I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7310 

To require the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and 

Information to submit to Congress a plan for the modernization of 

the information technology systems of the National Telecommunications 

and Information Administration, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 24, 2020 

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania (for himself, Mr. LATTA, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, and Mr. WALBERG) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in 

addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 

provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information to submit to Congress a plan 

for the modernization of the information technology systems of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 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 ‘‘Spectrum IT Mod5 ernization Act of 2020’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MODERNIZATION EFFORT. 

2 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

3 (1) the term ‘‘Assistant Secretary’’ means the 

4 Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communica5 tions and Information; 

6 (2) the term ‘‘covered agency’’— 

7 (A) means any Federal entity that the As8 sistant Secretary determines is appropriate; and 

9 (B) includes the Department of Defense; 

10 (3) the term ‘‘Federal entity’’ has the meaning 

11 given the term in section 113(l) of the National 

12 Telecommunications and Information Administration 

13 Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 923(l)); 

14 (4) the term ‘‘Federal spectrum’’ means fre15 quencies assigned on a primary basis to a covered 

16 agency; 

17 (5) the term ‘‘infrastructure’’ means informa18 tion technology systems and information tech19 nologies, tools, and databases; and 

20 (6) the term ‘‘NTIA’’ means the National Tele21 communications and Information Administration. 

22 (b) INITIAL INTERAGENCY SPECTRUM INFORMATION

23 TECHNOLOGY COORDINATION.—Not later than 90 days 

24 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Assistant Sec25 retary, in consultation with the Policy and Plans Steering 

26 Group, shall identify a process to establish goals, including 


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1 parameters to measure the achievement of those goals, for 

2 the modernization of the infrastructure of covered agen3 cies relating to managing the use of Federal spectrum by 

4 those agencies, which shall include— 

5 (1) the standardization of data inputs, modeling 

6 algorithms, modeling and simulation processes, anal7 ysis tools with respect to Federal spectrum, assump8 tions, and any other tool to ensure interoperability 

9 and functionality with respect to that infrastructure; 

10 (2) other potential innovative technological ca11 pabilities with respect to that infrastructure, includ12 ing cloud-based databases, artificial intelligence tech13 nologies, automation, and improved modeling and 

14 simulation capabilities; 

15 (3) ways to improve the management of covered 

16 agencies’ use of Federal spectrum through that in17 frastructure, including by— 

18 (A) increasing the efficiency of that infra19 structure; 

20 (B) addressing validation of usage with re21 spect to that infrastructure; 

22 (C) increasing the accuracy of that infra23 structure; 

24 (D) validating models used by that infra25 structure; and 


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1 (E) monitoring and enforcing requirements 

2 that are imposed on covered agencies with re3 spect to the use of Federal spectrum by covered 

4 agencies; 

5 (4) ways to improve the ability of covered agen6 cies to meet mission requirements in congested envi7 ronments with respect to Federal spectrum, includ8 ing as part of automated adjustments to operations 

9 based on changing conditions in those environments; 

10 (5) the creation of a time-based automated 

11 mechanism— 

12 (A) to share Federal spectrum between 

13 covered agencies to collaboratively and dynami14 cally increase access to Federal spectrum by 

15 those agencies; and 

16 (B) that could be scaled across Federal 

17 spectrum; and 

18 (6) the collaboration between covered agencies 

19 necessary to ensure the interoperability of Federal 

20 spectrum. 

21 (c) SPECTRUM INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MOD22 ERNIZATION.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 240 days 

24 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Assist25 ant Secretary shall submit to Congress a report that 


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1 contains the plan of the NTIA to modernize and 

2 automate the infrastructure of the NTIA relating to 

3 managing the use of Federal spectrum by covered 

4 agencies so as to more efficiently manage that use. 

5 (2) CONTENTS.—The report required under 

6 paragraph (1) shall include— 

7 (A) an assessment of the current, as of the 

8 date on which the report is submitted, infra9 structure of the NTIA described in that para10 graph; 

11 (B) an acquisition strategy for the modern12 ized infrastructure of the NTIA described in 

13 that paragraph, including how that modernized 

14 infrastructure will enable covered agencies to be 

15 more efficient and effective in the use of Fed16 eral spectrum; 

17 (C) a timeline for the implementation of 

18 the modernization efforts described in that 

19 paragraph; 

20 (D) plans detailing how the modernized in21 frastructure of the NTIA described in that 

22 paragraph will— 

23 (i) enhance the security and reliability 

24 of that infrastructure so that such infra25 structure satisfies the requirements of the 


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1 Federal Information Security Management 

2 Act of 2002 (Public Law 107–296; 116 

3 Stat. 2135); 

4 (ii) improve data models and analysis 

5 tools to increase the efficiency of the spec6 trum use described in that paragraph; 

7 (iii) enhance automation and work8 flows, and reduce the scope and level of 

9 manual effort, in order to— 

10 (I) administer the management 

11 of the spectrum use described in that 

12 paragraph; and 

13 (II) improve data quality and 

14 processing time; and 

15 (iv) improve the timeliness of spec16 trum analyses and requests for informa17 tion, including requests submitted pursu18 ant to section 552 of title 5, United States 

19 Code; 

20 (E) an operations and maintenance plan 

21 with respect to the modernized infrastructure of 

22 the NTIA described in that paragraph; 

23 (F) a strategy for coordination between the 

24 covered agencies within the Policy and Plans 

25 Steering Group, which shall include— 


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1 (i) a description of— 

2 (I) those coordination efforts, as 

3 in effect on the date on which the re4 port is submitted; and 

5 (II) a plan for coordination of 

6 those efforts after the date on which 

7 the report is submitted, including with 

8 respect to the efforts described in sub9 section (d); 

10 (ii) a plan for standardizing— 

11 (I) electromagnetic spectrum 

12 analysis tools; 

13 (II) modeling and simulation 

14 processes and technologies; and 

15 (III) databases to provide tech16 nical interference assessments that 

17 are usable across the Federal Govern18 ment as part of a common spectrum 

19 management infrastructure for cov20 ered agencies; 

21 (iii) a plan for each covered agency to 

22 implement a modernization plan described 

23 in subsection (d)(1) that is tailored to the 

24 particular timeline of the agency; 


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1 (G) identification of manually intensive 

2 processes involved in managing Federal spec3 trum and proposed enhancements to those proc4 esses; 

5 (H) metrics to evaluate the success of the 

6 modernization efforts described in that para7 graph and any similar future efforts; and 

8 (I) an estimate of the cost of the mod9 ernization efforts described in that paragraph 

10 and any future maintenance with respect to the 

11 modernized infrastructure of the NTIA de12 scribed in that paragraph, including the cost of 

13 any personnel and equipment relating to that 

14 maintenance. 

15 (d) INTERAGENCY INPUTS.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

17 the date of enactment of this Act, the head of each 

18 covered agency shall submit to the Assistant Sec19 retary and the Policy and Plans Steering Group a 

20 report that describes the plan of the agency to mod21 ernize the infrastructure of the agency with respect 

22 to the use of Federal spectrum by the agency so that 

23 such modernized infrastructure of the agency is 

24 interoperable with the modernized infrastructure of 

25 the NTIA, as described in subsection (c). 


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1 (2) CONTENTS.—Each report submitted by the 

2 head of a covered agency under paragraph (1) 

3 shall— 

4 (A) include— 

5 (i) an assessment of the current, as of 

6 the date on which the report is submitted, 

7 management capabilities of the agency 

8 with respect to the use of frequencies that 

9 are assigned to the agency, which shall in10 clude a description of any challenges faced 

11 by the agency with respect to that manage12 ment; 

13 (ii) a timeline for completion of the 

14 modernization efforts described in that 

15 paragraph; 

16 (iii) a description of potential innova17 tive technological capabilities for the man18 agement of frequencies that are assigned 

19 to the agency, as determined under sub20 section (b); 

21 (iv) identification of agency-specific 

22 requirements or constraints relating to the 

23 infrastructure of the agency; 

24 (v) identification of any existing, as of 

25 the date on which the report is submitted, 


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1 systems of the agency that are duplicative 

2 of the modernized infrastructure of the 

3 NTIA, as proposed under subsection (c); 

4 and 

5 (vi) with respect to the report sub6 mitted by the Secretary of Defense— 

7 (I) a strategy for the integration 

8 of systems or the flow of data among 

9 the Armed Forces, the military de10 partments, the Defense Agencies and 

11 Department of Defense Field Activi12 ties, and other components of the De13 partment of Defense; 

14 (II) a plan for the implementa15 tion of solutions to the use of Federal 

16 spectrum by the Department of De17 fense involving information at multiple 

18 levels of classification; and 

19 (III) a strategy for addressing, 

20 within the modernized infrastructure 

21 of the Department of Defense de22 scribed in that paragraph, the ex23 change of information between the 

24 Department of Defense and the NTIA 

25 in order to accomplish required procVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 Jul 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7310.IH H7310

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1 essing of all Department of Defense 

2 domestic spectrum coordination and 

3 management activities; and 

4 (B) be submitted in an unclassified format, 

5 with a classified annex, as appropriate. 

6 (3) NOTIFICATION OF CONGRESS.—Upon sub7 mission of the report required under paragraph (1), 

8 the head of each covered agency shall notify Con9 gress that the head of the covered agency has sub10 mitted the report. 

11 (e) GAO OVERSIGHT.—The Comptroller General of 

12 the United States shall— 

13 (1) not later than 90 days after the date of en14 actment of this Act, conduct a review of the infra15 structure of covered agencies, as that infrastructure 

16 exists on the date of enactment of this Act; 

17 (2) after all of the reports required under sub18 section (d) have been submitted, conduct oversight 

19 of the implementation of the modernization plans 

20 submitted by the NTIA and covered agencies under 

21 subsections (c) and (d), respectively; 

22 (3) not later than 1 year after the date on 

23 which the Comptroller General begins conducting 

24 oversight under paragraph (2), and annually there25 after, submit a report regarding that oversight to— 


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1 (A) with respect to the implementation of 

2 the modernization plan of the Department of 

3 Defense, the Committee on Armed Services of 

4 the Senate and the Committee on Armed Serv5 ices of the House of Representatives; and 

6 (B) with respect to the implementation of 

7 the modernization plans of all covered agencies, 

8 including the Department of Defense, the Com9 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor10 tation of the Senate and the Committee on En11 ergy and Commerce of the House of Represent12 atives; and 

13 (4) provide regular briefings to— 

14 (A) with respect to the application of this 

15 section to the Department of Defense, the Com16 mittee on Armed Services of the Senate and the 

17 Committee on Armed Services of the House of 

18 Representatives; and 

19 (B) with respect to the application of this 

20 section to all covered agencies, including the 

21 Department of Defense, the Committee on 

22 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

23 Senate and the Committee on Energy and Com24 merce of the House of Representatives. 

Æ 


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