II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 886 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish an Acquisition 

Review Board in the Department of Homeland Security, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 6 (legislative day, APRIL 4), 2017 

Mr. DAINES (for himself and Mrs. MCCASKILL) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘DHS Acquisition Re5 view Board Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ACQUISITION REVIEW BOARD. 

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

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

9 is amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 836. ACQUISITION REVIEW BOARD. 

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

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

4 the meaning given the term in section 131 of title 

5 41, United States Code. 

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

7 term ‘acquisition decision authority’ means the au8 thority, held by the Secretary acting through the 

9 Deputy Secretary or Under Secretary for Manage10 ment to— 

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

12 the Federal Acquisition Regulation, and De13 partment acquisition management directives; 

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

15 modifying, or cancelling) an acquisition pro16 gram through the life cycle of the program; 

17 ‘‘(C) ensure that acquisition program man18 agers have the resources necessary to success19 fully execute an approved acquisition program; 

20 ‘‘(D) ensure good acquisition program 

21 management of cost, schedule, risk, and system 

22 performance of the acquisition program at 

23 issue, including assessing acquisition program 

24 baseline breaches and directing any corrective 

25 action for such breaches; and 


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1 ‘‘(E) ensure that acquisition program man2 agers, on an ongoing basis, monitor cost, sched3 ule, and performance against established base4 lines and use tools to assess risks to an acquisi5 tion program at all phases of the life cycle of 

6 such program to avoid and mitigate acquisition 

7 program baseline breaches. 

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

9 ‘acquisition decision event’, with respect to an acqui10 sition program, means a predetermined point within 

11 each of the acquisition phases at which the acquisi12 tion decision authority determines whether the ac13 quisition program shall proceed to the next acquisi14 tion phase. 

15 ‘‘(4) ACQUISITION DECISION MEMORANDUM.— 

16 The term ‘acquisition decision memorandum’, with 

17 respect to an acquisition, means the official acquisi18 tion decision event record that includes a docu19 mented record of decisions, exit criteria, and as20 signed actions for the acquisition, as determined by 

21 the person exercising acquisition decision authority 

22 for the acquisition. 

23 ‘‘(5) ACQUISITION PROGRAM.—The term ‘acqui24 sition program’ means the process by which the De25 partment acquires, with any appropriated amounts, 


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1 by contract for purchase or lease, property or serv2 ices (including construction) that support the mis3 sions and goals of the Department. 

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

5 term ‘acquisition program baseline’, with respect to 

6 an acquisition program, means a summary of the 

7 cost, schedule, and performance parameters, ex8 pressed in standard, measurable, quantitative terms, 

9 which must be met in order to accomplish the goals 

10 of such program. 

11 ‘‘(7) BEST PRACTICES.—The term ‘best prac12 tices’, with respect to acquisition, means a knowl13 edge-based approach to capability development that 

14 includes— 

15 ‘‘(A) identifying and validating needs; 

16 ‘‘(B) assessing alternatives to select the 

17 most appropriate solution; 

18 ‘‘(C) clearly establishing well-defined re19 quirements; 

20 ‘‘(D) developing realistic cost assessments 

21 and schedules; 

22 ‘‘(E) securing stable funding that matches 

23 resources to requirements; 

24 ‘‘(F) demonstrating technology, design, 

25 and manufacturing maturity; 


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

2 specific accomplishments that demonstrate 

3 progress; 

4 ‘‘(H) adopting and executing standardized 

5 processes with known success across programs; 

6 ‘‘(I) establishing an adequate workforce 

7 that is qualified and sufficient to perform nec8 essary functions; and 

9 ‘‘(J) integrating the capabilities described 

10 in subparagraphs (A) through (I) into the mis11 sion and business operations of the Depart12 ment. 

13 ‘‘(8) BOARD.—The term ‘Board’ means the Ac14 quisition Review Board required to be established 

15 under subsection (b). 

16 ‘‘(9) MAJOR ACQUISITION PROGRAM.—The term 

17 ‘major acquisition program’ means a Department 

18 acquisition program that is estimated by the Sec19 retary to require an eventual total expenditure of not 

20 less than $300,000,000 (based on fiscal year 2017 

21 constant dollars) over the life cycle cost of the acqui22 sition program. 

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

24 shall establish an Acquisition Review Board to— 


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1 ‘‘(1) strengthen accountability and uniformity 

2 within the Department acquisition review process; 

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

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

5 ‘‘(c) COMPOSITION.— 

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

7 Management shall serve as chairperson of the 

8 Board. 

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

10 ensure participation by other relevant Department 

11 officials, including not fewer than 2 component 

12 heads or their designees, as permanent members of 

13 the Board. 

