IIB 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 505 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 1, 2017 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs 

AN ACT 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 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, 


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HR 505 RFS 

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Border Security Tech3 nology Accountability Act of 2017’’. 

4 SEC. 2. BORDER SECURITY TECHNOLOGY ACCOUNT5 ABILITY. 

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

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

8 is amended by adding at the end the following new section: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 434. BORDER SECURITY TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM 

10 MANAGEMENT. 

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

12 security technology acquisition program of the Depart13 ment that is determined to be a major acquisition pro14 gram, the Secretary shall— 

15 ‘‘(1) ensure that each such program has a writ16 ten acquisition program baseline approved by the 

17 relevant acquisition decision authority; 

18 ‘‘(2) document that each such program is meet19 ing cost, schedule, and performance thresholds as 

20 specified in such baseline, in compliance with rel21 evant departmental acquisition policies and the Fed22 eral Acquisition Regulation; and 

23 ‘‘(3) have a plan for meeting program imple24 mentation objectives by managing contractor per25 formance. 


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HR 505 RFS 

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

2 acting through the Under Secretary for Management and 

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

4 shall ensure border security technology acquisition pro5 gram managers who are responsible for carrying out this 

6 section adhere to relevant internal control standards iden7 tified by the Comptroller General of the United States. 

8 The Commissioner shall provide information, as needed, 

9 to assist the Under Secretary in monitoring proper pro10 gram management of border security technology acquisi11 tion programs under this section. 

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

13 Under Secretary for Management, in coordination with 

14 the Under Secretary for Science and Technology and the 

15 Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 

16 shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees 

17 a plan for testing and evaluation, as well as the use of 

18 independent verification and validation resources, for bor19 der security technology so that new border security tech20 nologies are evaluated through a series of assessments, 

21 processes, and audits to ensure compliance with relevant 

22 departmental acquisition policies and the Federal Acquisi23 tion Regulation, as well as the effectiveness of taxpayer 

24 dollars. 


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HR 505 RFS 

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

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

3 a Department acquisition program that is estimated by 

4 the Secretary to require an eventual total expenditure of 

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

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

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

8 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is amended by in9 serting after the item relating to section 433 the following 

10 new item: 

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

11 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON ADDITIONAL AUTHORIZATION OF 

12 APPROPRIATIONS. 

13 No additional funds are authorized to be appro14 priated to carry out this Act and the amendments made 

15 by this Act. This Act and such amendments shall be car16 ried out using amounts otherwise authorized for such pur17 poses. 

Passed the House of Representatives January 31, 

2017. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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