II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2220 

To provide for the development, construction and operation of a backup 

to the Global Positioning System, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 12, 2017 

Mr. CRUZ (for himself and Mr. MARKEY) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation 

A BILL 

To provide for the development, construction and operation 

of a backup to the Global Positioning System, 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 ‘‘National Timing Resil5 ience and Security Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. BACKUP GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of ap8 propriations, the Secretary of Transportation, in consulta9 tion with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall proVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:31 Dec 15, 2017 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2220.IS S2220

dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 2220 IS

1 vide for the establishment, sustainment, and operation of 

2 a land-based, resilient, and reliable alternative timing sys3 tem to— 

4 (1) reduce critical dependencies and provide a 

5 complement to and backup for the timing component 

6 of the Global Positioning System (in this section re7 ferred to as ‘‘GPS’’); and 

8 (2) to ensure the availability of uncorrupted 

9 and non-degraded timing signals for military and ci10 vilian users in the event that GPS timing signals are 

11 corrupted, degraded, unreliable, or otherwise un12 available. 

13 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF REQUIREMENTS.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

15 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec16 retary of Transportation, in consultation with the 

17 Secretary of Homeland Security, shall establish re18 quirements for the procurement of the system re19 quired by subsection (a) as a complement to and 

20 backup for the timing component of GPS in accord21 ance with the timing requirements study required by 

22 section 1618 of the National Defense Authorization 

23 Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (Public Law 114–328; 130 

24 Stat. 2595). 


dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 2220 IS

1 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary of Trans2 portation shall ensure, to the maximum extent prac3 ticable, that the system established under subsection 

4 (a)— 

5 (A) be wireless; 

6 (B) be terrestrial; 

7 (C) provide wide-area coverage; 

8 (D) deliver a precise, high-power 100 kilo9 hertz signal; 

10 (E) be synchronized with coordinated uni11 versal time; 

12 (F) be resilient and extremely difficult to 

13 disrupt or degrade; 

14 (G) be able to penetrate underground and 

15 inside buildings; 

16 (H) be capable of deployment to remote lo17 cations; 

18 (I) take full advantage of the infrastruc19 ture and spectrum of the existing, unused gov20 ernment long-range navigation system (com21 monly known as ‘‘LORAN’’); 

22 (J) be developed, constructed, and oper23 ated incorporating applicable private sector ex24 pertise; 


dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 2220 IS

1 (K) work in concert with and complement 

2 any other similar positioning, navigation, and 

3 timing systems, including enhanced long-range 

4 navigation systems and Nationwide Differential 

5 GPS systems; 

6 (L) be made available by the Secretary of 

7 Transportation for use by other Federal and 

8 non-Federal Government agencies for public 

9 purposes at no cost; 

10 (M) be capable of adaptation and expan11 sion to provide position and navigation capabili12 ties; 

13 (N) incorporate the recommendations from 

14 any GPS back-up demonstration program initi15 ated and completed by the Secretary, in coordi16 nation with other Federal agencies, before the 

17 date specified in subsection (c)(1); and 

18 (O) incorporate such other elements as the 

19 Secretary considers appropriate. 

20 (c) IMPLEMENTATION PLAN.— 

21 (1) PLAN REQUIRED.—Not later than 180 days 

22 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec23 retary of Transportation shall submit to the Com24 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 

25 the Senate and the Committee on Transportation 


dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 2220 IS

1 and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives 

2 a report setting forth the following: 

3 (A) A plan to develop, construct, and oper4 ate the system required by subsection (a). 

5 (B) A description and assessment of the 

6 advantages of a system to provide a follow-on 

7 complementary and backup positioning and 

8 navigation capability to the timing component 

9 of GPS. 

10 (2) DEADLINE FOR COMMENCEMENT OF OPER11 ATION.—The system required by subsection (a) shall 

12 be in operation by not later than two years after the 

13 date of the enactment of this Act. 

14 (3) MINIMUM DURATION OF OPERATIONAL CA15 PABILITY.—The system required by subsection (a) 

16 shall be designed to be fully operational for not less 

17 than 20 years. 

