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Union Calendar No. 71 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2609 

[Report No. 116–96] 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish the Acquisition 

Review Board in the Department of Homeland Security, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 9, 2019 

Mr. CRENSHAW introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Homeland Security 

MAY 30, 2019 

Additional sponsor: Ms. TORRES SMALL of New Mexico 

MAY 30, 2019 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 

and ordered to be printed 


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A BILL 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish 

the Acquisition Review Board in the Department of 

Homeland Security, and for other purposes. 


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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 ‘‘DHS Acquisition Re5 view Board Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ACQUISITION REVIEW BOARD. 

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

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

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

10 ‘‘SEC. 836. ACQUISITION REVIEW BOARD. 

11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish an 

12 Acquisition Review Board (in this section referred to as 

13 the ‘Board’) to— 

14 ‘‘(1) strengthen accountability and uniformity 

15 within the Department acquisition review process; 

16 ‘‘(2) review major acquisition programs; and 

17 ‘‘(3) review the use of best practices. 

18 ‘‘(b) COMPOSITION.— 

19 ‘‘(1) CHAIR.—The Under Secretary for Man20 agement shall serve as chair of the Board. 

21 ‘‘(2) PARTICIPATION.— The Secretary shall en22 sure participation by other relevant Department offi23 cials with responsibilities related to acquisitions as 

24 permanent members of the Board. 


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1 ‘‘(3) OVERSIGHT.—The Under Secretary for 

2 Management shall designate a full time employee of 

3 the Department to oversee the operations of the 

4 Board. 

5 ‘‘(c) MEETINGS.—The Board shall meet regularly for 

6 purposes of ensuring all acquisitions processes proceed in 

7 a timely fashion to achieve mission readiness. The Board 

8 shall convene at the Secretary’s discretion and at any 

9 time— 

10 ‘‘(1) a major acquisition program— 

11 ‘‘(A) requires authorization to proceed 

12 from one acquisition decision event to another 

13 throughout the acquisition life cycle; 

14 ‘‘(B) is in breach of its approved require15 ments; or 

16 ‘‘(C) requires additional review, as deter17 mined by the Under Secretary for Management; 

18 or 

19 ‘‘(2) a non-major acquisition program requires 

20 review, as determined by the Under Secretary for 

21 Management. 

22 ‘‘(d) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The responsibilities of the 

23 Board are as follows: 

24 ‘‘(1) Determine whether a proposed acquisition 

25 has met the requirements of key phases of the acquiVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:12 May 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2609.RH H2609

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1 sition life cycle framework and is able to proceed to 

2 the next phase and eventual full production and de3 ployment. 

4 ‘‘(2) Oversee whether a proposed acquisition’s 

5 business strategy, resources, management, and ac6 countability is executable and is aligned to strategic 

7 initiatives. 

8 ‘‘(3) Support the person with acquisition deci9 sion authority for an acquisition in determining the 

10 appropriate direction for such acquisition at key ac11 quisition decision events. 

12 ‘‘(4) Conduct systematic reviews of acquisitions 

13 to ensure that such acquisitions are progressing in 

14 compliance with the approved documents for their 

15 current acquisition phases. 

16 ‘‘(5) Review the acquisition documents of each 

17 major acquisition program, including the acquisition 

18 program baseline and documentation reflecting con19 sideration of tradeoffs among cost, schedule, and 

20 performance objectives, to ensure the reliability of 

21 underlying data. 

22 ‘‘(6) Ensure that practices are adopted and im23 plemented to require consideration of trade-offs 

24 among cost, schedule, and performance objectives as 

25 part of the process for developing requirements for 


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1 major acquisition programs prior to the initiation of 

2 the second acquisition decision event, including, at a 

3 minimum, the following practices: 

4 ‘‘(A) Department officials responsible for 

5 acquisition, budget, and cost estimating func6 tions are provided with the appropriate oppor7 tunity to develop estimates and raise cost and 

8 schedule matters before performance objectives 

9 are established for capabilities when feasible. 

10 ‘‘(B) Full consideration is given to possible 

11 trade-offs among cost, schedule, and perform12 ance objectives for each alternative. 

13 ‘‘(e) ACQUISITION PROGRAM BASELINE REPORT RE14 QUIREMENT.—If the person exercising acquisition decision 

15 authority over a major acquisition program approves such 

16 program to proceed into the planning phase before such 

17 program has a Department-approved acquisition program 

18 baseline, the Under Secretary for Management shall cre19 ate and approve an acquisition program baseline report 

20 regarding such approval, and the Secretary shall— 

21 ‘‘(1) within 7 days after an acquisition decision 

22 memorandum is signed, notify in writing the Com23 mittee on Homeland Security of the House of Rep24 resentatives and the Committee on Homeland SecuVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:12 May 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2609.RH H2609

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1 rity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate of such 

2 decision; and 

3 ‘‘(2) within 60 days after the acquisition deci4 sion memorandum is signed, submit to such commit5 tees a written explanation of the rationale for such 

6 decision and a plan of action to address acquisition 

7 program baseline requirements for such program. 

