plan to carry out the requirements 15 of this section. The plan shall include the following: 16 (1) An assessment of progress of the Secretary 17 in recruiting an individual to serve as the Officer re- 18 quired to be appointed under subsection (b). 19 (2) A timeline for implementation of the re- 20 quirements of this section, including input from each 21 military department on its unique timeline. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:24 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5353.IH H5353 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 5353 IH (3) Recommendations for any legislative or ad- 1 ministrative action required to meet the require- 2 ments of this section. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:24 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5353.IH H5353 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS