IIB 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1249 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 21, 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 require 

a multiyear acquisition strategy of 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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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘DHS Multiyear Acqui3 sition Strategy Act of 2017’’. 

4 SEC. 2. MULTIYEAR ACQUISITION STRATEGY. 

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

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

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

8 ‘‘SEC. 836. MULTIYEAR ACQUISITION STRATEGY. 

9 ‘‘(a) MULTIYEAR ACQUISITION STRATEGY RE10 QUIRED.— 

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

12 the date of the enactment of this section, the Sec13 retary shall submit to the appropriate congressional 

14 committees and the Comptroller General of the 

15 United States a multiyear acquisition strategy to 

16 guide the overall direction of the acquisitions of the 

17 Department while allowing flexibility to deal with 

18 ever-changing threats and risks, and to help indus19 try better understand, plan, and align resources to 

20 meet the future acquisition needs of the Depart21 ment. Such strategy shall be updated and included 

22 in each Future Years Homeland Security Program 

23 required under section 874. 

24 ‘‘(2) FORM.—The strategy required under para25 graph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form but 

26 may include a classified annex for any sensitive or 


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1 classified information if necessary. The Secretary 

2 shall publish such strategy in an unclassified format 

3 that is publicly available. 

4 ‘‘(b) CONSULTATION.—In developing the strategy re5 quired under subsection (a), the Secretary shall, as the 

6 Secretary determines appropriate, consult with head7 quarters, components, employees in the field, and individ8 uals from industry and the academic community. 

9 ‘‘(c) CONTENTS OF STRATEGY.—The strategy shall 

10 include the following: 

11 ‘‘(1) PRIORITIZED LIST.—A systematic and in12 tegrated prioritized list developed by the Under Sec13 retary for Management in coordination with all of 

14 the Component Acquisition Executives of Depart15 ment major acquisition programs that Department 

16 and component acquisition investments seek to ad17 dress, including the expected security and economic 

18 benefit of the program or system that is the subject 

19 of acquisition and an analysis of how the security 

20 and economic benefit derived from such program or 

21 system will be measured. 

22 ‘‘(2) INVENTORY.—A plan to develop a reliable 

23 Department-wide inventory of investments and real 

24 property assets to help the Department— 


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1 ‘‘(A) plan, budget, schedule, and acquire 

2 upgrades of its systems and equipment; and 

3 ‘‘(B) plan for the acquisition and manage4 ment of future systems and equipment. 

5 ‘‘(3) FUNDING GAPS.—A plan to address fund6 ing gaps between funding requirements for major ac7 quisition programs and known available resources, 

8 including, to the maximum extent practicable, ways 

9 of leveraging best practices to identify and eliminate 

10 overpayment for items to— 

11 ‘‘(A) prevent wasteful purchasing; 

12 ‘‘(B) achieve the greatest level of efficiency 

13 and cost savings by rationalizing purchases; 

14 ‘‘(C) align pricing for similar items; and 

15 ‘‘(D) utilize purchase timing and econo16 mies of scale. 

17 ‘‘(4) IDENTIFICATION OF CAPABILITIES.—An 

18 identification of test, evaluation, modeling, and sim19 ulation capabilities that will be required to— 

20 ‘‘(A) support the acquisition of tech21 nologies to meet the needs of such strategy; 

22 ‘‘(B) leverage to the greatest extent pos23 sible emerging technological trends and re24 search and development trends within the pub25 lic and private sectors; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) identify ways to ensure that appro2 priate technology is acquired and integrated 

3 into the Department’s operating doctrine to im4 prove mission performance. 

5 ‘‘(5) FOCUS ON FLEXIBLE SOLUTIONS.—An as6 sessment of ways the Department can improve its 

7 ability to test and acquire innovative solutions to 

8 allow needed incentives and protections for appro9 priate risk-taking in order to meet its acquisition 

10 needs with resiliency, agility, and responsiveness to 

11 assure homeland security and facilitate trade. 

12 ‘‘(6) FOCUS ON INCENTIVES TO SAVE TAX13 PAYER DOLLARS.—An assessment of ways the De14 partment can develop incentives for program man15 agers and senior Department acquisition officials 

16 to— 

17 ‘‘(A) prevent cost overruns; 

18 ‘‘(B) avoid schedule delays; and 

19 ‘‘(C) achieve cost savings in major acquisi20 tion programs. 

21 ‘‘(7) FOCUS ON ADDRESSING DELAYS AND BID

22 PROTESTS.—An assessment of ways the Department 

23 can improve the acquisition process to minimize cost 

24 overruns in— 

25 ‘‘(A) requirements development; 


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1 ‘‘(B) procurement announcements; 

2 ‘‘(C) requests for proposals; 

3 ‘‘(D) evaluation of proposals; 

4 ‘‘(E) protests of decisions and awards; and 

5 ‘‘(F) the use of best practices. 

6 ‘‘(8) FOCUS ON IMPROVING OUTREACH.—An 

7 identification and assessment of ways to increase op8 portunities for communication and collaboration with 

9 industry, small and disadvantaged businesses, intra10 government entities, university centers of excellence, 

11 accredited certification and standards development 

12 organizations, and national laboratories to ensure 

13 that the Department understands the market for 

14 technologies, products, and innovation that is avail15 able to meet its mission needs and to inform the De16 partment’s requirements-setting process before en17 gaging in an acquisition, including— 

18 ‘‘(A) methods designed especially to engage 

19 small and disadvantaged businesses, a cost-ben20 efit analysis of the tradeoffs that small and dis21 advantaged businesses provide, information re22 lating to barriers to entry for small and dis23 advantaged businesses, and information relating 

24 to unique requirements for small and disadvan25 taged businesses; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) within the Department Vendor Com2 munication Plan and Market Research Guide, 

3 instructions for interaction by acquisition pro4 gram managers with such entities to— 

5 ‘‘(i) prevent misinterpretation of ac6 quisition regulations; and 

7 ‘‘(ii) permit, within legal and ethical 

8 boundaries, interacting with such entities 

9 with transparency. 

10 ‘‘(9) COMPETITION.—A plan regarding competi11 tion under subsection (d). 

12 ‘‘(10) ACQUISITION WORKFORCE.—A plan re13 garding the Department acquisition workforce under 

14 subsection (e). 

15 ‘‘(d) COMPETITION PLAN.—The strategy required 

16 under subsection (a) shall also include a plan to address 

17 actions to ensure competition, or the option of competi18 tion, for major acquisition programs. Such plan may in19 clude assessments of the following measures in appro20 priate cases if such measures are cost effective: 

21 ‘‘(1) Competitive prototyping. 

22 ‘‘(2) Dual-sourcing. 

23 ‘‘(3) Unbundling of contracts. 

24 ‘‘(4) Funding of next-generation prototype sys25 tems or subsystems. 


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1 ‘‘(5) Use of modular, open architectures to en2 able competition for upgrades. 

3 ‘‘(6) Acquisition of complete technical data 

4 packages. 

5 ‘‘(7) Periodic competitions for subsystem up6 grades. 

7 ‘‘(8) Licensing of additional suppliers, including 

8 small businesses. 

9 ‘‘(9) Periodic system or program reviews to ad10 dress long-term competitive effects of program deci11 sions. 

12 ‘‘(e) ACQUISITION WORKFORCE PLAN.— 

13 ‘‘(1) ACQUISITION WORKFORCE.—The strategy 

14 required under subsection (a) shall also include a 

15 plan to address Department acquisition workforce 

16 accountability and talent management that identifies 

17 the acquisition workforce needs of each component 

18 performing acquisition functions and develops op19 tions for filling such needs with qualified individuals, 

20 including a cost-benefit analysis of contracting for 

21 acquisition assistance. 

22 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL MATTERS COVERED.—The 

23 acquisition workforce plan under this subsection 

24 shall address ways to— 


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1 ‘‘(A) improve the recruitment, hiring, 

2 training, and retention of Department acquisi3 tion workforce personnel, including contracting 

4 officer’s representatives, in order to retain high5 ly qualified individuals who have experience in 

6 the acquisition life cycle, complex procurements, 

7 and management of large programs; 

8 ‘‘(B) empower program managers to have 

9 the authority to manage their programs in an 

10 accountable and transparent manner as such 

11 managers work with the acquisition workforce; 

12 ‘‘(C) prevent duplication within Depart13 ment acquisition workforce training and certifi14 cation requirements through leveraging already15 existing training within the Federal Govern16 ment, academic community, or private industry; 

17 ‘‘(D) achieve integration and consistency 

18 with Government-wide training and accredita19 tion standards, acquisition training tools, and 

20 training facilities; 

21 ‘‘(E) designate the acquisition positions 

22 that will be necessary to support the Depart23 ment acquisition requirements, including in the 

24 fields of— 

25 ‘‘(i) program management; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) systems engineering; 

2 ‘‘(iii) procurement, including con3 tracting; 

4 ‘‘(iv) test and evaluation; 

5 ‘‘(v) life cycle logistics; 

6 ‘‘(vi) cost estimating and program fi7 nancial management; and 

8 ‘‘(vii) additional disciplines appro9 priate to Department mission needs; 

10 ‘‘(F) strengthen the performance of con11 tracting officers’ representatives (as defined in 

12 subpart 1.602–2 and subpart 2.101 of the Fed13 eral Acquisition Regulation), including by— 

14 ‘‘(i) assessing the extent to which 

15 such representatives are certified and re16 ceive training that is appropriate; 

17 ‘‘(ii) assessing what training is most 

18 effective with respect to the type and com19 plexity of assignment; and 

20 ‘‘(iii) implementing actions to improve 

21 training based on such assessments; and 

22 ‘‘(G) identify ways to increase training for 

23 relevant investigators and auditors of the De24 partment to examine fraud in major acquisition 

25 programs, including identifying opportunities to 


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1 leverage existing Government and private sector 

2 resources in coordination with the Inspector 

3 General of the Department. 

4 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

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

6 the meaning given such term in section 131 of title 

7 41, United States Code. 

8 ‘‘(2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT9 TEES.—The term ‘appropriate congressional com10 mittees’ means— 

11 ‘‘(A) the Committee on Homeland Security 

12 of the House of Representatives and the Com13 mittee on Homeland Security and Govern14 mental Affairs of the Senate; and 

15 ‘‘(B) the Committee on Appropriations of 

16 the House of Representatives and the Com17 mittee on Appropriations of the Senate. 

18 ‘‘(3) BEST PRACTICES.—The term ‘best prac19 tices’, with respect to acquisition, means— 

20 ‘‘(A) a knowledge-based approach to capa21 bility development that includes identifying and 

22 validating needs; 

23 ‘‘(B) assessing alternatives to select the 

24 most appropriate solution; 


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1 ‘‘(C) clearly establishing well-defined re2 quirements; 

3 ‘‘(D) developing realistic cost assessments 

4 and schedules; 

5 ‘‘(E) securing stable funding that matches 

6 resources to requirements; 

7 ‘‘(F) demonstrating technology, design, 

8 and manufacturing maturity; 

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

10 specific accomplishments that demonstrate 

11 progress; 

12 ‘‘(H) adopting and executing standardized 

13 processes with known success across programs; 

14 ‘‘(I) establishing an adequate workforce 

15 that is qualified and sufficient to perform nec16 essary functions; and 

17 ‘‘(J) integrating into the mission and busi18 ness operations of the Department of Homeland 

19 Security the capabilities described in subpara20 graphs (A) through (I). 

21 ‘‘(4) COMPONENT ACQUISITION EXECUTIVE.— 

22 The term ‘Component Acquisition Executive’ means 

23 the senior acquisition official within a component 

24 who is designated in writing by the Under Secretary 

25 for Management, in consultation with the component 


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1 head, with authority and responsibility for leading a 

2 process and staff to provide acquisition and program 

3 management oversight, policy, and guidance to en4 sure that statutory, regulatory, and higher level pol5 icy requirements are fulfilled, including compliance 

6 with Federal law, the Federal Acquisition Regula7 tion, and Department acquisition management direc8 tives established by the Under Secretary for Man9 agement. 

10 ‘‘(5) MAJOR ACQUISITION PROGRAM.—The term 

11 ‘major acquisition program’ means a Department 

12 acquisition program that is estimated by the Sec13 retary to require an eventual total expenditure of at 

14 least $300,000,000 (based on fiscal year 2017 con15 stant dollars) over its life cycle cost.’’. 

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

17 in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is 

18 amended by inserting after the item relating to section 

19 835 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 836. Multiyear acquisition strategy.’’. 

20 SEC. 3. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE REVIEW 

21 OF MULTIYEAR ACQUISITION STRATEGY. 

22 (a) REVIEW.—After submission of the first multiyear 

23 acquisition strategy in accordance with section 836 of the 

24 Homeland Security Act of 2002 (as added by section 2 

25 of this Act) after the date of the enactment of this Act, 


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1 the Comptroller General of the United States shall con2 duct a review of such plan within 180 days to analyze the 

3 viability of such plan’s effectiveness in the following: 

4 (1) Complying with the requirements of such 

5 section 836. 

6 (2) Establishing clear connections between De7 partment of Homeland Security objectives and ac8 quisition (as such term is defined in such section) 

9 priorities. 

10 (3) Demonstrating that Department acquisition 

11 policy reflects program management best practices 

12 (as such term is defined in such section) and stand13 ards. 

14 (4) Ensuring competition or the option of com15 petition for major acquisition programs (as such 

16 term is defined in such section). 

17 (5) Considering potential cost savings through 

18 using already-existing technologies when developing 

19 acquisition program requirements. 

20 (6) Preventing duplication within Department 

21 acquisition workforce training requirements through 

22 leveraging already-existing training within the Fed23 eral Government, academic community, or private 

24 industry. 


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1 (7) Providing incentives for acquisition program 

2 managers to reduce acquisition and procurement 

3 costs through the use of best practices and dis4 ciplined program management. 

5 (b) REPORT.—The Comptroller General of the 

6 United States shall submit to the Committee on Homeland 

7 Security and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

8 House of Representatives and the Committee on Home9 land Security and Governmental Affairs and the Com10 mittee on Appropriations of the Senate a report on the 

11 review conducted under this section. Such report shall be 

12 submitted in unclassified form but may include a classified 

13 annex. 

Passed the House of Representatives March 20, 

2017. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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