I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3093 
To establish acquisition pathways for software applications and software up-
grades and software development and software acquisition training and 
management programs for the Department of Defense, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 4, 2019 
Ms. SLOTKIN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Armed Services 
A BILL 
To establish acquisition pathways for software applications 
and software upgrades and software development and 
software acquisition training and management programs 
for the Department of Defense, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Creating Opportunities 
through Defense Engineering Requirements Act of 2019’’ 
or the ‘‘CODER Act of 2019’’. 
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SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF ACQUISITION PATHWAYS FOR 
SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS AND SOFTWARE 
UPGRADES. 
(a) GUIDANCE REQUIRED.—Not later than March 1, 
2020, the Secretary of Defense shall establish guidance 
authorizing the use of acquisition pathways described in 
subsection (b) for the rapid acquisition of software appli-
cations and software upgrades that are intended to be 
fielded within one year. A contract awarded under this sec-
tion— 
(1) shall be in an amount equal to or less than 
$50,000,000; and 
(2) may be entered into for a period of not 
more than one year. 
(b) SOFTWARE ACQUISITION PATHWAYS.—The guid-
ance required by subsection (a) shall provide for the use 
of the following two acquisition pathways: 
(1) APPLICATIONS.—The applications pathway 
shall provide for the use of rapid development and 
implementation of software applications to be used 
with commercially available hardware. 
(2) UPGRADES.—The upgrades pathway shall 
provide for the rapid development and insertion of 
software upgrades for embedded weapon systems or 
another hardware system solely used by the Depart-
ment of Defense. 
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(c) GENERAL REQUIREMENTS.—The guidance re-
quired by subsection (a) shall provide for— 
(1) the use of proven technologies and solutions 
to continuously engineer, update, and deliver capa-
bilities in software; and 
(2) a streamlined and coordinated require-
ments, budget, and acquisition process that results 
in the rapid fielding of software applications and 
software upgrades. 
(d) EXPEDITED PROCESS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—An acquisition conducted 
under the guidance required by subsection (a) shall 
not be subject to the Joint Capabilities Integration 
and Development System Manual and Department 
of Defense Directive 5000.01, except to the extent 
specifically provided in such guidance. 
(2) REQUIREMENTS
PROCESS.—The guidance 
required by subsection (a) shall provide that the re-
quirements for acquisition of software applications 
and software upgrades— 
(A) are developed, refined, and prioritized 
on an iterative basis through continuous partici-
pation and collaboration by users, testers, and 
requirements authorities; 
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(B) include an identification of the need 
for, and users of, the software to be acquired 
and a rationale for how the software will sup-
port increased efficiency of the Department of 
Defense; 
(C) are stated in the form of a summary- 
level list of vulnerabilities in existing software 
systems and desired features or capabilities of 
the software to be acquired; and 
(D) consider issues related to lifecycle 
costs, systems interoperability, and logistics 
support if the developer of the software to be 
acquired stops providing support. 
(3) EXECUTION OF RAPID ACQUISITIONS.—The 
Secretary shall ensure that— 
(A) an acquisition conducted under the 
guidance required by subsection (a) is sup-
ported by an entity capable of regular auto-
mated testing of the source code of the software 
to be acquired and that such entity is author-
ized to buy storage, bandwidth, and computing 
capability as necessary; 
(B) the Department of Defense can collect 
and analyze the testing data described in sub-
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paragraph (A) to make decisions regarding soft-
ware acquisition and oversight; 
(C) the Director of Operational Test and 
Evaluation and the project manager appointed 
under paragraph (5) design test cases to ensure 
that the entity described in subparagraph (A) 
can test the software to be acquired to ensure 
such software meets the requirements of the 
contract; 
(D) the project manager appointed under 
paragraph (5) closely monitors the progress of 
an acquisition conducted under the guidance re-
quired by subsection (a); 
(E) an independent cost estimate is con-
ducted that considers— 
(i) the iterative process of the develop-
ment of the software to be acquired; and 
(ii) the long-term value of the soft-
ware to be acquired to the Department of 
Defense, not based on the value of indi-
vidual lines of source code of the software; 
(F) the performance of fielded versions of 
the software to be acquired are demonstrated 
and evaluated in an operational environment; 
and 
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(G) performance metrics of the software to 
be acquired, such as metrics relating to when 
the software can be fielded, delivery capabilities 
of the software (including speed of recovery 
from outages and cybersecurity vulnerabilities), 
and assessments and estimations of the size 
and complexity of such software, are automati-
cally generated on a continuous basis and made 
available to the Department of Defense and the 
congressional defense committees. 
(4) ADMINISTRATION OF SOFTWARE ACQUISI-
TION PATHWAYS.—The guidance required by sub-
section (a) may provide for the use of any of the fol-
lowing streamlined procedures: 
(A) The service acquisition executive of the 
military department concerned shall appoint a 
project manager for each acquisition of software 
applications and software upgrades, as deter-
mined by the service acquisition executive. Such 
project manager shall be appointed from among 
civilian employees or members of the Armed 
Forces who have significant and relevant expe-
rience in current software processes. 
(B) Each project manager shall report 
with respect to such acquisition directly, and 
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without intervening review or approval, to the 
service acquisition executive of the military de-
partment concerned. 
(C) The service acquisition executive of the 
military department concerned shall evaluate 
the job performance of such manager on an an-
nual basis. In conducting an evaluation under 
this paragraph, a service acquisition executive 
shall consider the extent to which the manager 
has achieved the objectives of the acquisition 
for which the manager is responsible, including 
quality, timeliness, and cost objectives. 
(D) The project manager shall be author-
ized staff positions for a technical staff, includ-
ing experts in software engineering to enable 
the manager to manage the acquisition without 
the technical assistance of another organiza-
tional unit of an agency to the maximum extent 
practicable. 
(E) The project manager shall be author-
ized, in coordination with the users and testers 
of the software to be acquired, to make trade-
offs among lifecycle costs, requirements, and 
schedules to meet the goals of the acquisition. 
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(F) The service acquisition executive or the 
Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and 
Sustainment, as applicable, shall serve as the 
decision authority for the acquisition. 
(G) The project manager of a defense 
streamlined acquisition shall be provided a 
process to expeditiously seek a waiver from 
Congress from any statutory or regulatory re-
quirement that the project manager determines 
adds little or no value to the management of 
the acquisition. 
(e) CONTRACT TERMS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—A contract entered into pur-
suant to the guidance required by subsection (a)— 
(A) may be awarded within a 90-day pe-
riod after solicitation on the basis of— 
(i) statements of qualifications and 
past 
performance 
data 
submitted 
by 
offerors; and 
(ii) discussions with two or more 
qualified offerors without regard to price; 
(B) may be a time-and-materials contract; 
(C) shall be treated as a contract for the 
acquisition of commercial services (as defined in 
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section 103a of title 41, United States Code, as 
in effect on January 1, 2020); 
(D) shall identify the individuals to per-
form the work of the contract, and such individ-
uals may not be replaced without the advance 
written consent of the contracting officer; and 
(E) may allow for a contractor performing 
the work of the contract to review existing soft-
ware in consultation with the user community 
and incorporate user feedback to— 
(i) define and prioritize software re-
quirements; and 
(ii) design and implement new soft-
ware applications and software upgrades. 
(2) OPTIONS.—A contract entered into pursu-
ant to the guidance required by subsection (a) may 
contain an option to extend the contract once, for a 
period not to exceed one year, to complete the imple-
mentation of one or more specified software applica-
tions and software upgrades identified during the 
period of the initial contract. Such an option may 
not be in an amount greater than $100,000,000 
and— 
(A) if the option is a time-and-materials 
contract, it shall be treated as a contract for 
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the acquisition of commercial services (as de-
fined in section 103a of title 41, United States 
Code); and 
(B) if the option is a fixed-price contract, 
it shall be treated as a contract for the acquisi-
tion of commercial products (as defined in sec-
tion 103 of title 41, United States Code). 
(f) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-
tion shall be deemed to prevent the use of other methods 
of acquisition to procure software applications and up-
grades. 
(g) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 2430(a)(2) 
of title 10, United States Code, is amended— 
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 
the end; 
(2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period 
at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following new sub-
paragraph: 
‘‘(C) an acquisition program for software 
applications and software upgrades carried out 
using the acquisition guidance issued pursuant 
to the CODER Act of 2019.’’. 
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SEC. 3. SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT AND SOFTWARE ACQUI-
SITION TRAINING AND MANAGEMENT PRO-
GRAMS. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT 
AND SOFTWARE ACQUISITION TRAINING AND MANAGE-
MENT PROGRAMS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense, 
acting through the Under Secretary of Defense for 
Acquisition and Sustainment and in consultation 
with the Under Secretary of Defense for Research 
and Engineering and the Chief Information Officer 
of the Department of Defense, shall establish soft-
ware development and software acquisition training 
and management programs for all software acquisi-
tion professionals, software developers, and other ap-
propriate individuals, as determined by the Secretary 
of Defense to earn a certification in software devel-
opment and software acquisition. 
(2) PROGRAM
CONTENTS.—The programs es-
tablished under paragraph (1) shall— 
(A) develop and expand the use of special-
ized training programs for chief information of-
ficers of the military departments and the De-
fense Agencies, service acquisition executives, 
program executive officers, and program man-
agers to include training on and experience in— 
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(1) REPORTS REQUIRED.—The Secretary shall 
submit to the congressional defense committees— 
(A) not later than 90 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, an initial report; 
and 
(B) not later than one year after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, a final report. 
(2) CONTENTS.—Each report required under 
paragraph (1) shall include— 
(A) the status of implementing the soft-
ware development and software acquisition 
training and management programs established 
under subsection (a)(1); 
(B) a description of the requirements for 
certification, including the requirements for 
competencies in current software processes; 
(C) a description of potential career paths 
in software development and software acquisi-
tion within the Department of Defense; 
(D) an independent assessment conducted 
by the Defense Innovation Board of the 
progress made on implementing the programs 
established under subsection (a)(1); and 
(E) any recommendations for changes to 
existing law to facilitate the implementation of 
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the programs established under subsection 
(a)(1). 
(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) PROGRAM EXECUTIVE OFFICER; PROGRAM 
MANAGER.—The terms ‘‘program executive officer’’ 
and ‘‘program manager’’ have the meanings given 
those terms, respectively, in section 1737 of title 10, 
United States Code. 
(2) SERVICE
ACQUISITION
EXECUTIVE.—The 
terms ‘‘military department’’, ‘‘Defense Agency’’, 
and ‘‘service acquisition executive’’ have the mean-
ings given those terms, respectively, in section 101 
of title 10, United States Code. 
(3) MAJOR DEFENSE ACQUISITION PROGRAM.— 
The term ‘‘major defense acquisition program’’ has 
the meaning given in section 2430 of title 10, 
United States Code. 
(4) DEFENSE
BUSINESS
SYSTEM.—The term 
‘‘defense business system’’ has the meaning given in 
section 2222(i)(1) of title 10, United States Code. 
Æ 
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