II 

Calendar No. 240 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 886 

[Report No. 115–170] 

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 

OCTOBER 16, 2017 

Reported by Mr. JOHNSON, without amendment 

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’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ACQUISITION REVIEW BOARD. 

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

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

4 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 836. ACQUISITION REVIEW BOARD. 

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

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

8 the meaning given the term in section 131 of title 

9 41, United States Code. 

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

11 term ‘acquisition decision authority’ means the au12 thority, held by the Secretary acting through the 

13 Deputy Secretary or Under Secretary for Manage14 ment to— 

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

16 the Federal Acquisition Regulation, and De17 partment acquisition management directives; 

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

19 modifying, or cancelling) an acquisition pro20 gram through the life cycle of the program; 

21 ‘‘(C) ensure that acquisition program man22 agers have the resources necessary to success23 fully execute an approved acquisition program; 

24 ‘‘(D) ensure good acquisition program 

25 management of cost, schedule, risk, and system 

26 performance of the acquisition program at 


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1 issue, including assessing acquisition program 

2 baseline breaches and directing any corrective 

3 action for such breaches; and 

4 ‘‘(E) ensure that acquisition program man5 agers, on an ongoing basis, monitor cost, sched6 ule, and performance against established base7 lines and use tools to assess risks to an acquisi8 tion program at all phases of the life cycle of 

9 such program to avoid and mitigate acquisition 

10 program baseline breaches. 

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

12 ‘acquisition decision event’, with respect to an acqui13 sition program, means a predetermined point within 

14 each of the acquisition phases at which the acquisi15 tion decision authority determines whether the ac16 quisition program shall proceed to the next acquisi17 tion phase. 

18 ‘‘(4) ACQUISITION DECISION MEMORANDUM.— 

19 The term ‘acquisition decision memorandum’, with 

20 respect to an acquisition, means the official acquisi21 tion decision event record that includes a docu22 mented record of decisions, exit criteria, and as23 signed actions for the acquisition, as determined by 

24 the person exercising acquisition decision authority 

25 for the acquisition. 


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1 ‘‘(5) ACQUISITION PROGRAM.—The term ‘acqui2 sition program’ means the process by which the De3 partment acquires, with any appropriated amounts, 

4 by contract for purchase or lease, property or serv5 ices (including construction) that support the mis6 sions and goals of the Department. 

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

8 term ‘acquisition program baseline’, with respect to 

9 an acquisition program, means a summary of the 

10 cost, schedule, and performance parameters, ex11 pressed in standard, measurable, quantitative terms, 

12 which must be met in order to accomplish the goals 

13 of such program. 

14 ‘‘(7) BEST PRACTICES.—The term ‘best prac15 tices’, with respect to acquisition, means a knowl16 edge-based approach to capability development that 

17 includes— 

18 ‘‘(A) identifying and validating needs; 

19 ‘‘(B) assessing alternatives to select the 

20 most appropriate solution; 

21 ‘‘(C) clearly establishing well-defined re22 quirements; 

23 ‘‘(D) developing realistic cost assessments 

24 and schedules; 


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1 ‘‘(E) securing stable funding that matches 

2 resources to requirements; 

3 ‘‘(F) demonstrating technology, design, 

4 and manufacturing maturity; 

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

6 specific accomplishments that demonstrate 

7 progress; 

8 ‘‘(H) adopting and executing standardized 

9 processes with known success across programs; 

10 ‘‘(I) establishing an adequate workforce 

11 that is qualified and sufficient to perform nec12 essary functions; and 

13 ‘‘(J) integrating the capabilities described 

14 in subparagraphs (A) through (I) into the mis15 sion and business operations of the Depart16 ment. 

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

19 under subsection (b). 

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

21 ‘major acquisition program’ means a Department 

22 acquisition program that is estimated by the Sec23 retary to require an eventual total expenditure of not 

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


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1 constant dollars) over the life cycle cost of the acqui2 sition 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 processes 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 has met the requirements of key phases of the acqui22 sition life cycle framework and is able to proceed to 

23 the next phase and eventual full production and de24 ployment. 


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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 in determining the 

7 appropriate direction for the acquisition at key ac8 quisition decision events. 

9 ‘‘(4) Conduct systematic reviews of acquisitions 

10 to ensure that the acquisitions are progressing in 

11 compliance with the approved documents for their 

12 current acquisition phases. 

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

14 major acquisition program, including the acquisition 

15 program baseline and documentation reflecting con16 sideration of tradeoffs among cost, schedule, and 

17 performance objectives, to ensure the reliability of 

18 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— 

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

17 create and approve an acquisition program baseline 

18 report regarding such approval; and 

19 ‘‘(2) the Secretary shall— 

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

21 on which the acquisition decision memorandum 

22 is signed, notify in writing the Committee on 

23 Homeland Security of the House of Representa24 tives and the Committee on Homeland Security 


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1 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate of the 

2 decision; and 

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

4 on which the acquisition decision memorandum 

5 is signed, submit to the Committee on Home6 land Security of the House of Representatives 

7 and the Committee on Homeland Security and 

8 Governmental Affairs of the Senate a report 

9 stating the rationale for such decision and a 

10 plan of action to require an acquisition program 

11 baseline for such program. 

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

13 of enactment of this section and every year thereafter 

14 through fiscal year 2022, the Under Secretary for Man15 agement shall provide information to the Committee on 

16 Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and 

17 the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 

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

19 the prior fiscal year that includes information relating to 

20 the following: 

21 ‘‘(1) For each meeting of the Board, any acqui22 sition decision memoranda. 

23 ‘‘(2) Results of the systematic reviews con24 ducted under subsection (e)(4). 


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1 ‘‘(3) Results of acquisition document reviews re2 quired under subsection (e)(5). 

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

4 adopted and implemented throughout the Depart5 ment under subsection (e)(6).’’. 

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

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

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

9 relating to section 835 the following: 

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


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Calendar No. 240 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 886 

[Report No. 115–170] 

A BILL 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to 

purposes. partment of Homeland Security, and for other establish an Acquisition Review Board in the DeOCTOBER 16, 2017 

Reported without amendment 


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