IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5273 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 11, 2020 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs 

AN ACT 

To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop 

a plan to increase to 100 percent the rates of scanning 

of commercial and passenger vehicles entering the United 

States at land ports of entry along the border using 

large-scale non-intrusive inspection systems to enhance 

border security, and for other purposes. 


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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Securing America’s 

5 Ports Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. LARGE-SCALE NON-INTRUSIVE INSPECTION SCAN7 NING PLAN. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

9 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Home10 land Security shall submit to the Committee on Homeland 

11 Security of the House of Representatives and the Com12 mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

13 of the Senate a plan to increase to 100 percent the rates 

14 of expeditious scanning of commercial and passenger vehi15 cles entering the United States at land ports of entry 

16 along the border using large-scale non-intrusive inspection 

17 systems or similar technology to enhance border security. 

18 (b) BASELINE INFORMATION.—At a minimum, the 

19 plan required under subsection (a) shall include the fol20 lowing information regarding large-scale non-intrusive in21 spection systems or similar technology operated by U.S. 

22 Customs and Border Protection at land ports of entry as 

23 of the date of the enactment of this Act: 


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1 (1) An inventory of large-scale non-intrusive in2 spection systems or similar technology in use at each 

3 land port of entry. 

4 (2) For each system or technology identified in 

5 the inventory required under paragraph (1), the fol6 lowing information: 

7 (A) The scanning method of such system 

8 or technology. 

9 (B) The location of such system or tech10 nology at each land port of entry that specifies 

11 whether in use in pre-primary, primary, or sec12 ondary inspection area, or some combination 

13 thereof. 

14 (C) The percentage of commercial and pas15 senger vehicles scanned by such system or tech16 nology. 

17 (D) Seizure data directly attributed to 

18 scanned commercial and passenger vehicles. 

19 (c) ELEMENTS.—The plan required under subsection 

20 (a) shall include the following information: 

21 (1) Benchmarks for achieving incremental 

22 progress towards 100 percent expeditious scanning 

23 of commercial and passenger vehicles entering the 

24 United States at land ports of entry along the bor25 der with corresponding projected incremental imVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Feb 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5273.RFS H5273

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1 provements in scanning rates by fiscal year and ra2 tionales for the specified timeframes for each land 

3 port of entry. 

4 (2) Estimated costs, together with an acquisi5 tion plan, for achieving the 100 expeditious percent 

6 scanning rate within the timeframes specified in 

7 paragraph (1), including acquisition, operations, and 

8 maintenance costs for large-scale non-intrusive in9 spection systems or similar technology, as well as as10 sociated costs for any necessary infrastructure en11 hancements or configuration changes at each port of 

12 entry. To the extent practicable, such acquisition 

13 plan shall promote opportunities for entities that 

14 qualify as small business concerns (as such term is 

15 described under section 3 of the Small Business Act 

16 (15 U.S.C. 632). 

17 (3) Any projected impacts, as identified by the 

18 Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protec19 tion, on the total number of commercial and pas20 senger vehicles entering at land ports of entry where 

21 such systems are in use, and average wait times at 

22 peak and non-peak travel times, by lane type if ap23 plicable, as scanning rates are increased. 

24 (4) Any projected impacts, as identified by the 

25 Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border ProtecVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Feb 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5273.RFS H5273

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1 tion, on land ports of entry border security oper2 ations as a result of implementation actions, includ3 ing any changes to the number of U.S. Customs and 

4 Border Protection officers or their duties and as5 signments. 

6 (d) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.—In furtherance 

7 of the plan required under subsection (a), the Secretary 

8 of Homeland Security, acting through the Under Sec9 retary for Science and Technology, shall conduct research 

10 and development, in coordination with the Commissioner 

11 of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, to enhance large12 scale non-intrusive inspections systems or similar tech13 nology and refine the operational use or configuration of 

14 such systems or technology in pre-primary, primary, and 

15 secondary inspection areas of land ports of entry. Such 

16 research and development shall include consideration of 

17 emerging large-scale non-intrusive inspection systems or 

18 similar technology and modeling the use of such systems 

19 or technology that takes into account the variations in in20 frastructure, configurations, and sizes of land ports of 

21 entry. 

22 (e) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after 

23 the submission of the plan required under subsection (a) 

24 and annually thereafter until such time as U.S. Customs 

25 and Border Protection has achieved 100 percent expediVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Feb 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5273.RFS H5273

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1 tious scanning of commercial and passenger vehicles enter2 ing the United States at land ports of entry along the bor3 der using large-scale non-intrusive inspection systems or 

4 similar technology in accordance with such plan, the Sec5 retary of Homeland Security shall report to the Committee 

6 on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives 

7 and the Committee on Homeland Security and Govern8 mental Affairs of the Senate on progress implementing the 

9 plan. Each such report at a minimum shall include the 

10 following information: 

11 (1) An inventory of large-scale non-intrusive in12 spection systems or similar technology operated by 

13 U.S. Customs and Border Protection at each land 

14 port of entry. 

15 (2) For each system or technology identified in 

16 the inventory required under paragraph (1), the fol17 lowing information: 

18 (A) The scanning method of such system 

19 or technology. 

20 (B) The location of such system or tech21 nology at each land port of entry that specifies 

22 whether in use in pre-primary, primary, or sec23 ondary inspection area, or some combination 

24 thereof. 


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1 (C) The percentage of commercial and pas2 senger vehicles scanned by such system or tech3 nology. 

4 (D) Seizure data directly attributed to 

5 scanned commercial and passenger vehicles. 

6 (3) The total number of commercial and pas7 senger vehicles entering at each land port of entry 

8 where each system or technology is in use, and infor9 mation on average wait times at peak and non-peak 

10 travel times, by lane type if applicable. 

11 (4) Progress with respect to the benchmarks 

12 specified in subsection (c)(1), and an explanation if 

13 any of such benchmarks are not achieved as 

14 planned. 

15 (5) A comparison of actual costs (including in16 formation on any awards of associated contracts) to 

17 estimated costs set forth in subsection (c)(2). 

18 (6) Any realized impacts, as identified by the 

19 Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protec20 tion, on land ports of entry operations as a result of 

21 implementation actions, including any changes to the 

22 number of U.S. Customs and Border Protection offi23 cers or their duties and assignments. 

24 (7) Any proposed changes to the plan and an 

25 explanation for such changes, including changes 


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1 made in response to any Department of Homeland 

2 Security research and development findings, includ3 ing findings resulting from the research and develop4 ment conducted pursuant to subsection (d), or 

5 changes in terrorist or transnational criminal organi6 zations tactics, techniques, or procedures. 

7 (8) Any challenges to implementing the plan or 

8 meeting the benchmarks, and plans to mitigate any 

9 such challenges. 

10 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

11 (1) LARGE-SCALE NON-INTRUSIVE INSPECTION

12 SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘large-scale non-intrusive in13 spection system’’ means a technology, including x14 ray and gamma-ray imaging systems, capable of pro15 ducing an image of the contents of a commercial or 

16 passenger vehicle in one pass of such vehicle. 

17 (2) SCANNING.—The term ‘‘scanning’’ means 

18 utilizing technology to produce an image of the 


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1 contents of a commercial or passenger vehicle with2 out engaging in a physical inspection of such vehicle. 

Passed the House of Representatives February 10, 

2020. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 

By ROBERT F. REEVES, 

Deputy Clerk. 


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