II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 731 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the management of 

information technology projects and investments of the Department of 

Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 11, 2021 

Mr. TESTER (for himself, Mr. MORAN, Ms. SINEMA, and Mrs. BLACKBURN) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the 

management of information technology projects and investments of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and 

for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Department of Vet5 erans Affairs Information Technology Reform Act of 

6 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MANAGEMENT OF MAJOR INFORMATION TECH2 NOLOGY PROJECTS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 81 of title 38, United 

4 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing new subchapter: 

6 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER VI—INFORMATION 

7 TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES 

8 ‘‘§ 8171. Definitions 

9 ‘‘In this subchapter: 

10 ‘‘(1) The term ‘appropriate congressional com11 mittees’ means— 

12 ‘‘(A) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

13 and the Subcommittee on Military Construc14 tion, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies of 

15 the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(B) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

18 and the Subcommittee on Military Construc19 tion, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies of 

20 the Committee on Appropriations of the House 

21 of Representatives. 

22 ‘‘(2) The term ‘information technology’ has the 

23 meaning given that term in section 11101 of title 

24 40. 

25 ‘‘(3) The term ‘information technology project’ 

26 means a project or program of the Department (inVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:08 Apr 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S731.IS S731

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1 cluding a project or program of any element of the 

2 Department) for, or including, the acquisition or im3 plementation of an information technology system. 

4 ‘‘(4) The term ‘life cycle costs’ means all direct 

5 and indirect costs to acquire, implement, operate, 

6 and maintain an information technology system. 

7 ‘‘(5) The term ‘major information technology 

8 project’ means an information technology project 

9 if— 

10 ‘‘(A) the project is designated— 

11 ‘‘(i) by the Secretary or the Chief In12 formation Officer of the Department as a 

13 major information technology project; or 

14 ‘‘(ii) by the Director of the Office of 

15 Management and Budget as a major infor16 mation technology investment, as defined 

17 in section 11302 of title 40; 

18 ‘‘(B) the dollar value of the project or pro19 gram is estimated by the Secretary to exceed— 

20 ‘‘(i) $50,000,000 (as adjusted for in21 flation pursuant to section 1908 of title 

22 41) for all project costs in a single fiscal 

23 year; 

24 ‘‘(ii) $200,000,000 (as adjusted for 

25 inflation pursuant to section 1908 of title 


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1 41) for all project acquisition or implemen2 tation costs for the duration of the project; 

3 or 

4 ‘‘(iii) $500,000,000 (as adjusted for 

5 inflation pursuant to section 1908 of title 

6 41) for the total life cycle costs of the 

7 project; or 

8 ‘‘(C) any increment of the project sepa9 rately meets the requirements of subparagraphs 

10 (A) or (B). 

11 ‘‘§ 8172. Management of major information tech12 nology projects 

13 ‘‘(a) COST, SCHEDULE, AND PERFORMANCE INFOR14 MATION.—(1) The Secretary may not obligate or expend 

15 funds for any major information technology project that 

16 begins after the date of the enactment of the Department 

17 of Veterans Affairs Information Technology Reform Act 

18 of 2021 unless the Secretary, acting through the Chief In19 formation Officer of the Department, submits to the ap20 propriate congressional committees a report containing in21 formation on the cost, schedule, and performance of such 

22 project. 

23 ‘‘(2) Each report submitted under paragraph (1) for 

24 a project shall include, with respect to such project, the 

25 following: 


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1 ‘‘(A) An estimate of acquisition, implementa2 tion, and life cycle costs. 

3 ‘‘(B) An intended implementation schedule indi4 cating significant milestones, initial operating capa5 bility, and full operating capability or completion. 

6 ‘‘(C) Key business, functional, and performance 

7 objectives. 

8 ‘‘(b) BASELINE.—(1) The Secretary shall use the in9 formation on the cost, schedule, and performance of a 

10 major information technology project included in the re11 port under subsection (a) as the baseline against which 

12 changes or variances are measured during the life cycle 

13 of such project. 

14 ‘‘(2) The Secretary shall— 

15 ‘‘(A) annually update the baseline of a major 

16 information technology project pursuant to sub17 section (c); and 

18 ‘‘(B) include such updated baseline in the docu19 ments providing detailed information on the budget 

20 for the Department that the Secretary submits to 

21 Congress in conjunction with the President’s budget 

22 submission pursuant to section 1105 of title 31. 

