II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 146 

To strengthen accountability for deployment of border security technology 

at the Department of Homeland Security, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 12, 2017 

Mr. MCCAIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To strengthen accountability for deployment of border security technology at 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 ‘‘Border Security Tech5 nology Accountability Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. BORDER SECURITY TECHNOLOGY ACCOUNT7 ABILITY. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle C of title IV of the 

9 Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 231 et seq.) 

10 is amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 434. BORDER SECURITY TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM 

2 MANAGEMENT. 

3 ‘‘(a) PLANNING DOCUMENTATION.—For each border 

4 security technology acquisition program of the Depart5 ment that is determined to be a major acquisition pro6 gram, the Secretary shall— 

7 ‘‘(1) ensure that each such program has a writ8 ten acquisition program baseline approved by the 

9 relevant acquisition decision authority; 

10 ‘‘(2) document that each such program is meet11 ing cost, schedule, and performance thresholds as 

12 specified in such baseline, in compliance with rel13 evant departmental acquisition policies and the Fed14 eral Acquisition Regulation; and 

15 ‘‘(3) have a plan for meeting program imple16 mentation objectives by managing contractor per17 formance. 

18 ‘‘(b) ADHERENCE TO STANDARDS.—The Secretary, 

19 acting through the Under Secretary for Management and 

20 the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 

21 shall ensure that border security technology acquisition 

22 program managers who are responsible for carrying out 

23 this section adhere to relevant internal control standards 

24 identified by the Comptroller General of the United 

25 States. The Commissioner shall provide information, as 

26 needed, to assist the Under Secretary in monitoring propVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:50 Jan 26, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S146.IS S146

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1 er program management of border security technology ac2 quisition programs under this section. 

3 ‘‘(c) PLAN.—The Secretary, acting through the 

4 Under Secretary for Management, and in coordination 

5 with the Under Secretary for Science and Technology and 

6 the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 

7 shall submit a plan to the appropriate congressional com8 mittees for testing and evaluation, and the use of inde9 pendent verification and validation resources, for border 

10 security technology so that new border security tech11 nologies are evaluated through a series of assessments, 

12 processes, and audits to ensure— 

13 ‘‘(1) compliance with relevant departmental ac14 quisition policies and the Federal Acquisition Regu15 lation; and 

16 ‘‘(2) the effectiveness of taxpayer dollars. 

17 ‘‘(d) MAJOR ACQUISITION PROGRAM DEFINED.—In 

18 this section, the term ‘major acquisition program’ means 

19 a Department acquisition program that is estimated by 

20 the Secretary to require an eventual total expenditure of 

21 at least $300,000,000 (based on fiscal year 2017 constant 

22 dollars) over its life cycle cost.’’. 

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

24 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is amended by in25 serting after the item relating to section 433 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 434. Border security technology program management.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON ADDITIONAL AUTHORIZATION OF 

2 APPROPRIATIONS. 

3 No additional funds are authorized to be appro4 priated to carry out this Act or the amendments made 

5 by this Act. This Act and such amendments shall be car6 ried out using amounts otherwise available for such pur7 poses. 

Æ 


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