I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2609 

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 

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. 

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: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 836. ACQUISITION REVIEW BOARD. 

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

3 Acquisition Review Board (in this section referred to as 

4 the ‘Board’) to— 

5 ‘‘(1) strengthen accountability and uniformity 

6 within the Department acquisition review process; 

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

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

9 ‘‘(b) COMPOSITION.— 

10 ‘‘(1) CHAIR.—The Under Secretary for Man11 agement shall serve as chair of the Board. 

12 ‘‘(2) PARTICIPATION.— The Secretary shall en13 sure participation by other relevant Department offi14 cials with responsibilities related to acquisitions as 

15 permanent members of the Board. 

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

17 Management shall designate a full time employee of 

18 the Department to oversee the operations of the 

19 Board. 

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

21 purposes of ensuring all acquisitions processes proceed in 

22 a timely fashion to achieve mission readiness. The Board 

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

24 time— 

25 ‘‘(1) a major acquisition program— 


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1 ‘‘(A) requires authorization to proceed 

2 from one acquisition decision event to another 

3 throughout the acquisition life cycle; 

4 ‘‘(B) is in breach of its approved require5 ments; or 

6 ‘‘(C) requires additional review, as deter7 mined by the Under Secretary for Management; 

8 or 

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

10 review, as determined by the Under Secretary for 

11 Management. 

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

13 Board are as follows: 

14 ‘‘(1) Determine whether a proposed acquisition 

15 has met the requirements of key phases of the acqui16 sition life cycle framework and is able to proceed to 

17 the next phase and eventual full production and de18 ployment. 

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

20 business strategy, resources, management, and ac21 countability is executable and is aligned to strategic 

22 initiatives. 

23 ‘‘(3) Support the person with acquisition deci24 sion authority for an acquisition in determining the 


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1 appropriate direction for such acquisition at key ac2 quisition decision events. 

3 ‘‘(4) Conduct systematic reviews of acquisitions 

4 to ensure that such acquisitions are progressing in 

5 compliance with the approved documents for their 

6 current acquisition phases. 

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

8 major acquisition program, including the acquisition 

9 program baseline and documentation reflecting con10 sideration of tradeoffs among cost, schedule, and 

11 performance objectives, to ensure the reliability of 

12 underlying data. 

13 ‘‘(6) Ensure that practices are adopted and im14 plemented to require consideration of trade-offs 

15 among cost, schedule, and performance objectives as 

16 part of the process for developing requirements for 

17 major acquisition programs prior to the initiation of 

18 the second acquisition decision event, including, at a 

19 minimum, the following practices: 

20 ‘‘(A) Department officials responsible for 

21 acquisition, budget, and cost estimating func22 tions are provided with the appropriate oppor23 tunity to develop estimates and raise cost and 

24 schedule matters before performance objectives 

25 are established for capabilities when feasible. 


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

2 trade-offs among cost, schedule, and perform3 ance objectives for each alternative. 

4 ‘‘(e) ACQUISITION PROGRAM BASELINE REPORT RE5 QUIREMENT.—If the person exercising acquisition decision 

6 authority over a major acquisition program approves such 

7 program to proceed into the planning phase before such 

8 program has a Department-approved acquisition program 

9 baseline, the Under Secretary for Management shall cre10 ate and approve an acquisition program baseline report 

11 regarding such approval, and the Secretary shall— 

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

13 memorandum is signed, notify in writing the Com14 mittee on Homeland Security of the House of Rep15 resentatives and the Committee on Homeland Secu16 rity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate of such 

17 decision; and 

18 ‘‘(2) within 60 days after the acquisition deci19 sion memorandum is signed, submit to such commit20 tees a written explanation of the rationale for such 

21 decision and a plan of action to address acquisition 

22 program baseline requirements for such program. 

23 ‘‘(f) REPORT.—The Under Secretary for Manage24 ment shall provide information to the Committee on 

25 Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and 


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1 the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 

2 Affairs of the Senate on an annual basis through fiscal 

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

4 year that includes information relating to the following: 

5 ‘‘(1) For each meeting of the Board, any acqui6 sition decision memoranda. 