23 ‘‘(c) CHANGES AND VARIANCES.—(1) Not later than 

24 60 days after the date on which the Secretary identifies 

25 a change or variance described in paragraph (2) in the 


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1 cost, schedule, or performance of a major information 

2 technology project, the Secretary, acting through the Chief 

3 Information Officer, shall submit to the appropriate con4 gressional committees a notification of such change or 

5 variance, including a description and explanation for such 

6 change or variance. 

7 ‘‘(2) A change or variance in the cost, schedule, or 

8 performance of a major information technology project de9 scribed in this paragraph is— 

10 ‘‘(A) with respect to the acquisition, implemen11 tation, or life cycle cost of the project, or an incre12 ment therein, a change or variance that is 10 per13 cent or greater compared to the baseline; 

14 ‘‘(B) with respect to the schedule for achieving 

15 a significant milestone, initial operating capability, 

16 or final completion of the project, a change or vari17 ance that is 180 days or greater compared to the 

18 baseline; or 

19 ‘‘(C) with respect to the performance, an in20 stance where a key business, functional, or perform21 ance objective is not attained, or is not anticipated 

22 to be attained, in whole or in part. 

23 ‘‘(d) MANAGEMENT.—The Secretary shall ensure 

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1 aged by an interdisciplinary team consisting of the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(1) A project manager who is— 

4 ‘‘(A) certified in project management at 

5 level three by the Department or the Depart6 ment of Defense pursuant to section 1701a of 

7 title 10, or who holds an equivalent certification 

8 by a private sector project management certifi9 cation organization, as determined appropriate 

10 by the Secretary; and 

11 ‘‘(B) an employee of the Office of Informa12 tion and Technology of the Department or an 

13 employee of an element of the Department at 

14 which the project originates. 

15 ‘‘(2) A functional lead who is an employee of 

16 the element of the Department at which the project 

17 originates. 

18 ‘‘(3) A technical lead who is an employee of the 

19 Office of Information and Technology of the Depart20 ment. 

21 ‘‘(4) A contracting officer. 

22 ‘‘(5) Sufficient other project management, func23 tional, technical, and procurement personnel as the 

24 Secretary determines appropriate. 


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1 ‘‘§ 8173. Information technology activities of the Fi2 nancial Services Center 

3 ‘‘(a) MANAGEMENT.—Consistent with sections 11302 

4 and 11319 of title 40— 

5 ‘‘(1) the Chief Information Officer of the De6 partment shall— 

7 ‘‘(A) exercise authority over the manage8 ment, governance, and oversight processes relat9 ing to information technology of the Financial 

10 Services Center of the Department, or such suc11 cessor office; and 

12 ‘‘(B) supervise the information technology 

13 employees and contractors of the Financial 

14 Services Center; and 

15 ‘‘(2) the Director of the Financial Services Cen16 ter of the Department, or the head of such successor 

17 office, may not enter into a contract or other agree18 ment for information technology or information tech19 nology services unless the contract or other agree20 ment has been reviewed and approved by the Chief 

21 Information Officer. 

22 ‘‘(b) OVERSIGHT.—The Chief Information Officer 

23 shall have oversight and operational authority over all in24 formation security practices of the Financial Services Cen25 ter of the Department. 


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1 ‘‘§ 8174. Submission of annual reviews of information 

2 technology 

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 

4 the Chief Information Officer of the Department, shall 

5 submit to the appropriate congressional committees each 

6 annual review of the information technology portfolio of 

7 the Department conducted pursuant to section 

8 11319(d)(3) of title 40. 

9 ‘‘(b) FIRST SUBMISSION.—The first annual review 

10 submitted under subsection (a) shall include a copy of 

11 each previous annual review conducted under section 

12 11319(d)(3) of title 40. 

13 ‘‘§ 8175. Information technology matters to be in14 cluded in budget justification materials 

15 for the Department 

16 ‘‘(a) LIST OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS

17 IN EFFECT.—(1) The Secretary shall ensure that when18 ever the budget justification materials are submitted to 

19 Congress in support of the Department budget for a fiscal 

20 year (as submitted with the budget of the President for 

21 such fiscal year under section 1105(a) of title 31), such 

22 budget justification materials include a list of every infor23 mation technology project currently in effect at the De24 partment. 


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1 ‘‘(2) Each list included under paragraph (1) shall in2 clude, for each information technology project included in 

3 the list, the following: 

4 ‘‘(A) The expenditures to date. 

5 ‘‘(B) Planned expenditures for the upcoming 

6 fiscal year. 

7 ‘‘(C) The scheduled completion date. 

8 ‘‘(D) Any known deviation from the schedule, 

9 such as whether the information technology project 

10 is behind schedule. 

11 ‘‘(E) The planned or actual functionality deliv12 ered. 

13 ‘‘(b) PRIORITIZED LIST OF UNFUNDED PROJECTS.— 

14 (1) In addition to the list included in the budget justifica15 tion materials required by subsection (a), the Secretary 

16 shall ensure that the budget justification materials de17 scribed in such subsection also include a prioritized list, 

18 in rank order, of every proposed project of the Department 

19 that is unfunded as of the time of the inclusion of the 

20 list under this paragraph. 

21 ‘‘(2) In producing the list required by paragraph (1), 

22 the Secretary shall— 

23 ‘‘(A) ensure such list represents a ranking of all 

24 proposed projects that reflects the needs of all com25 ponents of the Department; 


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1 ‘‘(B) produce one unified list for the entire De2 partment that shows how the various proposed 

3 projects of each of the components of the Depart4 ment rank in priority with the projects of the other 

5 components of the Department; and 

6 ‘‘(C) ensure that the list— 

7 ‘‘(i) does not disaggregate and rank 

8 projects based on component of the Depart9 ment; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) does identify the component of the 

11 Department requesting the information tech12 nology project. 

13 ‘‘(3)(A) In producing each list under paragraph (1), 

14 the Secretary shall prioritize and rank each information 

15 technology project based on an assessment of each of the 

16 following factors: 

17 ‘‘(i) Tangible benefits to veterans created or 

18 produced by the information technology project. 

19 ‘‘(ii) Operational or efficiency benefits to em20 ployees of the Department created or produced by 

21 the information technology project. 

22 ‘‘(iii) The cost of the information technology 

23 project. 

24 ‘‘(iv) The cost savings or cost avoidance yielded 

25 by the information technology project. 


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1 ‘‘(v) Time to completion of the information 

2 technology project. 

3 ‘‘(vi) The difficulty of the information tech4 nology project, the likelihood the information tech5 nology project will be completed, or the risks associ6 ated with undertaking the information technology 

7 project. 

8 ‘‘(vii) Such other factors as the Secretary con9 siders appropriate. 

10 ‘‘(B) The Secretary shall ensure that each list pro11 duced under paragraph (1) includes, for each information 

12 technology project included in the list, a brief description 

13 of the findings of the Secretary with respect to each as14 sessment carried out by the Secretary for each factor for 

15 the information technology project under subparagraph 

16 (A). 

17 ‘‘(c) PROJECTED FUNDING NEEDS.—(1) In addition 

18 to the matters included under subsections (a) and (b), the 

19 Secretary shall ensure that the budget justification mate20 rials described in subsection (a) also include a projection 

21 of the one-year, five-year, and 10-year funding needs of 

22 the Department for information technology, disaggregated 

23 by major business line of the Department that requires 

24 the funding. 


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1 ‘‘(2) In addition to the projections under paragraph 

2 (1), the Secretary shall include a description of the fol3 lowing, with respect to each of the periods set forth in 

4 such paragraph, disaggregated by major business line of 

5 the Department: 

6 ‘‘(A) The information technology infrastructure 

7 and equipment requirements. 

8 ‘‘(B) The funding required for development. 

9 ‘‘(C) The funding required for operations and 

10 maintenance. 

11 ‘‘(D) The funding required by cybersecurity. 

12 ‘‘(E) Such other categories of the information 

13 technology needs of the Department as the Secretary 

14 considers relevant and important. 

15 ‘‘(d) DECOMMISSIONING OF INFORMATION TECH16 NOLOGY SYSTEMS.—(1) In addition to the matters in17 cluded under subsections (a), (b), and (c), the Secretary 

18 shall ensure that the budget justification materials de19 scribed in subsection (a) also include information about 

20 the decommissioning of information technology systems 

21 and applications of the Department. 

22 ‘‘(2) Information included under paragraph (1) shall 

23 include the following: 

24 ‘‘(A) A list of information systems and applica25 tions of the Department that have been scheduled 


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1 for decommissioning or the Secretary proposes de2 commissioning. 

3 ‘‘(B) For each information technology system 

4 and application listed under subparagraph (A), the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘(i) The cost of maintaining the informa7 tion technology system or application. 

8 ‘‘(ii) A projection of the cost avoided if the 

9 information technology system or application 

10 were to be decommissioned. 

11 ‘‘(iii) A schedule for decommissioning the 

12 information technology system or application. 

13 ‘‘(iv) Whether a transition plan for the 

14 functionality of the information technology sys15 tem or application to be provided, when appro16 priate, by other information technology systems 

17 or applications of the Department has been de18 veloped. 

19 ‘‘(v) Performance data regarding whether 

20 the Department has decommissioned the infor21 mation technology system or application that 

22 was set forth under clause (iii) in the budget 

23 justification materials for the previous fiscal 

24 year.’’. 


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1 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

2 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by adding 

3 at the end the following: 

‘‘SUBCHAPTER VI—INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES

‘‘Sec. 8171. Definitions. 

‘‘Sec. 8172. Management of major information technology projects. 

‘‘Sec. 8173. Information technology activities of the Financial Services Center. 

‘‘Sec. 8174. Submission of annual reviews of information technology. 

‘‘Sec. 8175. Information technology matters to be included in budget justification materials for the Department.’’. 

4 (c) APPLICATION; REPORT.— 

5 (1) CURRENT AND NEW PROJECTS.—Except as 

6 specifically provided in subsection (a) of section 

7 8172 of title 38, United States Code, as added by 

8 subsection (a) of this section, such section 8172 

9 shall apply with respect to major information tech10 nology projects that begin before, on, or after the 

11 date of the enactment of this Act. 

12 (2) REPORT ON CURRENT PROJECTS.— 

13 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 

14 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

15 Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to 

16 the appropriate congressional committees a re17 port on each major information technology 

18 project that the Secretary is carrying out as of 

19 the date of the report. 

20 (B) CONTENTS.—The report submitted 

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1 graph, information on the cost, schedule, and 

2 performance of the project as described in sub3 section (a) of section 8172 of such title, as so 

4 added. 

5 (3) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the 

6 terms ‘‘appropriate congressional committees’’ and 

7 ‘‘major information technology project’’ have the 

8 meanings given those terms in section 8171 of title 

9 38, United States Code, as added by subsection (a) 

10 of this section. 

11 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE OF REQUIREMENT FOR

12 PROJECTS IN BUDGET JUSTIFICATION MATERIALS.— 

13 Subsection (c) of section 8175 of such title, as added by 

14 subsection (a) of this section, shall take effect on the first 

15 Monday in the second January beginning after the date 

16 of the enactment of this Act. 

17 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE OF DECOMMISSIONING PER18 FORMANCE ELEMENT OF BUDGET JUSTIFICATION MATE19 RIALS.—Clause (v) of section 8175(d)(2)(B) of such title, 

20 as added by subsection (a) of this section, shall take effect 

21 on the first Monday in the second January beginning after 

22 the date of the enactment of this Act. 


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1 SEC. 3. ASSESSMENT OF SUITABILITY OF CLOUD MIGRA2 TION INVESTMENTS. 

3 (a) ASSESSMENT.—Not later than one year after the 

4 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet5 erans Affairs, acting through the Chief Information Offi6 cer of the Department of Veterans Affairs, shall conduct 

7 an assessment, in accordance with guidance from the Of8 fice of Management and Budget, of all information tech9 nology investments of the Department of Veterans Affairs 

10 to determine the suitability of the investments for migra11 tion to a cloud computing service. 

12 (b) CONSISTENT MECHANISM.—The Secretary, act13 ing through the Chief Information Officer, shall establish 

14 a consistent and repeatable mechanism to track savings 

15 and cost avoidances from— 

16 (1) the migration of information technology in17 vestments to cloud computing services; and 

18 (2) the deployment of cloud computing services. 

19 SEC. 4. REPORT ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DASH20 BOARD INFORMATION. 

21 (a) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the date 

22 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans 

23 Affairs, acting through the Chief Information Officer of 

24 the Department of Veterans Affairs, shall submit to the 

25 appropriate congressional committees a report con26 taining— 


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1 (1) an explanation of the ratings, rankings, and 

2 risk categorizations used by the Chief Information 

3 Officer pursuant to subparagraph (C) of section 

4 11302(c)(3) of title 40, United States Code, with re5 spect to the information technology dashboard of the 

6 Office of Management and Budget developed under 

7 such section; and 

8 (2) copies of supporting or explanatory informa9 tion provided by the Chief Information Officer to the 

10 Office of Management and Budget with respect to 

11 submissions by the Chief Information Officer to the 

12 information technology dashboard for the fiscal year 

13 in which the report is submitted (other than infor14 mation not otherwise made public pursuant to such 

15 section). 

16 (b) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES

17 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate con18 gressional committees’’ has the meaning given such term 

19 in section 8171 of title 38, United States Code, as added 

20 by section 2. 

Æ 


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