DHS Acquisition Review Board Act of 2017

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish an Acquisition Review Board in the Department of Homeland Security, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the DHS Acquisition Review Board Act of 2017 2. Acquisition Review Board (a) In general Subtitle D of title VIII of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 ( 6 U.S.C. 391 836. Acquisition Review Board (a) Definitions In this section: (1) Acquisition The term acquisition (2) Acquisition decision authority The term acquisition decision authority (A) ensure compliance with Federal law, the Federal Acquisition Regulation, and Department acquisition management directives; (B) review (including approving, pausing, modifying, or cancelling) an acquisition program through the life cycle of the program; (C) ensure that acquisition program managers have the resources necessary to successfully execute an approved acquisition program; (D) ensure good acquisition program management of cost, schedule, risk, and system performance of the acquisition program at issue, including assessing acquisition program baseline breaches and directing any corrective action for such breaches; and (E) ensure that acquisition program managers, on an ongoing basis, monitor cost, schedule, and performance against established baselines and use tools to assess risks to an acquisition program at all phases of the life cycle of such program to avoid and mitigate acquisition program baseline breaches. (3) Acquisition decision event The term acquisition decision event (4) Acquisition decision memorandum The term acquisition decision memorandum (5) Acquisition program The term acquisition program (6) Acquisition program baseline The term acquisition program baseline (7) Best practices The term best practices (A) identifying and validating needs; (B) assessing alternatives to select the most appropriate solution; (C) clearly establishing well-defined requirements; (D) developing realistic cost assessments and schedules; (E) securing stable funding that matches resources to requirements; (F) demonstrating technology, design, and manufacturing maturity; (G) using milestones and exit criteria or specific accomplishments that demonstrate progress; (H) adopting and executing standardized processes with known success across programs; (I) establishing an adequate workforce that is qualified and sufficient to perform necessary functions; and (J) integrating the capabilities described in subparagraphs (A) through (I) into the mission and business operations of the Department. (8) Board The term Board (9) Major acquisition program The term major acquisition program (b) Establishment of Board The Secretary shall establish an Acquisition Review Board to— (1) strengthen accountability and uniformity within the Department acquisition review process; (2) review major acquisition programs; and (3) review the use of best practices. (c) Composition (1) Chairperson The Under Secretary for Management shall serve as chairperson of the Board. (2) Other members The Secretary shall ensure participation by other relevant Department officials, including not fewer than 2 component heads or their designees, as permanent members of the Board. (d) Meetings (1) Regular meetings The Board shall meet regularly for purposes of ensuring all acquisitions processes proceed in a timely fashion to achieve mission readiness. (2) Other meetings The Board shall convene— (A) at the discretion of the Secretary; and (B) at any time— (i) a major acquisition program— (I) requires authorization to proceed from one acquisition decision event to another throughout the acquisition life cycle; (II) is in breach of the approved requirements of the major acquisition program; or (III) requires additional review, as determined by the Under Secretary for Management; or (ii) a non-major acquisition program requires review, as determined by the Under Secretary for Management. (e) Responsibilities The responsibilities of the Board are as follows: (1) Determine whether a proposed acquisition has met the requirements of key phases of the acquisition life cycle framework and is able to proceed to the next phase and eventual full production and deployment. (2) Oversee whether the business strategy, resources, management, and accountability of a proposed acquisition is executable and is aligned to strategic initiatives. (3) Support the person with acquisition decision authority for an acquisition in determining the appropriate direction for the acquisition at key acquisition decision events. (4) Conduct systematic reviews of acquisitions to ensure that the acquisitions are progressing in compliance with the approved documents for their current acquisition phases. (5) Review the acquisition documents of each major acquisition program, including the acquisition program baseline and documentation reflecting consideration of tradeoffs among cost, schedule, and performance objectives, to ensure the reliability of underlying data. (6) Ensure that practices are adopted and implemented to require consideration of trade-offs among cost, schedule, and performance objectives as part of the process for developing requirements for major acquisition programs prior to the initiation of the second acquisition decision event, including, at a minimum, the following practices: (A) Department officials responsible for acquisition, budget, and cost estimating functions are provided with the appropriate opportunity to develop estimates and raise cost and schedule matters before performance objectives are established for capabilities when feasible. (B) Full consideration is given to possible trade-offs among cost, schedule, and performance objectives for each alternative. (f) Acquisition program baseline report requirement If the person exercising acquisition decision authority over a major acquisition program approves the major acquisition program to proceed into the planning phase before the major acquisition program has a Department-approved acquisition program baseline— (1) the Under Secretary for Management shall create and approve an acquisition program baseline report regarding such approval; and (2) the Secretary shall— (A) not later than 7 days after the date on which the acquisition decision memorandum is signed, notify in writing the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate of the decision; and (B) not later than 60 days after the date on which the acquisition decision memorandum is signed, submit to the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a report stating the rationale for such decision and a plan of action to require an acquisition program baseline for such program. (g) Report Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this section and every year thereafter through fiscal year 2022, the Under Secretary for Management shall provide information to the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate on the activities of the Board for the prior fiscal year that includes information relating to the following: (1) For each meeting of the Board, any acquisition decision memoranda. (2) Results of the systematic reviews conducted under subsection (e)(4). (3) Results of acquisition document reviews required under subsection (e)(5). (4) Activities to ensure that practices are adopted and implemented throughout the Department under subsection (e)(6). . (b) Clerical amendment The table of contents in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 ( 6 U.S.C. 101 Sec. 836. Acquisition Review Board. . October 16, 2017 Reported without amendment

Summary: DHS Acquisition Review Board Act of 2017 (Sec. 2) This bill amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish an Acquisition Review Board to strengthen accountability and uniformity within the DHS acquisition review process, review major acquisition programs (programs estimated to require a total expenditure of at least $300 million over their life cycle costs), and review the use of best practices. The board shall convene at DHS's discretion and whenever: (1) a major acquisition program requires authorization to proceed from one acquisition decision event to another, is in breach of its approved requirements, or requires additional review; or (2) a non-major acquisition program requires review. The board's responsibilities are to: determine whether a proposed acquisition program has met the requirements of phases of the acquisition life cycle framework and is able to proceed to the next phase and eventual full production and deployment; oversee whether a proposed acquisition's business strategy, resources, management, and accountability is executable and aligned to strategic initiatives; support the acquisition decision authority in determining the appropriate direction at key acquisition decision events; conduct reviews to ensure that acquisitions are progressing in compliance with the approved documents for their current acquisition phases; review the acquisition documents of each major acquisition program to ensure the reliability of underlying data; and ensure that practices are implemented to require consideration of tradeoffs among cost, schedule, and performance objectives as part of the process for developing requirements for major acquisition programs prior to initiating the second acquisition decision event. If the person exercising acquisition decision authority over a major acquisition program approves such program to proceed into the planning phase before such program has a DHS-approved acquisition program baseline, as required by DHS policy, DHS shall create and approve a baseline report regarding such approval and notify Congress. DHS, by one year after this bill's enactment and annually through FY2022, shall provide information to Congress on the board's activities.