Body Armor for Females Modernization Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5491 To improve the fielding of newest generations of personal protective equipment to the Armed Forces, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 19, 2019 Mr. WILSON of South Carolina (for himself, Ms. SHERRILL, Mr. KELLY of Mississippi, Mr. STIVERS, Ms. STEFANIK, and Mrs. LURIA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Serv- ices 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 ‘‘Body Armor for Fe- 4 males Modernization Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS. 6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find- 7 ings: 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:46 Dec 29, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5491.IH H5491 2 •HR 5491 IH (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 00:17 Dec 31, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5491.IH H5491 3 •HR 5491 IH 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 18:46 Dec 29, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5491.IH H5491 4 •HR 5491 IH 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 and auxiliary personal protective equipment to 16 members of such Armed Force, including the fol- 17 lowing: 18 (A) The number (aggregated by total num- 19 ber and by sex) of members of such Armed 20 Force issued the Army Soldiers Protective Sys- 21 tem and the Modular Scalable Vest Generation 22 II body armor as of December 31, 2020. 23 (B) The number (aggregated by total num- 24 ber and by sex) of members of such Armed 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:46 Dec 29, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5491.IH H5491 5 •HR 5491 IH Force issued Marine Corps Plate Carrier Gen- 1 eration III (PC Gen III) body armor as of that 2 date. 3 (C) The number (aggregated by total num- 4 ber and by sex) of members of such Armed 5 Force fitted with legacy personal protective 6 equipment as of that date. 7 (2) A description and assessment of the bar- 8 riers, if any, to the fielding of such generations of 9 equipment to such members. 10 (3) A description and assessment of challenges 11 in the fielding of such generations of equipment to 12 such members, including cost overruns, contractor 13 delays, and other challenges. 14 SEC. 4. SYSTEM FOR TRACKING DATA ON INJURIES AMONG 15 MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES IN THE 16 USE OF NEWEST GENERATION PERSONAL 17 PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT. 18 (a) SYSTEM REQUIRED.— 19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Defense 20 Health Agency (DHA) shall develop and maintain a 21 system for tracking data on injuries among members 22 of the Armed Forces in and during the use of newest 23 generation personal protective equipment. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:46 Dec 29, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5491.IH H5491 6 •HR 5491 IH (2) SCOPE OF SYSTEM.—The system required 1 by this subsection may, at the election of the Direc- 2 tor, be new for purposes of this subsection or within 3 or a modification of an appropriate existing system 4 (such as the Defense Occupational And Environ- 5 mental Health Readiness System (DOEHRS)). 6 (b) REPORT.—Not later than January 31, 2025, the 7 Director shall submit to Congress a report on the preva- 8 lence among members of the Armed Forces of preventable 9 injuries attributable to ill-fitting or malfunctioning per- 10 sonal protective equipment. 11 SEC. 5. INCLUSION IN ANNUAL PERIODIC HEALTH ASSESS- 12 MENTS OF MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES 13 OF QUESTIONS ON INJURIES INCURRED IN 14 CONNECTION WITH ILL-FITTING OR MAL- 15 FUNCTIONING PERSONAL PROTECTIVE 16 EQUIPMENT. 17 The annual Periodic Health Assessment (PHA) of 18 members of the Armed Forces undertaken after the date 19 of the enactment of this Act shall include one or more 20 questions on whether members incurred an injury in con- 21 nection with ill-fitting or malfunctioning personal protec- 22 tive equipment during the period covered by such assess- 23 ment, including the nature of such injury. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:46 Dec 29, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5491.IH H5491