7 ‘‘(2) Results of the systematic reviews con8 ducted pursuant to paragraph (4) of subsection (d). 

9 ‘‘(3) Results of acquisition document reviews re10 quired pursuant to paragraph (5) of subsection (d). 

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

12 adopted and implemented throughout the Depart13 ment pursuant to paragraph (6) of subsection (d). 

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

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

16 the meaning given such term in section 131 of title 

17 41, United States Code. 

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

19 term ‘acquisition decision authority’ means the au20 thority, held by the Secretary acting through the 

21 Deputy Secretary or Under Secretary for Manage22 ment to— 

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

24 the Federal Acquisition Regulation, and De25 partment acquisition management directives; 


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

2 modifying, or cancelling) an acquisition pro3 gram through the life cycle of such program; 

4 ‘‘(C) ensure that acquisition program man5 agers have the resources necessary to success6 fully execute an approved acquisition program; 

7 ‘‘(D) ensure good acquisition program 

8 management of cost, schedule, risk, and system 

9 performance of the acquisition program at 

10 issue, including assessing acquisition program 

11 baseline breaches and directing any corrective 

12 action for such breaches; and 

13 ‘‘(E) ensure that acquisition program man14 agers, on an ongoing basis, monitor cost, sched15 ule, and performance against established base16 lines and use tools to assess risks to an acquisi17 tion program at all phases of the life cycle of 

18 such program to avoid and mitigate acquisition 

19 program baseline breaches. 

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

21 ‘acquisition decision event’, with respect to an acqui22 sition program, means a predetermined point within 

23 each of the acquisition phases at which the acquisi24 tion decision authority determines whether such acVerDate Sep 11 2014 07:16 May 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\H2609.IH H2609

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1 quisition program shall proceed to the next acquisi2 tion phase. 

3 ‘‘(4) ACQUISITION DECISION MEMORANDUM.— 

4 The term ‘acquisition decision memorandum’, with 

5 respect to an acquisition, means the official acquisi6 tion decision event record that includes a docu7 mented record of decisions, exit criteria, and as8 signed actions for such acquisition, as determined by 

9 the person exercising acquisition decision authority 

10 for such acquisition. 

11 ‘‘(5) ACQUISITION PROGRAM.—The term ‘acqui12 sition program’ means the process by which the De13 partment acquires, with any appropriated amounts, 

14 by contract for purchase or lease, property or serv15 ices (including construction) that support the mis16 sions and goals of the Department. 

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

18 term ‘acquisition program baseline’, with respect to 

19 an acquisition program, means a summary of the 

20 cost, schedule, and performance parameters, ex21 pressed in standard, measurable, quantitative terms, 

22 which must be met in order to accomplish the goals 

23 of such program. 

24 ‘‘(7) BEST PRACTICES.—The term ‘best prac25 tices’, with respect to acquisition, means a knowlVerDate Sep 11 2014 07:16 May 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\H2609.IH H2609

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1 edge-based approach to capability development that 

2 includes— 

3 ‘‘(A) identifying and validating needs; 

4 ‘‘(B) assessing alternatives to select the 

5 most appropriate solution; 

6 ‘‘(C) clearly establishing well-defined re7 quirements; 

8 ‘‘(D) developing realistic cost assessments 

9 and schedules; 

10 ‘‘(E) securing stable funding that matches 

11 resources to requirements; 

12 ‘‘(F) demonstrating technology, design, 

13 and manufacturing maturity; 

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

15 specific accomplishments that demonstrate 

16 progress; 

17 ‘‘(H) adopting and executing standardized 

18 processes with known success across programs; 

19 ‘‘(I) establishing an adequate workforce 

20 that is qualified and sufficient to perform nec21 essary functions; and 

22 ‘‘(J) integrating the capabilities described 

23 in subparagraphs (A) through (I) into the De24 partment’s mission and business operations. 


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

2 ‘major acquisition program’ means a Department 

3 acquisition program that is estimated by the Sec4 retary to require an eventual total expenditure of at 

5 least $300,000,000 (based on fiscal year 2019 con6 stant dollars) over its life cycle cost.’’. 

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

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

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

10 relating to section 835 the following new item: 

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

Æ 


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