115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 886 

AN ACT 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish 

an Acquisition Review Board in the Department of 

Homeland Security, 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, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘DHS Acquisition Re3 view Board Act of 2017’’. 

4 SEC. 2. ACQUISITION REVIEW BOARD. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle D of title VIII of the 

6 Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 391 et seq.) 

7 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 836. ACQUISITION REVIEW BOARD. 

9 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

10 ‘‘(1) ACQUISITION.—The term ‘acquisition’ has 

11 the meaning given the term in section 131 of title 

12 41, United States Code. 

13 ‘‘(2) ACQUISITION DECISION AUTHORITY.—The 

14 term ‘acquisition decision authority’ means the au15 thority, held by the Secretary acting through the 

16 Deputy Secretary or Under Secretary for Manage17 ment to— 

18 ‘‘(A) ensure compliance with Federal law, 

19 the Federal Acquisition Regulation, and De20 partment acquisition management directives; 

21 ‘‘(B) review (including approving, pausing, 

22 modifying, or cancelling) an acquisition pro23 gram through the life cycle of the program; 

24 ‘‘(C) advocate for acquisition program 

25 managers to have the resources necessary to 
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1 successfully execute an approved acquisition 

2 program; 

3 ‘‘(D) ensure good acquisition program 

4 management of cost, schedule, risk, and system 

5 performance of the acquisition program at 

6 issue, including assessing acquisition program 

7 baseline breaches and directing any corrective 

8 action for such breaches; and 

9 ‘‘(E) monitor, on an ongoing basis, cost, 

10 schedule, and performance of acquisition pro11 grams in order to manage risk at all phases of 

12 the life cycle of such program and direct correc13 tive action for any variances that would lead to 

14 baseline breaches. 

15 ‘‘(3) ACQUISITION DECISION EVENT.—The term 

16 ‘acquisition decision event’, with respect to an acqui17 sition program, means a predetermined point within 

18 each of the acquisition phases at which the acquisi19 tion decision authority determines whether the ac20 quisition program shall proceed to the next acquisi21 tion phase. 

22 ‘‘(4) ACQUISITION DECISION MEMORANDUM.— 

23 The term ‘acquisition decision memorandum’, with 

24 respect to an acquisition program, means the official 

25 acquisition decision event record that includes a doc-
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1 umented record of decisions, exit criteria, and as2 signed actions for the acquisition program, as deter3 mined by the person exercising acquisition decision 

4 authority for the acquisition. 

5 ‘‘(5) ACQUISITION PROGRAM.—The term ‘acqui6 sition program’ means the process by which the De7 partment acquires, with any appropriated amounts, 

8 by contract for purchase or lease, property or serv9 ices (including construction) that support the mis10 sions and goals of the Department. 

11 ‘‘(6) ACQUISITION PROGRAM BASELINE.—The 

12 term ‘acquisition program baseline’, with respect to 

13 an acquisition program, means a summary of the 

14 cost, schedule, and performance parameters, ex15 pressed in standard, measurable, quantitative terms, 

16 which must be met in order to accomplish the goals 

17 of such program. 

18 ‘‘(7) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON19 GRESS.—The term ‘appropriate committees of Con20 gress’ means— 

21 ‘‘(A) the Committee on Homeland Security 

22 of the House of Representatives and the Com23 mittee on Homeland Security and Govern24 mental Affairs of the Senate; 
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1 ‘‘(B) in the case of notice or a report relat2 ing to the Coast Guard, the committees de3 scribed in subparagraph (A) and the Committee 

4 on Transportation and Infrastructure of the 

5 House of Representatives and the Committee 

6 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 

7 the Senate; and 

8 ‘‘(C) in the case of notice or a report relat9 ing to the Transportation Security Administra10 tion, the committees described in subparagraph 

11 (A) and the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

12 and Transportation of the Senate. 

13 ‘‘(8) BEST PRACTICES.—The term ‘best prac14 tices’, with respect to acquisition, means a knowl15 edge-based approach to capability development that 

16 includes— 

17 ‘‘(A) identifying and validating needs; 

18 ‘‘(B) assessing alternatives to select the 

19 most appropriate solution; 

20 ‘‘(C) clearly establishing well-defined re21 quirements; 

22 ‘‘(D) developing realistic cost estimates 

23 and schedules; 

24 ‘‘(E) securing stable funding that matches 

25 resources to requirements; 
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1 ‘‘(F) demonstrating technology, design, 

2 and manufacturing maturity; 

3 ‘‘(G) using milestones and exit criteria or 

4 specific accomplishments that demonstrate 

5 progress; 

6 ‘‘(H) adopting and executing standardized 

7 processes with known success across programs; 

8 ‘‘(I) establishing an adequate workforce 

9 that is qualified and sufficient to perform nec10 essary functions; 

11 ‘‘(J) integrating the capabilities described 

12 in subparagraphs (A) through (I) into the mis13 sion and business operations of the Depart14 ment; and 

15 ‘‘(K) any other criteria as determined by 

16 the Under Secretary for Management. 

17 ‘‘(9) BOARD.—The term ‘Board’ means the Ac18 quisition Review Board required to be established 

19 under subsection (b). 

20 ‘‘(10) MAJOR ACQUISITION PROGRAM.—The 

21 term ‘major acquisition program’ means a Depart22 ment acquisition program that is estimated by the 

23 Secretary to require an eventual total expenditure of 

24 not less than $300,000,000 (based on fiscal year 
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1 2017 constant dollars) over the life cycle cost of the 

2 acquisition program. 

3 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF BOARD.—The Secretary 

4 shall establish an Acquisition Review Board to— 

5 ‘‘(1) strengthen accountability and uniformity 

6 within the Department acquisition review process; 

7 ‘‘(2) review major acquisition programs; and 

8 ‘‘(3) review the use of best practices. 

9 ‘‘(c) COMPOSITION.— 

10 ‘‘(1) CHAIRPERSON.—The Under Secretary for 

11 Management shall serve as chairperson of the 

12 Board. 

13 ‘‘(2) OTHER MEMBERS.—The Secretary shall 

14 ensure participation by other relevant Department 

15 officials, including not fewer than 2 component 

16 heads or their designees, as permanent members of 

17 the Board. 

18 ‘‘(d) MEETINGS.— 

19 ‘‘(1) REGULAR MEETINGS.—The Board shall 

20 meet regularly for purposes of ensuring all acquisi21 tions programs proceed in a timely fashion to 

22 achieve mission readiness. 

23 ‘‘(2) OTHER MEETINGS.—The Board shall con24 vene— 
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1 ‘‘(A) at the discretion of the Secretary; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(B) at any time— 

4 ‘‘(i) a major acquisition program— 

5 ‘‘(I) requires authorization to 

6 proceed from one acquisition decision 

7 event to another throughout the ac8 quisition life cycle; 

9 ‘‘(II) is in breach of the approved 

10 requirements of the major acquisition 

11 program; or 

12 ‘‘(III) requires additional review, 

13 as determined by the Under Secretary 

14 for Management; or 

15 ‘‘(ii) a non-major acquisition program 

16 requires review, as determined by the 

17 Under Secretary for Management. 

18 ‘‘(e) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The responsibilities of the 

19 Board are as follows: 

20 ‘‘(1) Determine whether a proposed acquisition 

21 program has met the requirements of phases of the 

22 acquisition life cycle framework and is able to pro23 ceed to the next phase and eventual full production 

24 and deployment. 
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1 ‘‘(2) Oversee whether the business strategy, re2 sources, management, and accountability of a pro3 posed acquisition is executable and is aligned to 

4 strategic initiatives. 

5 ‘‘(3) Support the person with acquisition deci6 sion authority for an acquisition program in deter7 mining the appropriate direction for the acquisition 

8 at key acquisition decision events. 

9 ‘‘(4) Conduct reviews of acquisitions to ensure 

10 that the acquisitions are progressing in compliance 

11 with the approved documents for their current acqui12 sition phases. 

13 ‘‘(5) Review the acquisition program documents 

14 of each major acquisition program, including the ac15 quisition program baseline and documentation re16 flecting consideration of tradeoffs among cost, 

17 schedule, and performance objectives, to ensure the 

18 reliability of underlying data. 

19 ‘‘(6) Ensure that practices are adopted and im20 plemented to require consideration of trade-offs 

21 among cost, schedule, and performance objectives as 

22 part of the process for developing requirements for 

23 major acquisition programs prior to the initiation of 

24 the second acquisition decision event, including, at a 

25 minimum, the following practices: 
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1 ‘‘(A) Department officials responsible for 

2 acquisition, budget, and cost estimating func3 tions are provided with the appropriate oppor4 tunity to develop estimates and raise cost and 

5 schedule matters before performance objectives 

6 are established for capabilities when feasible. 

7 ‘‘(B) Full consideration is given to possible 

8 trade-offs among cost, schedule, and perform9 ance objectives for each alternative. 

10 ‘‘(f) ACQUISITION PROGRAM BASELINE REPORT RE11 QUIREMENT.—If the person exercising acquisition decision 

12 authority over a major acquisition program approves the 

13 major acquisition program to proceed into the planning 

14 phase before the major acquisition program has a Depart15 ment-approved acquisition program baseline, as required 

16 by Department policy— 

17 ‘‘(1) the Under Secretary for Management shall 

18 create and approve an acquisition program baseline 

19 report regarding such approval; and 

20 ‘‘(2) the Secretary shall— 

21 ‘‘(A) not later than 7 days after the date 

22 on which the acquisition decision memorandum 

23 is signed, provide written notice of the decision 

24 to the appropriate committees of Congress; and 
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1 ‘‘(B) not later than 60 days after the date 

2 on which the acquisition decision memorandum 

3 is signed, submit a report stating the rationale 

4 for such decision and a plan of action to require 

5 an acquisition program baseline for such pro6 gram to the appropriate committees of Con7 gress. 

8 ‘‘(g) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

9 of enactment of this section and every year thereafter 

10 through fiscal year 2022, the Under Secretary for Man11 agement shall provide information to the appropriate com12 mittees of Congress on the activities of the Board for the 

13 prior fiscal year that includes information relating to the 

14 following: 

15 ‘‘(1) For each meeting of the Board, any acqui16 sition decision memoranda. 

17 ‘‘(2) Results of the systematic reviews con18 ducted under subsection (e)(4). 

19 ‘‘(3) Results of acquisition document reviews re20 quired under subsection (e)(5). 

21 ‘‘(4) Activities to ensure that practices are 

22 adopted and implemented throughout the Depart23 ment under subsection (e)(6).’’. 

24 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

25 in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 
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1 U.S.C. 101 et seq.) is amended by inserting after the item 

2 relating to section 835 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 836. Acquisition Review Board.’’. 

Passed the Senate November 9, 2017. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 886 

AN ACT 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to 

purposes. partment of Homeland Security, and for other establish an Acquisition Review Board in the De-