II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2915 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 17, 2021 

Received 

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: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 836. REQUIREMENTS TO BUY CERTAIN ITEMS RE11 LATED TO NATIONAL SECURITY INTERESTS. 

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

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

14 means any of the following: 

15 ‘‘(A) Footwear provided as part of a uni16 form. 

17 ‘‘(B) Uniforms. 

18 ‘‘(C) Holsters and tactical pouches. 

19 ‘‘(D) Patches, insignia, and embellish20 ments. 

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

22 nuclear protective gear. 

23 ‘‘(F) Body armor components intended to 

24 provide ballistic protection for an individual, 

25 consisting of 1 or more of the following: 

26 ‘‘(i) Soft ballistic panels. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) Hard ballistic plates. 

2 ‘‘(iii) Concealed armor carriers worn 

3 under a uniform. 

4 ‘‘(iv) External armor carriers worn 

5 over a uniform. 

6 ‘‘(G) Any other item of clothing or protec7 tive equipment as determined appropriate by 

8 the Secretary. 

9 ‘‘(2) FRONTLINE OPERATIONAL COMPONENT.— 

10 The term ‘frontline operational component’ means 

11 any of the following organizations of the Depart12 ment: 

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

14 ‘‘(B) U.S. Immigration and Customs En15 forcement. 

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

17 ‘‘(D) The Transportation Security Admin18 istration. 

19 ‘‘(E) The Coast Guard. 

20 ‘‘(F) The Federal Protective Service. 

21 ‘‘(G) The Federal Emergency Management 

22 Agency. 

23 ‘‘(H) The Federal Law Enforcement 

24 Training Centers. 


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1 ‘‘(I) The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure 

2 Security Agency. 

3 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.— 

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

5 that any procurement of a covered item for a front6 line operational component meets the following cri7 teria: 

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

9 less than one-third of funds obligated in a spe10 cific fiscal year for the procurement of such 

11 covered items shall be covered items that are 

12 manufactured or supplied in the United States 

13 by entities that qualify as small business con14 cerns, as such term is described under section 

15 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632). 

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

17 procurement of such a covered item, including 

18 the end-item manufacturer of such a covered 

19 item— 

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

21 System for Award Management (or suc22 cessor system) administered by the General 

23 Services Administration; and 

24 ‘‘(ii) is in compliance with ISO 

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1 tion for Standardization (or successor 

2 standard) or a standard determined appro3 priate by the Secretary to ensure the qual4 ity of products and adherence to applicable 

5 statutory and regulatory requirements. 

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

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

8 emblem) and each supplier of such an insignia, 

9 if such covered item with such insignia or such 

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

11 applied, or assembled in the United States, 

12 shall— 

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

14 insignia or such insignia in a locked area; 

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

16 such covered item with such insignia or 

17 such insignia occurring at any stage before 

18 delivery of such covered item with such in19 signia or such insignia; and 

20 ‘‘(iii) destroy any such defective or 

21 unusable covered item with insignia or in22 signia in a manner established by the Sec23 retary, and maintain records, for three 

24 years after the creation of such records, of 

25 such destruction that include the date of 


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1 such destruction, a description of the cov2 ered item with insignia or insignia de3 stroyed, the quantity of the covered item 

4 with insignia or insignia destroyed, and the 

5 method of destruction. 

6 ‘‘(2) WAIVER.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a na8 tional emergency declared by the President 

9 under the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 

10 1601 et seq.) or a major disaster declared by 

11 the President under section 401 of the Robert 

12 T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency As13 sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170), the Secretary 

14 may waive a requirement in subparagraph (A), 

15 (B) or (C) of paragraph (1) if the Secretary de16 termines there is an insufficient supply of a 

17 covered item that meets the requirement. 

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

19 after the date on which the Secretary deter20 mines a waiver under subparagraph (A) is nec21 essary, the Secretary shall provide to the Com22 mittee on Homeland Security and Govern23 mental Affairs and the Committee on Appro24 priations of the Senate and the Committee on 

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1 sight and Reform, and the Committee on Ap2 propriations of the House of Representatives 

3 notice of such determination, which shall in4 clude— 

5 ‘‘(i) identification of the national 

6 emergency or major disaster declared by 

7 the President; 

8 ‘‘(ii) identification of the covered item 

9 for which the Secretary intends to issue 

10 the waiver; and 

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

12 the covered item and corresponding lack of 

13 supply from contractors able to meet the 

14 criteria described in subparagraph (B) or 

15 (C) of paragraph (1). 

16 ‘‘(c) PRICING.—The Secretary shall ensure that cov17 ered items are purchased at a fair and reasonable price, 

18 consistent with the procedures and guidelines specified in 

19 the Federal Acquisition Regulation. 

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

21 of enactment of this section and annually thereafter, the 

22 Secretary shall provide to the Committee on Homeland Se23 curity, the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and the 

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1 ernmental Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations 

2 of the Senate a briefing on instances in which vendors 

3 have failed to meet deadlines for delivery of covered items 

4 and corrective actions taken by the Department in re5 sponse to such instances. 

6 ‘‘(e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section applies with 

7 respect to a contract entered into by the Department or 

8 any frontline operational component on or after the date 

9 that is 180 days after the date of enactment of this sec10 tion.’’. 

11 (b) STUDY.— 

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

13 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec14 retary of Homeland Security shall submit to the 

15 Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 

16 Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Home17 land Security of the House of Representatives a 

18 study of the adequacy of uniform allowances pro19 vided to employees of frontline operational compo20 nents (as defined in section 836 of the Homeland 

21 Security Act of 2002, as added by subsection (a)). 

22 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The study conducted 

23 under paragraph (1) shall— 

24 (A) be informed by a Department-wide 

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1 ment of Homeland Security who receive uni2 form allowances that seeks to ascertain what, if 

3 any, improvements could be made to the cur4 rent uniform allowances and what, if any, im5 pacts current allowances have had on employee 

6 morale and retention; 

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 

15 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec16 retary of Homeland Security shall provide a report 

17 with recommendations on how the Department of 

18 Homeland Security could procure additional items 

19 from domestic sources and bolster the domestic sup20 ply chain for items related to national security to— 

21 (A) the Committee on Homeland Security 

22 and Governmental Affairs and the Committee 

23 on Appropriations of the Senate; and 

24 (B) the Committee on Homeland Security, 

25 the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and 


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1 the Committee on Appropriations of the House 

2 of 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 cer10 tain items related to national security interests 

11 from sources in the United States. 

12 (B) An assessment of the capacity of the 

13 Department of Homeland Security to procure 

14 the 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 

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


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1 (Public Law 107–296; 116 Stat. 2135) is amended by in2 serting after the item relating to section 835 the following: 

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

Passed the House of Representatives November 16, 

2021. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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