II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3326 

To modify Department of Defense printed circuit board acquisition 

restrictions, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 7, 2021 

Mr. HAWLEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To modify Department of Defense printed circuit board 

acquisition restrictions, 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 ‘‘Strengthening Protec5 tions Against Chinese Printed Circuit Boards Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. MODIFICATIONS TO PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD AC7 QUISITION RESTRICTIONS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2533d of title 10, United 

9 States Code, is amended— 

10 (1) in subsection (a)— 


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1 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘January 

2 1, 2023’’ and inserting ‘‘the date determined 

3 under paragraph (3)’’; and 

4 (B) by adding at the end the following new 

5 paragraph: 

6 ‘‘(3) Paragraph (1) shall take effect on January 

7 1, 2027.’’; 

8 (2) in subsection (c)— 

9 (A) in paragraph (2)— 

10 (i) in the matter preceding subpara11 graph (A), by inserting ‘‘specified type of’’ 

12 after ‘‘means any’’; 

13 (ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

14 ‘‘(as such terms are defined under sections 

15 103 and 103a of title 41, respectively)’’; 

16 and 

17 (iii) by amending subparagraph (B) to 

18 read as follows: 

19 ‘‘(B) is a component of— 

20 ‘‘(i) a defense security system; or 

21 ‘‘(ii) a system, other than a defense 

22 security system, that transmits or stores 

23 information and which the Secretary iden24 tifies as national security sensitive in the 


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1 contract under which such printed circuit 

2 board is acquired.’’; and 

3 (B) by adding at the end the following new 

4 paragraphs: 

5 ‘‘(3) COMMERCIAL PRODUCT; COMMERCIAL

6 SERVICE; COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE OFF-THE7 SHELF ITEM.—The terms ‘commercial product’, 

8 ‘commercial service’, and ‘commercially available off9 the-shelf item’ have the meanings given such terms 

10 in sections 103, 103a, and 104 of title 41, respec11 tively. 

12 ‘‘(4) DEFENSE SECURITY SYSTEM.— 

13 ‘‘(A) The term ‘defense security system’ 

14 means an information system (including a tele15 communications system) used or operated by 

16 the Department of Defense, by a contractor of 

17 the Department, or by another organization on 

18 behalf of the Department, the function, oper19 ation, or use of which— 

20 ‘‘(i) involves command and control of 

21 an armed force; 

22 ‘‘(ii) involves equipment that is an in23 tegral part of a weapon or weapon system; 

24 or 


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1 ‘‘(iii) subject to subparagraph (B), is 

2 critical to the direct fulfillment of military 

3 missions. 

4 ‘‘(B) Subparagraph (A)(iii) does not in5 clude a system that is to be used for routine ad6 ministrative and business applications (includ7 ing payroll, finance, logistics, and personnel 

8 management applications). 

9 ‘‘(5) SPECIFIED TYPE.—The term ‘specified 

10 type’ means a printed circuit board that is— 

11 ‘‘(A) a component of an electronic device 

12 that facilitates the routing, connecting, trans13 mitting or securing of data and is commonly 

14 connected to a network; and 

15 ‘‘(B) any other end item, good, or product 

16 specified by the Secretary in accordance with 

17 subsection (d)(2).’’; and 

18 (3) by amending subsection (d) to read as fol19 lows: 

20 ‘‘(d) RULEMAKING.— 

21 ‘‘(1) The Secretary may issue rules providing 

22 that subsection (a) may not apply with respect to an 

23 acquisition of commercial products, commercial serv24 ices, and commercially available off-the-shelf items 

25 if— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the contractor is capable of meeting 

2 minimum requirements that the Secretary 

3 deems necessary to provide for the security of 

4 national security networks and weapon systems, 

5 including, at a minimum, compliance with sec6 tion 224 of the National Defense Authorization 

7 Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (Public Law 116–92; 

8 10 U.S.C. 2302 note); and 

9 ‘‘(B) either— 

10 ‘‘(i) the Government and the con11 tractor have agreed to a contract requiring 

12 the contractor to take certain actions to 

13 ensure the integrity and security of the 

14 item, including protecting the item from 

15 unauthorized access, use, disclosure, dis16 ruption, modification, or destruction; or 

17 ‘‘(ii) the Secretary has determined 

18 that the contractor has adopted such pro19 cedures, tools, and methods for identifying 

20 the sources of components of such item, 

21 based on commercial best practices, that 

22 meet or exceed the applicable trusted sup23 ply chain and operational security stand24 ards of the Department of Defense. 


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1 ‘‘(2) The Secretary may issue rules specifying 

2 end items, goods, and products for which a printed 

3 circuit board that is a component thereof shall be a 

4 ‘specified type’ if the Secretary has promulgated 

5 final regulations, after an opportunity for notice and 

6 comment that is not less than 12 months, imple7 menting this section. 

8 ‘‘(3) In carrying out this section, the Secretary 

9 shall, to the maximum extent practicable, avoid im10 posing contractual certification requirements with 

11 respect to the acquisition of commercial products, 

12 commercial services, or commercially available off13 the-shelf items.’’. 

14 (b) MODIFICATION OF INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT

15 OF PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARDS.—Section 841(d) of the 

16 William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Author17 ization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (Public Law 116–283) 

18 is amended— 

19 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

20 (A) by striking ‘‘the date of enactment of 

21 this Act’’ and inserting ‘‘the date of the enact22 ment of the National Defense Authorization Act 

23 for Fiscal Year 2022’’; 

24 (B) by striking ‘‘shall seek to enter’’ and 

25 inserting ‘‘shall enter’’; 


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1 (C) by striking ‘‘to include printed circuit 

2 boards in commercial products or services, or 

3 in’’ and inserting ‘‘to printed circuit boards in 

4 other commercial or’’; and 

5 (D) by striking ‘‘the scope of mission crit6 ical’’ and all that follows through the period at 

7 the end and inserting ‘‘types of systems other 

8 than defense security systems (as defined in 

9 section 2533d(c) of title 10, United States 

10 Code) that should be subject to the prohibition 

11 in section 2533d(a) of title 10, United States 

12 Code.’’; 

13 (2) in the heading for paragraph (2), by strik14 ing ‘‘DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE’’ and inserting 

15 ‘‘DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE’’; 

16 (3) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘one year 

17 after entering into the contract described in para18 graph (1)’’ and inserting ‘‘January 1, 2023’’; 

19 (4) in the heading for paragraph (3), by strik20 ing ‘‘CONGRESS’’ and inserting ‘‘CONGRESS’’; and 

21 (5) in paragraph (3), by inserting after ‘‘the 

22 recommendations of the report.’’ the following: ‘‘The 

23 Secretary shall use the report to determine whether 

24 any systems (other than defense security systems (as 

25 defined in section 2533d(c) of title 10, United States 


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1 Code)) or other types of printed circuit boards 

2 should be subject to the prohibition in section 

3 2533d(a) of title 10, United States Code.’’. 

Æ 


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