18 (d) LORAN FACILITIES.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—If the Secretary of Trans20 portation determines that any LORAN infrastruc21 ture, including the underlying real property and any 

22 spectrum associated with LORAN, in the possession 

23 of the Coast Guard is required by the Department 

24 of Transportation for the purpose of establishing the 

25 system required by subsection (a), the Commandant 


dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 2220 IS

1 of the Coast Guard shall transfer such property, 

2 spectrum, and equipment to the Secretary. 

3 (2) CERCLA NOT AFFECTED.—This subsection 

4 shall not be construed to limit the application of or 

5 otherwise affect section 120(h) of the Comprehensive 

6 Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liabil7 ity Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9620(h)) with respect to 

8 the Federal Government facilities described in para9 graph (1). 

10 (e) AGREEMENT.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Transpor12 tation, in consultation with the Secretary of Home13 land Security, may enter into a cooperative agree14 ment (as that term is defined in section 6305 of title 

15 31, United States Code) with an entity upon such 

16 terms and conditions as the Secretary of Transpor17 tation determines will fulfill the purpose and require18 ments of this section and be in the public interest. 

19 Such agreement shall, at a minimum, require the 

20 Secretary of Transportation to— 

21 (A) authorize the entity to sell timing and 

22 other services to commercial and non-commer23 cial third parties, subject to any national secu24 rity requirements determined by the Secretary, 

25 in consultation with the Secretary of Defense; 


dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 2220 IS

1 (B) require the entity to develop, con2 struct, and operate at private expense the 

3 backup timing system in accordance with this 

4 section; 

5 (C) allow the entity to make any invest6 ments in technologies necessary over the life of 

7 such agreement to meet future requirements for 

8 advanced timing resilience and technologies; 

9 (D) require the entity to share revenue so 

10 as to provide for an equitable share of the rev11 enue received with the Secretary by the entity 

12 from the sale of timing services to third parties, 

13 taking into account the entity’s capital invest14 ment and its costs to operate, maintain, and 

15 upgrade the system; 

16 (E) require the entity— 

17 (i) to assume all financial risk for the 

18 completion and operational capability of 

19 the system, after the Secretary provides fa20 cilities necessary for the system under sub21 section (d); and 

22 (ii) to furnish performance and pay23 ment bonds in connection with the system 

24 in a reasonable amount as determined by 

25 the Secretary; and 


dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 2220 IS

1 (F) require the entity to make any invest2 ments in technologies necessary over the life of 

3 the agreement to meet future requirements for 

4 advanced timing resiliency. 

5 (2) COMPETITION REQUIRED.—The Secretary 

6 shall use competitive procedures similar to those au7 thorized under section 2667 of title 10, United 

8 States Code, in selecting an entity to enter into a co9 operative agreement pursuant to this subsection. 

10 (3) AUTHORIZATION TO PURCHASE SERV11 ICES.—The Secretary may, subject to the availability 

12 of appropriations, purchase timing system services 

13 from the entity, once the system achieves operational 

14 status, for use by the Department of Transportation 

15 and for provision to other Federal and non-Federal 

16 agencies as described in this section. The costs of 

17 such services may be offset, in whole or in part, pur18 suant to the revenue sharing provision required by 

19 paragraph (1)(D). 

20 (4) DETERMINATION.—The Secretary may not 

21 enter into a cooperative agreement under this sub22 section unless the Secretary determines that the 

23 agreement is in the best financial interest of the 

24 Federal Government. The Secretary shall notify the 

25 Committee on Commerce, Science, and TransporVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:31 Dec 15, 2017 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2220.IS S2220

dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
9 

•S 2220 IS

1 tation of the Senate and the Committee on Trans2 portation and Infrastructure of the House of Rep3 resentatives of such determination not later than 30 

4 days after the date of the determination. 

5 (5) DEFINITION.—In this subsection the term 

6 ‘‘entity’’ means a non-Federal entity with the dem7 onstrated technical expertise and requisite adminis8 trative and financial resources to meet any terms 

9 and conditions established by the Secretary for pur10 poses of this subsection. 

Æ 


dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS