IB 

Union Calendar No. 96 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2915 

[Report No. 117–135] 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 30, 2021 

Mr. CORREA (for himself, Mr. MAST, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. PAPPAS, and Mr. 

THOMPSON of Mississippi) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 

OCTOBER 5, 2021 

Additional sponsors: Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mrs. RODGERS of 

Washington, Mr. MEIJER, and Ms. SLOTKIN

OCTOBER 5, 2021 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on April 30, 2021] 


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A BILL 

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. 


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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 ‘‘Homeland Procurement 

5 Reform Act’’ or the ‘‘HOPR Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS TO BUY CERTAIN ITEMS RELATED 

7 TO NATIONAL SECURITY INTERESTS ACCORD8 ING TO CERTAIN CRITERIA. 

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

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

11 amended by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘SEC. 836. REQUIREMENTS TO BUY CERTAIN ITEMS RE13 LATED TO NATIONAL SECURITY INTERESTS. 

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

15 ‘‘(1) COVERED ITEM.—The term ‘covered item’ 

16 means any of the following: 

17 ‘‘(A) Footwear provided as part of a uni18 form. 

19 ‘‘(B) Uniforms. 

20 ‘‘(C) Holsters and tactical pouches. 

21 ‘‘(D) Patches, insignia, and embellishments. 

22 ‘‘(E) Chemical, biological, radiological, and 

23 nuclear protective gear. 


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1 ‘‘(F) Body armor components intended to 

2 provide ballistic protection for an individual, 

3 consisting of 1 or more of the following: 

4 ‘‘(i) Soft ballistic panels. 

5 ‘‘(ii) Hard ballistic plates. 

6 ‘‘(iii) Concealed armor carriers worn 

7 under a uniform. 

8 ‘‘(iv) External armor carriers worn 

9 over a uniform. 

10 ‘‘(G) Any other item of clothing or protec11 tive equipment as determined appropriate by the 

12 Secretary. 

13 ‘‘(2) FRONTLINE OPERATIONAL COMPONENT.— 

14 The term ‘frontline operational component’ means 

15 any of the following organizations of the Department: 

16 ‘‘(A) U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 

17 ‘‘(B) U.S. Immigration and Customs En18 forcement. 

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

20 ‘‘(D) The Transportation Security Adminis21 tration. 

22 ‘‘(E) The Coast Guard. 

23 ‘‘(F) The Federal Protective Service. 

24 ‘‘(G) The Federal Emergency Management 

25 Agency. 


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1 ‘‘(H) The Federal Law Enforcement Train2 ing Centers. 

3 ‘‘(I) The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure 

4 Security Agency. 

5 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall ensure 

7 that any procurement of a covered item for a front8 line operational component meets the following cri9 teria: 

10 ‘‘(A) To the maximum extent possible, not 

11 less than one-third of funds obligated in a spe12 cific fiscal year for the procurement of such cov13 ered items shall be covered items that are manu14 factured or supplied in the United States by en15 tities that qualify as small business concerns, as 

16 such term is described under section 3 of the 

17 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632). 

18 ‘‘(B) Each contractor with respect to the 

19 procurement of such a covered item, including 

20 the end-item manufacturer of such a covered 

21 item— 

22 ‘‘(i) is an entity registered with the 

23 System for Award Management (or suc24 cessor system) administered by the General 

25 Services Administration; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) is in compliance with ISO 

2 9001:2015 of the International Organiza3 tion for Standardization (or successor 

4 standard) or a standard determined appro5 priate by the Secretary to ensure the quality 

6 of products and adherence to applicable 

7 statutory and regulatory requirements. 

8 ‘‘(C) Each supplier of such a covered item 

9 with an insignia (such as any patch, badge, or 

10 emblem) and each supplier of such an insignia, 

11 if such covered item with such insignia or such 

12 insignia, as the case may be, is not produced, 

13 applied, or assembled in the United States, 

14 shall— 

15 ‘‘(i) store such covered item with such 

16 insignia or such insignia in a locked area; 

17 ‘‘(ii) report any pilferage or theft of 

18 such covered item with such insignia or 

19 such insignia occurring at any stage before 

20 delivery of such covered item with such in21 signia or such insignia; and 

22 ‘‘(iii) destroy any such defective or un23 usable covered item with insignia or insig24 nia in a manner established by the Sec25 retary, and maintain records, for three 


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1 years after the creation of such records, of 

2 such destruction that include the date of 

3 such destruction, a description of the cov4 ered item with insignia or insignia de5 stroyed, the quantity of the covered item 

6 with insignia or insignia destroyed, and the 

7 method of destruction. 

8 ‘‘(2) WAIVER.— 

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a na10 tional emergency declared by the President under 

11 the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et 

12 seq.) or a major disaster declared by the Presi13 dent under section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford 

14 Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 

15 (42 U.S.C. 5170), the Secretary may waive a re16 quirement in subparagraph (A), (B) or (C) of 

17 paragraph (1) if the Secretary determines there 

18 is an insufficient supply of a covered item that 

19 meets the requirement. 

20 ‘‘(B) NOTICE.—Not later than 60 days after 

21 the date on which the Secretary determines a 

22 waiver under subparagraph (A) is necessary, the 

23 Secretary shall provide to the Committee on 

24 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

25 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 


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1 Senate and the Committee on Homeland Secu2 rity, the Committee on Oversight and Reform, 

3 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

4 House of Representatives notice of such deter5 mination, which shall include— 

6 ‘‘(i) identification of the national 

7 emergency or major disaster declared by the 

8 President; 

9 ‘‘(ii) identification of the covered item 

10 for which the Secretary intends to issue the 

11 waiver; and 

12 ‘‘(iii) a description of the demand for 

13 the covered item and corresponding lack of 

14 supply from contractors able to meet the 

15 criteria described in subparagraph (B) or 

16 (C) of paragraph (1). 

17 ‘‘(c) PRICING.—The Secretary shall ensure that covered 

18 items are purchased at a fair and reasonable price, con19 sistent with the procedures and guidelines specified in the 

20 Federal Acquisition Regulation. 

21 ‘‘(d) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

22 of enactment of this section and annually thereafter, the 

23 Secretary shall provide to the Committee on Homeland Se24 curity, the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and the 

25 Committee on Appropriations of the House of RepresentaVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:57 Oct 05, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2915.RH H2915

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1 tives, and the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov2 ernmental Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations of 

3 the Senate a briefing on instances in which vendors have 

4 failed to meet deadlines for delivery of covered items and 

5 corrective actions taken by the Department in response to 

6 such instances. 

7 ‘‘(e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section applies with re8 spect to a contract entered into by the Department or any 

9 frontline operational component on or after the date that 

10 is 180 days after the date of enactment of this section.’’. 

11 (b) STUDY.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 

13 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

14 of Homeland Security shall submit to the Committee 

15 on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of 

16 the Senate and the Committee on Homeland Security 

17 of the House of Representatives a study of the ade18 quacy of uniform allowances provided to employees of 

19 frontline operational components (as defined in sec20 tion 836 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, as 

21 added by subsection (a)). 

22 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The study conducted 

23 under paragraph (1) shall— 

24 (A) be informed by a Department-wide sur25 vey of employees from across the Department of 


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1 Homeland Security who receive uniform allow2 ances that seeks to ascertain what, if any, im3 provements could be made to the current uniform 

4 allowances and what, if any, impacts current al5 lowances have had on employee morale and re6 tention; 

7 (B) assess the adequacy of the most recent 

8 increase made to the uniform allowance for first 

9 year employees; and 

10 (C) consider increasing by 50 percent, at 

11 minimum, the annual allowance for all other 

12 employees. 

13 (c) ADDITIONAL REPORT.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after 

15 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

16 Homeland Security shall provide a report with rec17 ommendations on how the Department of Homeland 

18 Security could procure additional items from domes19 tic sources and bolster the domestic supply chain for 

20 items related to national security to— 

21 (A) the Committee on Homeland Security 

22 and Governmental Affairs and the Committee on 

23 Appropriations of the Senate; and 

24 (B) the Committee on Homeland Security, 

25 the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and the 


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1 Committee on Appropriations of the House of 

2 Representatives. 

3 (2) CONTENTS.—The report required under 

4 paragraph (1) shall include the following: 

5 (A) A review of the compliance of the De6 partment of Homeland Security with the re7 quirements under section 604 of title VI of divi8 sion A of the American Recovery and Reinvest9 ment Act of 2009 (6 U.S.C. 453b) to buy certain 

10 items related to national security interests from 

11 sources in the United States. 

12 (B) An assessment of the capacity of the De13 partment of Homeland Security to procure the 

14 following items from domestic sources: 

15 (i) Personal protective equipment and 

16 other items necessary to respond to a pan17 demic such as that caused by COVID–19. 

18 (ii) Helmets that provide ballistic pro19 tection and other head protection and com20 ponents. 

21 (iii) Rain gear, cold weather gear, and 

22 other environmental and flame resistant 

23 clothing. 

24 (d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents in 

25 section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public 


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1 Law 107–296; 116 Stat. 2135) is amended by inserting 

2 after the item relating to section 835 the following: 

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


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kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 96 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2915 

[Report No. 117–135] 

A BILL 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 renents, and for other purposes. Homeland Security frontline operational compo- to national security interests for Department of garding the procurement of certain items related 

OCTOBER 5, 2021 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS