IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2083 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 11, 2019 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs 

AN ACT 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 regarding 

the procurement of certain items related to national security interests for Department of Homeland Security 

frontline operational components, 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 ‘‘Homeland Procure3 ment Reform Act’’ or the ‘‘HOPR Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS TO BUY CERTAIN ITEMS RELATED 

5 TO NATIONAL SECURITY INTERESTS AC6 CORDING TO CERTAIN CRITERIA. 

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. REQUIREMENTS TO BUY CERTAIN ITEMS RE11 LATED TO NATIONAL SECURITY INTERESTS. 

12 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary shall ensure 

13 that any procurement of covered items for a frontline 

14 operational component meets the following criteria: 

15 ‘‘(1) To the maximum extent possible, not less 

16 than one-third of funds obligated in a specific fiscal 

17 year for the procurement of such covered items shall 

18 be covered items that are manufactured in part or 

19 provided in the United States by entities that qualify 

20 as small business concerns (as such term is de21 scribed under section 3 of the Small Business Act 

22 (15 U.S.C. 632)). 

23 ‘‘(2) Each prime contractor, with respect to the 

24 procurement of such covered items, shall ensure, to 

25 the maximum extent practicable, the following: 


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1 ‘‘(A) Each first-tier subcontractor and end 

2 item manufacturer complies with the contractor 

3 code of business ethics and conduct under sec4 tion 3509 of title 41, United States Code, and 

5 the Federal Acquisition Regulation. 

6 ‘‘(B) Each first-tier subcontractor and 

7 end-item manufacturer is in compliance with a 

8 standard identified by the Secretary as appro9 priate for quality, such as ISO 9001:2015 of 

10 the International Organization for Standardiza11 tion. 

12 ‘‘(C) The ability of a first-tier subcon13 tractor to fulfill the terms of the contract is 

14 verified. 

15 ‘‘(3) Each supplier of such a covered item with 

16 an insignia (such as any patch, badge, or emblem) 

17 and each supplier of such an insignia, if such cov18 ered item with such insignia or such insignia, as the 

19 case may be, is not produced, applied, or assembled 

20 in the United States, shall— 

21 ‘‘(A) store such covered item with such in22 signia or such insignia in a locked area; 

23 ‘‘(B) report any pilferage or theft of such 

24 covered item with such insignia or such insignia 

25 occurring at any stage before delivery of such 


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1 covered item with such insignia or such insig2 nia; and 

3 ‘‘(C) destroy any defective or unusable cov4 ered item with insignia or insignia in a manner 

5 established by the Secretary, and maintain 

6 records, for 3 years after the creation of such 

7 records, of such destruction that include the 

8 date of such destruction, a description of the 

9 covered item with insignia or insignia destroyed, 

10 the quantity of the covered item with insignia 

11 or insignia destroyed, and the method of de12 struction. 

13 ‘‘(b) PRICING.—The Secretary shall ensure that cov14 ered items are purchased at a fair and reasonable price, 

15 consistent with the procedures and guidelines specified in 

16 the Federal Acquisition Regulation. 

17 ‘‘(c) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the 

18 date of the enactment of this section and annually there19 after, the Secretary shall provide to the Committee on 

20 Homeland Security, the Committee on Oversight and Re21 form, and the Committee on Appropriations of the House 

22 of Representatives, and the Committee on Homeland Se23 curity and Governmental Affairs and the Committee on 

24 Appropriations of the Senate a report on the following: 


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1 ‘‘(1) Instances in which vendors have failed to 

2 meet deadlines for delivery of covered items and cor3 rective actions taken by the Department in response 

4 to such instances. 

5 ‘‘(2) The status of efforts to carry out para6 graph (1) of subsection (a). 

7 ‘‘(3) A description of how the Department en8 sures the compliance of each prime contractor with 

9 the requirements of paragraph (2) of subsection (a) 

10 and any instances of non-compliance. 

11 ‘‘(d) DEPARTMENT FRONTLINE OPERATIONAL COM12 PONENT DESCRIBED.—In this section, the term ‘Depart13 ment frontline operational component’ refers to any of the 

14 following components of the Department: 

15 ‘‘(1) United States Customs and Border Protec16 tion. 

17 ‘‘(2) United States Immigration and Customs 

18 Enforcement. 

19 ‘‘(3) The United States Secret Service. 

20 ‘‘(4) The Transportation Security Administra21 tion. 

22 ‘‘(5) The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Se23 curity Agency. 

24 ‘‘(6) The Federal Protective Service. 


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1 ‘‘(7) The Federal Emergency Management 

2 Agency. 

3 ‘‘(8) The Federal Law Enforcement Training 

4 Centers. 

5 ‘‘(e) DETERMINATION.—If the Secretary determines 

6 that compliance with paragraph (1) of subsection (a) is 

7 impractical, the Secretary shall, not later than 15 days 

8 after making such determination, submit to the Com9 mittee on Homeland Security of the House of Representa10 tives and Committee on Homeland Security and Govern11 mental Affairs of the Senate an explanation relating to 

12 such determination and specifics regarding what percent13 age of covered items will be procured by small business 

14 concerns. 

15 ‘‘(f) EXCEPTION.—This section shall not apply to the 

16 purchase of covered items by the Department to be used 

17 by the Department for training purposes. 

18 ‘‘(g) COVERED ITEM DESCRIBED.—In this section, 

19 the term ‘covered item’ refers to any of the following with 

20 respect to a Department frontline operational component: 

21 ‘‘(1) Body armor components intended to pro22 vide ballistic protection for an individual, consisting 

23 of one or more of the following: 

24 ‘‘(A) Soft ballistic panels. 

25 ‘‘(B) Hard ballistic plates. 


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1 ‘‘(C) Concealed armor carriers worn under 

2 a uniform. 

3 ‘‘(D) External armor carriers worn over a 

4 uniform. 

5 ‘‘(2) Helmets that provide ballistic protection 

6 and other head protection and components. 

7 ‘‘(3) Protective eyewear. 

8 ‘‘(4) Rain gear, cold weather gear, other envi9 ronmental and flame-resistant clothing. 

10 ‘‘(5) Footwear. 

11 ‘‘(6) Uniforms. 

12 ‘‘(7) Bags and packs. 

13 ‘‘(8) Holsters and tactical pouches. 

14 ‘‘(9) Patches, insignia, and embellishments. 

15 ‘‘(10) Respiratory protective masks. 

16 ‘‘(11) Chemical, biological, radiological, and nu17 clear protective gear. 

18 ‘‘(12) Hearing protection equipment. 

19 ‘‘(13) Any other critical safety item as deter20 mined appropriate by the Secretary. 

21 ‘‘(h) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section applies with 

22 respect to a contract entered into by the Department or 

23 any of its frontline operational components on or after Oc24 tober 1, 2020. 


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1 ‘‘(i) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con2 gress that the Secretary should endeavor to ensure that 

3 the majority of covered items for a frontline operational 

4 component procured by the Department are manufactured 

5 in the United States by entities that qualify as small busi6 ness concerns.’’. 

7 (b) STUDY.—Not later than 1 year after the date of 

8 the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Se9 curity shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Secu10 rity of the House of Representatives and the Committee 

11 on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 

12 Senate a study of the adequacy of allowances provided to 

13 employees of Department of Homeland Security frontline 

14 operational components (as such term is described in sec15 tion 836 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, as added 

16 by subsection (a)). Such study shall be informed by a De17 partment-wide survey of employees from across the De18 partment who receive uniform allowances that seeks to as19 certain what, if any, improvements could be made to the 

20 current uniform allowances and what, if any, impacts cur21 rent allowances have had on employee morale and reten22 tion. Such study shall also consider increasing by 25 per23 cent, at minimum, the uniform allowance for first year em24 ployees and by 50 percent, at minimum, the annual allow25 ance for all other employees. 


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1 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

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

3 amended by inserting after the item relating to section 

4 835 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 836. Requirements to buy certain items related to national security interests.’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives June 10, 2019. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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