8 ‘‘(f) REPORT.—The Under Secretary for Manage9 ment shall provide information to the Committee on 

10 Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and 

11 the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 

12 Affairs of the Senate on an annual basis through fiscal 

13 year 2024 on the activities of the Board for the prior fiscal 

14 year that includes information relating to the following: 

15 ‘‘(1) For each meeting of the Board, any acqui16 sition decision memoranda. 

17 ‘‘(2) Results of the systematic reviews con18 ducted pursuant to paragraph (4) of subsection (d). 

19 ‘‘(3) Results of acquisition document reviews re20 quired pursuant to paragraph (5) of subsection (d). 

21 ‘‘(4) Activities to ensure that practices are 

22 adopted and implemented throughout the Depart23 ment pursuant to paragraph (6) of subsection (d). 

24 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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

2 the meaning given such term in section 131 of title 

3 41, United States Code. 

4 ‘‘(2) ACQUISITION DECISION AUTHORITY.—The 

5 term ‘acquisition decision authority’ means the au6 thority, held by the Secretary acting through the 

7 Deputy Secretary or Under Secretary for Manage8 ment to— 

9 ‘‘(A) ensure compliance with Federal law, 

10 the Federal Acquisition Regulation, and De11 partment acquisition management directives; 

12 ‘‘(B) review (including approving, pausing, 

13 modifying, or cancelling) an acquisition pro14 gram through the life cycle of such program; 

15 ‘‘(C) ensure that acquisition program man16 agers have the resources necessary to success17 fully execute an approved acquisition program; 

18 ‘‘(D) ensure good acquisition program 

19 management of cost, schedule, risk, and system 

20 performance of the acquisition program at 

21 issue, including assessing acquisition program 

22 baseline breaches and directing any corrective 

23 action for such breaches; and 

24 ‘‘(E) ensure that acquisition program man25 agers, on an ongoing basis, monitor cost, schedVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:12 May 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2609.RH H2609

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1 ule, and performance against established base2 lines and use tools to assess risks to an acquisi3 tion program at all phases of the life cycle of 

4 such program to avoid and mitigate acquisition 

5 program baseline breaches. 

6 ‘‘(3) ACQUISITION DECISION EVENT.—The term 

7 ‘acquisition decision event’, with respect to an acqui8 sition program, means a predetermined point within 

9 each of the acquisition phases at which the acquisi10 tion decision authority determines whether such ac11 quisition program shall proceed to the next acquisi12 tion phase. 

13 ‘‘(4) ACQUISITION DECISION MEMORANDUM.— 

14 The term ‘acquisition decision memorandum’, with 

15 respect to an acquisition, means the official acquisi16 tion decision event record that includes a docu17 mented record of decisions, exit criteria, and as18 signed actions for such acquisition, as determined by 

19 the person exercising acquisition decision authority 

20 for such acquisition. 

21 ‘‘(5) ACQUISITION PROGRAM.—The term ‘acqui22 sition program’ means the process by which the De23 partment acquires, with any appropriated amounts, 

24 by contract for purchase or lease, property or servVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:12 May 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2609.RH H2609

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1 ices (including construction) that support the mis2 sions and goals of the Department. 

3 ‘‘(6) ACQUISITION PROGRAM BASELINE.—The 

4 term ‘acquisition program baseline’, with respect to 

5 an acquisition program, means a summary of the 

6 cost, schedule, and performance parameters, ex7 pressed in standard, measurable, quantitative terms, 

8 which must be met in order to accomplish the goals 

9 of such program. 

10 ‘‘(7) BEST PRACTICES.—The term ‘best prac11 tices’, with respect to acquisition, means a knowl12 edge-based approach to capability development that 

13 includes— 

14 ‘‘(A) identifying and validating needs; 

15 ‘‘(B) assessing alternatives to select the 

16 most appropriate solution; 

17 ‘‘(C) clearly establishing well-defined re18 quirements; 

19 ‘‘(D) developing realistic cost assessments 

20 and schedules; 

21 ‘‘(E) securing stable funding that matches 

22 resources to requirements; 

23 ‘‘(F) demonstrating technology, design, 

24 and manufacturing maturity; 


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

2 specific accomplishments that demonstrate 

3 progress; 

4 ‘‘(H) adopting and executing standardized 

5 processes with known success across programs; 

6 ‘‘(I) establishing an adequate workforce 

7 that is qualified and sufficient to perform nec8 essary functions; and 

9 ‘‘(J) integrating the capabilities described 

10 in subparagraphs (A) through (I) into the De11 partment’s mission and business operations. 

12 ‘‘(8) MAJOR ACQUISITION PROGRAM.—The term 

13 ‘major acquisition program’ means a Department 

14 acquisition program that is estimated by the Sec15 retary to require an eventual total expenditure of at 

16 least $300,000,000 (based on fiscal year 2019 con17 stant dollars) over its life cycle cost.’’. 

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

19 in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 

20 U.S.C. 101 et seq.) is amended by inserting after the item 

21 relating to section 835 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 836. Acquisition Review Board.’’. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 71 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2609 

[Report No. 116–96] 

A BILL 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to 

purposes. Department of Homeland Security, and for other establish the Acquisition Review Board in the 

MAY 30, 2019 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 

State of the Union and ordered to be printed 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS