IIB 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6610 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 20, 2024 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

AN ACT 

To provide for the modernization of the passport issuance 

process, 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 AND TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

2 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

3 ‘‘Passport System Reform and Backlog Prevention Act’’. 

4 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

5 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Findings. 

Sec. 3. Sense of Congress. 

Sec. 4. Standards for passport issuance process. 

Sec. 5. Enhanced information technology solutions to improve the passport 

issuance process. 

Sec. 6. Research on commercially available information technology solutions. 

Sec. 7. GAO Report. 

Sec. 8. Rule of construction. 

Sec. 9. Definitions. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the 

9 United States experienced a major backlog of pass10 port applications and passport processing wait times 

11 of up to 13 weeks, exclusive of shipping times. 

12 (2) Over the past several years, the Department 

13 has experienced repeated delays in its attempts to 

14 modernize the passport issuance process. 

15 (3) The adoption of additional commercially 

16 available information technology solutions at several 

17 stages of the passport issuance process could greatly 

18 enhance and accelerate such process. 

19 (4) The United States passport is a widely rec20 ognized and trusted identity and travel document 


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1 that is of tremendous importance to its bearer 

2 around the globe. 

3 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

4 It is the sense of Congress that— 

5 (1) as a routine matter, an adult who has sub6 mitted a routine new or renewal passport application 

7 should be reliably able to expect that such applica8 tion will be adjudicated by the Department, at a rea9 sonable cost, in a time frame which is conducive to 

10 international travel; 

11 (2) the Department should seek to further mod12 ernize and streamline the passport issuance process 

13 to enable a decrease in processing times below pre14 pandemic levels of six-to-eight weeks, specifically for 

15 routine adult passport renewals with respect to 

16 which the Department should seek to decrease aver17 age processing times to less than 30 days; and 

18 (3) the Department should take all reasonable 

19 steps, including the use of available technology and 

20 best practices, to protect the integrity of the pass21 port issuance process, the privacy of passport hold22 ers, and the efficiency of processing passport 

23 issuance requests. 


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1 SEC. 4. STANDARDS FOR PASSPORT ISSUANCE PROCESS. 

2 In administering and modernizing the passport 

3 issuance process, the Assistant Secretary shall evaluate 

4 the performance of such process against the following cri5 teria: 

6 (1) To maintain a service standard of proc7 essing a routine new or renewal adult passport appli8 cation from document submission until mailing of 

9 final documents in an expeditious and reliable time10 frame. 

11 (2) To maintain affordable passport fees and 

12 surcharges. 

13 (3) To ensure world-class technical, security, 

14 and cybersecurity standards for United States pass15 ports and the passport issuance process. 

16 (4) To minimize downtime for the Travel Docu17 ment Issuance System. 

18 (5) To minimize the suspense rate resulting 

19 from typographical, clerical, or picture-based errors, 

20 including by enabling such suspensions to be re21 solved electronically. 

22 (6) To provide a streamlined customer experi23 ence for passport applicants. 

24 (7) To provide reasonably convenient passport 

25 services to United States citizens and nationals liv26 ing a significant distance from a passport agency, 


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1 particularly residents in a significant population cen2 ter more than a 5-hour drive from a passport agen3 cy. 

4 SEC. 5. ENHANCED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SOLU5 TIONS TO IMPROVE THE PASSPORT 

6 ISSUANCE PROCESS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary, in con8 sultation with the Chief Information Officer, shall imple9 ment the information technology solutions described in 

10 subsection (b) in accordance with the timelines described 

11 in such subsection. 

12 (b) ENHANCED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SOLU13 TIONS AND TIMELINES DESCRIBED.—The enhanced infor14 mation technology solutions and timelines described in this 

15 subsection are the following: 

16 (1) Not later than 2 years after the date of the 

17 enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary, in 

18 consultation with the Chief Information Officer, 

19 shall, including if necessary through the awarding of 

20 a contract or expanding an existing, establish a tool 

21 to enable congressional offices to monitor the status 

22 of individual passport applications being handled as 

23 casework by such offices. 

24 (2)(A) Not later than 2 years after the date of 

25 the enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary, 


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1 in consultation with the Chief Information Officer, 

2 shall take all reasonable steps, including if necessary 

3 the awarding of a contract for the establishment and 

4 ongoing maintenance of a service to provide to pass5 port applicants automated, voluntary proactive com6 munications, by email or text message, for each 

7 progress point in the passport issuance process, and 

8 for the notification of application errors, and deliv9 ery of mail tracking numbers, and reminders of re10 newal eligibility. 