14 ‘‘(d) MEETINGS.— 

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

16 meet regularly for purposes of ensuring all acquisi17 tions processes proceed in a timely fashion to 

18 achieve mission readiness. 

19 ‘‘(2) OTHER MEETINGS.—The Board shall con20 vene— 

21 ‘‘(A) at the discretion of the Secretary; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(B) at any time— 

24 ‘‘(i) a major acquisition program— 


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1 ‘‘(I) requires authorization to 

2 proceed from one acquisition decision 

3 event to another throughout the ac4 quisition life cycle; 

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

6 requirements of the major acquisition 

7 program; or 

8 ‘‘(III) requires additional review, 

9 as determined by the Under Secretary 

10 for Management; or 

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

12 requires review, as determined by the 

13 Under Secretary for Management. 

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

15 Board are as follows: 

16 ‘‘(1) Determine whether a proposed acquisition 

17 has met the requirements of key phases of the acqui18 sition life cycle framework and is able to proceed to 

19 the next phase and eventual full production and de20 ployment. 

21 ‘‘(2) Oversee whether the business strategy, re22 sources, management, and accountability of a pro23 posed acquisition is executable and is aligned to 

24 strategic initiatives. 


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1 ‘‘(3) Support the person with acquisition deci2 sion authority for an acquisition in determining the 

3 appropriate direction for the acquisition at key ac4 quisition decision events. 

5 ‘‘(4) Conduct systematic reviews of acquisitions 

6 to ensure that the acquisitions are progressing in 

7 compliance with the approved documents for their 

8 current acquisition phases. 

9 ‘‘(5) Review the acquisition documents of each 

10 major acquisition program, including the acquisition 

11 program baseline and documentation reflecting con12 sideration of tradeoffs among cost, schedule, and 

13 performance objectives, to ensure the reliability of 

14 underlying data. 

15 ‘‘(6) Ensure that practices are adopted and im16 plemented to require consideration of trade-offs 

17 among cost, schedule, and performance objectives as 

18 part of the process for developing requirements for 

19 major acquisition programs prior to the initiation of 

20 the second acquisition decision event, including, at a 

21 minimum, the following practices: 

22 ‘‘(A) Department officials responsible for 

23 acquisition, budget, and cost estimating func24 tions are provided with the appropriate oppor25 tunity to develop estimates and raise cost and 


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1 schedule matters before performance objectives 

2 are established for capabilities when feasible. 

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

4 trade-offs among cost, schedule, and perform5 ance objectives for each alternative. 

6 ‘‘(f) ACQUISITION PROGRAM BASELINE REPORT RE7 QUIREMENT.—If the person exercising acquisition decision 

8 authority over a major acquisition program approves the 

9 major acquisition program to proceed into the planning 

10 phase before the major acquisition program has a Depart11 ment-approved acquisition program baseline— 

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

13 create and approve an acquisition program baseline 

14 report regarding such approval; and 

15 ‘‘(2) the Secretary shall— 

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

17 on which the acquisition decision memorandum 

18 is signed, notify in writing the Committee on 

19 Homeland Security of the House of Representa20 tives and the Committee on Homeland Security 

21 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate of the 

22 decision; and 

23 ‘‘(B) not later than 60 days after the date 

24 on which the acquisition decision memorandum 

25 is signed, submit to the Committee on HomeVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:30 Apr 17, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S886.IS S886

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1 land Security of the House of Representatives 

2 and the Committee on Homeland Security and 

3 Governmental Affairs of the Senate a report 

4 stating the rationale for such decision and a 

5 plan of action to require an acquisition program 

6 baseline for such program. 

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

8 of enactment of this section and every year thereafter 

9 through fiscal year 2022, the Under Secretary for Man10 agement shall provide information to the Committee on 

11 Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and 

12 the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 

13 Affairs of the Senate on the activities of the Board for 

14 the prior fiscal year that includes information relating to 

15 the following: 

16 ‘‘(1) For each meeting of the Board, any acqui17 sition decision memoranda. 

18 ‘‘(2) Results of the systematic reviews con19 ducted under subsection (e)(4). 

20 ‘‘(3) Results of acquisition document reviews re21 quired under subsection (e)(5). 

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

23 adopted and implemented throughout the Depart24 ment under subsection (e)(6).’’. 


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

2 in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 

3 U.S.C. 101 et seq.) is amended by inserting after the item 

4 relating to section 835 the following: 

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

Æ 


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