‘‘Subtitle B—Protection 
‘‘SEC. 2121. DETECTION OF BIOLOGICAL ATTACKS. 
‘‘(a) PROGRAM.—The Secretary shall carry out a pro-
gram to detect a biological attack or event that poses a 
high risk to homeland security. Through such program, 
the Secretary shall— 
‘‘(1) deploy detection capabilities to areas, 
based on high risks identified by Department assess-
ments, to indicate the presence of biological agents; 
‘‘(2) consider multiple deployment strategies in-
cluding surge capability; 
‘‘(3) provide information to participating lab-
oratories and programs for their use in monitoring 
public health, and biological material or other data 
from those detectors to participating laboratories 
and programs for testing and evaluation; 
‘‘(4) regularly communicate with, and provide 
information about the presence of biological agents 
to, appropriate Federal, State, and local agencies re-
sponsible for public health, law enforcement, and 
emergency services, in a manner that ensures trans-
parency with the governments served by such per-
sonnel; 
‘‘(5) provide advanced planning tools, concepts 
of operations (including alarm resolution protocols 
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and response guidance), standard operating proce-
dures, and training exercises (including in collabora-
tion with relevant national level exercises) for collec-
tive response to and recovery from biological attacks; 
and 
‘‘(6) provide technical assistance to jurisdictions 
hosting the program to improve their ability to re-
spond to a detected pathogen. 
‘‘(b) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.—Under the pro-
gram required under subsection (a), the Secretary shall— 
‘‘(1) enter into memoranda of agreement or 
interagency agreements under the Economy Act of 
1933 (31 U.S.C. 1535 et seq.) with the Director of 
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and 
the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
Agency, and the heads of other Federal departments 
and agencies, setting forth roles and responsibilities, 
including with respect to validating performance and 
developing testing protocols for participating labora-
tories and coordination with appropriate State, local, 
and tribal agencies; 
‘‘(2) establish criteria for determining whether 
plans for biological detector capabilities and coverage 
sufficiently protect the United States population, 
and make such determinations on an annual basis; 
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‘‘(3) acting through the Under Secretary for 
Science and Technology, and in consultation with 
the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention, implement a process for establishing 
assay performance standards and evaluation for 
equivalency for biological threat assays, that— 
‘‘(A) evaluates biological threat detection 
assays, their protocols for use, and their associ-
ated response algorithms for confirmation of bi-
ological threat agents, taking performance 
measures and concepts of operation into consid-
eration; 
‘‘(B) develops interagency peer-reviewed 
assay performance and equivalency standards 
based on the findings of the evaluation under 
subparagraph (A); 
‘‘(C) requires implementation of the stand-
ards developed under subparagraph (B) for all 
Department biological detection programs; 
‘‘(D) promotes use of such standards 
among all other Federal biological detection 
programs and makes them available to the pri-
vate sector and other end-users as appropriate; 
and 
‘‘(E) is updated as necessary; 
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‘‘(4) prior to obligating funds to acquire bio-
detection systems for purposes of operational testing 
and evaluation, require— 
‘‘(A) a determination of the sensitivity and 
specificity of the currently deployed biodetection 
system; 
‘‘(B) an assessment of the sensitivity and 
specificity of the next generation biodetection 
system or systems under consideration for ac-
quisition and whether it meets established oper-
ational requirements; 
‘‘(C) provision of all raw data to the 
Science and Technology Directorate to enable 
the Under Secretary to— 
‘‘(i) conduct a trade-off study com-
paring the results of subparagraphs (A) 
and (B); and 
‘‘(ii) perform a technical readiness as-
sessment 
in 
accordance 
with 
section 
308(b); and 
‘‘(D) that the findings under subparagraph 
(C) inform the cost-benefit analysis under para-
graph (5)(A) and any Departmental acquisition 
review board decision regarding the biodetection 
system or systems under consideration; and 
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‘‘(5) prior to acquiring and deploying biodetec-
tion technology, require— 
‘‘(A) a cost-benefit analysis, including an 
analysis of alternatives, that shall be informed 
by the terrorism risk assessments under section 
2102; 
‘‘(B) operational testing and evaluation; 
‘‘(C) operational assessment by the end 
users of the technology; and 
‘‘(D) the Department, other relevant exec-
utive agencies, and local jurisdictions intended 
to host the systems to agree on concepts of op-
erations for resolving alarms. 
‘‘(c) CONTRACT AUTHORITY.—The Secretary may 
enter into contracts with participating laboratories and 
programs for— 
‘‘(1) the provision of laboratory services or 
other biosurveillance activities as appropriate for 
purposes of this section on a fee-for-service basis or 
on a prepayment or other similar basis; and 
‘‘(2) administrative and other costs related to 
hosting program personnel and equipment in these 
laboratories or programs. 
‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
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