11 (B) Applicants shall be provided the choice of 

12 whether to use the services described in subpara13 graph (A) and data gained as a result of participa14 tion in such services shall not be transferred to any 

15 third party outside the Department or its contract 

16 awardees. 

17 (C) The services described in subparagraph (A) 

18 shall provide separate options for email and text 

19 message notification, as well as separate options for 

20 processing-related notifications and renewal eligi21 bility notifications. 

22 (3)(A) Consistent with the Bureau’s moderniza23 tion plans and timelines, and subject to the avail24 ability of funds, the Assistant Secretary, in consulta25 tion with the Chief Information Officer, shall seek to 


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1 enter into a contract or contracts as appropriate, for 

2 the establishment and maintenance of a mobile ap3 plication to allow for the centralization of applicant 

4 communication with the Department, including doc5 ument submission, application status tracking, vir6 tual appointments, access to the notification of ap7 plication errors, and allowing for passport holders to 

8 receive messages from the Department and commu9 nicate emergencies to the Department. 

10 (B) The Assistant Secretary shall provide each 

11 passport applicant with the option of whether to use 

12 the mobile application described in subparagraph 

13 (A) or another service of the Department. 

14 (C) As a condition for awarding any contracts 

15 described in subparagraph (A), the awardee shall 

16 demonstrate that it can begin tests on the solution 

17 within one year of the award of the contract and 

18 complete implementation, including bug fixes, cyber19 security audits, and customer service testing, not 

20 later than two years from the award of the contract. 

21 (4)(A) Consistent with existing law, the Assist22 ant Secretary, in consultation with the Chief Infor23 mation Officer, shall expand the online passport re24 newal system, including to accommodate electronic 

25 acceptance of routine first-time adult applications as 


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1 applicable, in addition to adult renewal applications 

2 in sufficient volume to be able to accommodate most 

3 applications by the date that is four years from the 

4 date of enactment of this Act. 

5 (B) Planning carried out to implement subpara6 graph (A) shall prepare the Bureau to verify appli7 cations without recourse to the information gained 

8 through appearance in person described in section 1 

9 of the Act of June 15, 1917 (22 U.S.C. 213), sub10 ject to any additional authorities required. 

11 (C) To meet the objectives described in sub12 paragraphs (A) and (B), the Assistant Secretary, in 

13 consultation with the Chief Information Officer, 

14 shall, to the maximum extent practicable, make use 

15 of commercially-available technology solutions, in16 cluding by seeking to enter into a contract or con17 tracts for the expansion and maintenance of the on18 line passport renewal system to accommodate the 

19 functionality described in such subparagraphs. 

20 (D) In expanding the online passport renewal 

21 system pursuant to subparagraph (C), the following 

22 services should be included or otherwise accounted 

23 for: 


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1 (i) A customer-friendly, user-friendly inter2 net website or portal to facilitate internet-based 

3 submission of passport applications by adults. 

4 (ii) To the extent possible, remote docu5 ment verification tools and infrastructure, to 

6 allow for a passport transaction to be completed 

7 entirely remotely. 

8 (iii) To the extent possible, information 

9 technology infrastructure not already main10 tained by the Department. 

11 (5)(A) The Assistant Secretary, in consultation 

12 with the Chief Information Officer, shall take all 

13 reasonable steps and to the maximum extent prac14 ticable make use of commercially-available tech15 nology solutions to implement additional rules-based 

16 tools, including by seeking to enter into a contract 

17 or contracts for such tools and their maintenance, to 

18 adjudicate online passport renewal applications in 

19 which no biographical information was changed for 

20 citizenship, identity, and entitlement against internal 

21 and commercial databases. 

22 (B) The tools described in subparagraph (A) 

23 shall be fully operational within 4 years of the date 

24 of the enactment of this Act. 


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1 (C) The Chief Information Officer shall ensure 

2 that the use of the tools do not make passport adju3 dication more vulnerable to cyberattack. 

4 (D) The Assistant Secretary, in consultation 

5 with the Chief Information Officer, shall ensure that 

6 the tools described in subparagraph (A) are imple7 mented consistent with the maintenance of stand8 ards appropriate to ensuring the integrity of the 

9 United States passport. 

10 (E) For purposes of using the tools described in 

11 subparagraph (A), the requirement that a passport 

12 be issued by the personnel described in the first sec13 tion of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to regulate the issue 

14 and validity of passports, and for other purposes’’, 

15 approved July 3, 1926 (22 U.S.C. 211a), shall be 

16 satisfied provided that such personnel oversee the 

17 tools described in such subparagraph consistent with 

18 the requirements in subparagraph (D). 

19 (c) CERTIFICATION.—In addition to other require20 ments in this section, not later than 30 days before the 

21 Assistant Secretary begins work to procure internally any 

22 of the information technology solutions described in sub23 section (b), the Assistant Secretary, in coordination with 

24 the Chief Information Officer, shall certify to the appro25 priate congressional committees that— 


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1 (1) the reasons for procuring such service inter2 nally; 

3 (2) the Bureau has sufficient capacity to imple4 ment and maintain such services; and 

5 (3) the Bureau cannot procure such services for 

6 significantly reduced cost externally. 

7 (d) PREFERENCE.—In procuring and implementing 

8 the information technology solutions described in sub9 section (b), preference should be given to entities with the 

10 technical expertise necessary for the project and capacity 

11 to deliver timely solutions. 

12 (e) ROLE OF CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Chief Information Offi14 cer’s concurrence shall be required before the Assist15 ant Secretary awards a contract pursuant to this 

16 section. 

17 (2) RELATING TO SYSTEMS.—With respect to 

18 the contracting and implementation of the systems 

19 described in subsection (b), the Chief Information 

20 Officer shall have— 

21 (A) final decision making authority on the 

22 technical feasibility and specifications, cyberse23 curity requirements, compatibility with existing 

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1 ture, and the feasibility of timelines from a 

2 technical standpoint; and 

3 (B) final approval of all technical matters 

4 before full implementation. 

5 (3) EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS.—In selecting 

6 the services described in subsection (b), the Assist7 ant Secretary and the Chief Information Officer 

8 shall include in the criteria for selection— 

9 (A) the ability of the proposal to maintain 

10 security, including the cybersecurity, standards 

11 appropriate to the United States passport and 

12 to protect personally identifiable information; 

13 (B) scalability to accommodate current and 

14 future passport demand; and 

15 (C) long-term viability and upgradability. 

16 (f) INTERIM ACTION PLAN.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 

18 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the As19 sistant Secretary, in consultation with the Chief In20 formation Officer, shall submit to the appropriate 

21 congressional committees an action plan on how the 

22 Bureau plans to complete the modernization de23 scribed in this section in conjunction with other re24 lated, ongoing steps to modernize the passport 

25 issuance process. 


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1 (2) ELEMENTS.—The action plan required by 

2 paragraph (1) shall include the following elements: 

3 (A) Progress made on implementing the 

4 information technology solutions described in 

5 subsection (b) within specific timelines, and ad6 ditional steps planned. 

7 (B) The expected cost and timeline for im8 plementation of the information technology so9 lutions described in subsection (b). 

10 (C) An evaluation of the information tech11 nology solutions described in subsection (b) to 

12 determine whether the full implementation of 

13 such solutions will require additional funding or 

14 authorities, including budget estimates and a 

15 description of such authorities, as appropriate. 

16 (D) Efforts to ensure world-class cyberse17 curity standards for protection of passport ap18 plicant data and the passport issuance process 

19 infrastructure, particularly such infrastructure 

20 involved in adjudication of passport applica21 tions. 

22 (E) Other specific planned steps that the 

23 Bureau will take to achieve the criteria de24 scribed in section 4. 


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1 (g) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 4 years after the 

2 date of the enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary, 

3 in consultation with the Chief Information Officer, shall 

4 submit to the appropriate congressional committees a re5 port on the following: 

6 (1) Progress on each information technology so7 lution described in subsection (b). 

8 (2) Additional information technology solutions 

9 the Bureau intends to adopt. 

10 (3) Changes in the cost for implementation of 

11 the steps described in the action plan, if applicable. 

12 (h) FORM.—The plans and report required by this 

13 section shall be submitted in an unclassified form and may 

14 include a classified annex, if necessary. 

15 SEC. 6. RESEARCH ON COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE INFOR16 MATION TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the 

18 enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary, in coordi19 nation with the Chief Information Officer, shall establish 

20 a working group of appropriate Department employees, 

21 and contractors as appropriate, to liaise with the private 

22 sector for the purposes of identifying commercially avail23 able technologies that may be adopted by the Bureau to 

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1 posed technological solutions, and augmenting the Bu2 reau’s ongoing modernization efforts. 

3 (b) COMPOSITION.—The working group established 

4 pursuant to subsection (a) shall be composed of personnel 

5 who can consult on the policy, legal, and technical aspects 

6 of the passport issuance process with entities that wish 

7 to provide such technologies to the Department. 

8 (c) PILOT PROJECTS.—Not later than 180 days after 

9 the date of the enactment of this Act, the working group 

10 established pursuant to subsection (a) should consider pi11 loting not fewer than three commercial information tech12 nology systems with potential to accelerate the passport 

13 renewal process, reduce the backlog of requests, and 

14 backup legacy systems with cloud-based software solu15 tions. 

16 (d) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the date 

17 of the enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary, in 

18 coordination with the Chief Information Officer, shall sub19 mit to the appropriate congressional committees a re20 port— 

21 (1) describing the usefulness of the working 

22 group to the Department’s ongoing modernization 

23 efforts and its reception by private sector actors; 

24 (2) containing a summary of each proposal 

25 made to the working group pursuant to this section 


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1 and whether the Secretary intends to adopt each 

2 proposal; 

3 (3) providing recommendations to scale success4 ful solutions. 

5 SEC. 7. GAO REPORT. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of the 

7 United States shall conduct a comprehensive review of the 

8 passport issuance process, including— 

9 (1) the Bureau’s goals for timeliness of pass10 port issuance, the basis for such goals, and its per11 formance compared to those goals; 

12 (2) key factors affecting timeliness of passport 

13 issuance and the extent to which the Bureau has ad14 dressed those factors; 

15 (3) key factors affecting the implementation of 

16 technological solutions by the Bureau; 

17 (4) the Bureau’s efforts to implement the Trav18 el Document Issuance System (TDIS) and other re19 lated information technology systems that support 

20 the passport issuance process with a focus on— 

21 (A) whether the Bureau is following lead22 ing practices for developing, acquiring, and 

23 overseeing related system and infrastructure in24 vestments and leveraging existing technologies 

25 where appropriate; 


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1 (B) whether the program has the work2 force to resolve technical issues within the sys3 tems; and 

4 (C) identifying any vulnerabilities and limi5 tations of the system that may impact perform6 ance, including single points of failure; 

7 (5) opportunities to streamline, expedite, and 

8 otherwise enhance the Bureau’s passport issuance 

9 processes, including opportunities to reduce costs in 

10 the passport issuance process; 

11 (6) opportunities to partner with other Federal 

12 and State agencies and leverage existing United 

13 States Government information sources, such as bio14 metric databases, in support of the application and 

15 identity verification and resolution components of 

16 the passport issuance process; and 

17 (7) other matters as the Comptroller General 

18 may deem appropriate. 

19 (b) SUBMISSION.—Not later than 180 days after the 

20 date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 

21 shall— 

22 (1) brief the appropriate congressional commit23 tees on the review required by subsection (a); and 

24 (2) submit a final report upon completion of 

25 such review. 


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1 (c) RECOMMENDATIONS IMPLEMENTATION RE2 PORT.—Not later than one year after the date on which 

3 the report required by subsection (b)(2) is submitted, the 

4 Assistant Secretary and the Chief Information Officer 

5 shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees 

6 a report on progress toward resolution of each rec7 ommendation made in the report required by such sub8 section and planned steps that will be taken to resolve 

9 each recommendation. 

10 SEC. 8. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

11 Nothing in this Act may be construed as an offer to 

12 procure a service or services or as a guarantee of a con13 tract for such services. 

14 SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS. 

15 In this Act— 

16 (1) the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com17 mittees’’ means— 

18 (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

19 the Committee on Appropriations of the House 

20 of Representatives; and 

21 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

22 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

23 Senate; 

24 (2) the term ‘‘Assistant Secretary’’ means the 

25 Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs; 


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1 (3) except as otherwise provided, the term ‘‘Bu2 reau’’ means the Bureau of Consular Affairs of the 

3 Department; 

4 (4) the term ‘‘Chief Information Officer’’ means 

5 the Chief Information Officer of the Bureau; 

6 (5) except as otherwise provided, the term ‘‘De7 partment’’ means the Department of State; 

8 (6) the term ‘‘passport issuance process’’— 

9 (A) means all steps of passport issuance 

10 for a new passport or renewal of a passport, as 

11 appropriate, from the applicant’s submission of 

12 documents through document processing and 

13 application adjudication to mailing of printed 

14 passports; and 

15 (B) includes— 

16 (i) the passport application submis17 sion, which includes— 

18 (I) the portion of the passport 

19 issuance process from and including 

20 passport acceptance by a passport ac21 ceptance agent until documents are 

22 received by the Department; and 

23 (II) payment processing and mail 

24 shipping times; and 


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1 (ii) the passport application proc2 essing, which includes the portion of the 

3 passport issuance process from the recep4 tion of completed applications and their 

5 distribution to passport agencies for adju6 dication until finished passports and appli7 cation documents are mailed to applicants; 

8 and 

9 (7) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

10 of State. 

Passed the House of Representatives March 19, 

2024. 

Attest: KEVIN F. MCCUMBER, 

Clerk. 


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