SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Embassy Security Au-
thorization Act, Fiscal Year 2019’’. 
SEC. 2. STANDARD DESIGN IN CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION. 
(a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that the Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas 
Building Operations (OBO) or successor office should give 
appropriate consideration to standard embassy design, in 
which each new embassy and new consulate starts with 
a standard design and keeps customization to a minimum. 
(b) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary of State shall, in 
consultation with the appropriate congressional commit-
tees, carry out any new embassy compound project or new 
consulate compound project that is in the design phase 
or pre-design phase as of the date of the enactment of 
this Act and that utilizes a non-standard design. The Sec-
retary shall provide such committees, for each such 
project, the following documentation: 
(1) A comparison of the estimated full lifecycle 
costs of the project at issue to the estimated full 
lifecycle costs of such project if such project were to 
use a standard embassy design. 
(2) A comparison of the estimated completion 
date of such project to the estimated completion 
date of such project if such project were to use a 
standard embassy design.
(3) A comparison of the security of such com-
pleted project to the security of such completed 
project if such completed project were to use a 
standard embassy design. 
(4) A justification for the Secretary’s selection 
of a non-standard design over a standard embassy 
design for such project. 
(5) A written explanation if any of the docu-
mentation necessary to support the comparisons and 
justification, as the case may be, described in para-
graphs (1) through (4) cannot be provided. 
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States that the Bureau 
of Overseas Building Operations of the Department of 
State or its successor office shall continue to balance 
functionality and security with accessibility as defined by 
guidelines established by the United States Access Board 
in constructing embassies and consulates and shall ensure 
compliance with the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 
to the fullest extent possible. 
SEC. 4. CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION TRANSPARENCY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 118 of the Department of 
State Authorities Act, Fiscal Year 2017 (22 U.S.C. 304) 
is amended—
(1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘AN-
NUAL
REPORT
ON
EMBASSY
CONSTRUCTION 
COSTS’’ and inserting ‘‘QUARTERLY REPORT ON 
OVERSEAS
CAPITAL
CONSTRUCTION 
PROJECTS’’; and 
(2) by amending subsections (a) and (b) to read 
as follows: 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after 
the date of the enactment of this subsection and every 90 
days thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the appro-
priate congressional committees a comprehensive report 
regarding all ongoing overseas capital construction 
projects and major embassy security upgrade projects. 
‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—Each report required under sub-
section (a) shall include the following with respect to each 
ongoing overseas capital construction project and major 
embassy security upgrade project: 
‘‘(1) The initial cost estimate as specified in the 
proposed allocation of capital construction and main-
tenance funds required by the Committees on Appro-
priations for Acts making appropriations for the De-
partment of State, foreign operations, and related 
programs. 
‘‘(2) The current cost estimate.
‘‘(3) The value of each request for equitable ad-
justment received by the Department of State to 
date. 
‘‘(4) The value of each certified claim received 
by the Department of State to date. 
‘‘(5) The value of any usage of the project’s 
contingency fund to date and the value of the re-
mainder of the project’s contingency fund. 
‘‘(6) An enumerated list of each request for ad-
justment and certified claim that remains out-
standing or unresolved. 
‘‘(7) An enumerated list of each request for eq-
uitable adjustment and certified claim that has been 
fully adjudicated or that the Department has settled, 
and the final dollar amount of each adjudication or 
settlement. 
‘‘(8) The date of estimated completion specified 
in the proposed allocation of capital construction 
and maintenance funds required by the Committees 
on Appropriations not later than 45 days after the 
date of the enactment of an Act making appropria-
tions for the Department of State, foreign oper-
ations, and related programs. 
‘‘(9) The current date of estimated comple-
tion.’’.
(b) INITIAL REPORT.—The first report required 
under subsection (a) of section 118 of the Department of 
State Authorities Act, Fiscal Year 2017 (as amended by 
this section) shall include an annex regarding all overseas 
capital construction projects and major embassy security 
upgrade projects completed during the 10-year period end-
ing on December 31, 2018, including, for each such 
project, the elements specified in subsection (b) of such 
section 118 (as amended by this section). 
SEC. 5. CONTRACTOR PERFORMANCE INFORMATION. 
(a) DEADLINE FOR COMPLETION.—The Secretary of 
State shall complete by October 1, 2020, all contractor 
performance evaluations required by subpart 42.15 of the 
Federal Acquisition Regulation. 
(b) PRIORITIZATION SYSTEM.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 
of State shall develop a prioritization system for 
clearing the current backlog of required evaluations 
referred to in subsection (a). 
(2) ELEMENTS.—The system required under 
paragraph (1) should prioritize such evaluations as 
follows: 
(A) Project completion evaluations should 
be prioritized over annual evaluations.
(B) Evaluations for relatively large con-
tracts should have priority. 
(C) Evaluations that would be particularly 
informative for the awarding of government 
contracts should have priority. 
(c) BRIEFING.—Not later than 90 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall 
brief the appropriate congressional committees on the De-
partment of State’s plan for completing all evaluations by 
October 1, 2020, and the prioritization system developed 
pursuant to this section. 
(d) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that— 
(1) contractors deciding whether to bid on De-
partment of State contracts would benefit from 
greater understanding of the Department as a client; 
and 
(2) the Department should develop a forum 
through which contractors can rate the Depart-
ment’s project management performance. 
SEC. 6. GROWTH PROJECTIONS FOR NEW EMBASSIES AND 
CONSULATES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—For each new embassy compound 
project (NEC) and new consulate compound project 
(NCC) in or not yet in the design phase as of the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Office of Management 
Policy, Rightsizing, and Innovation of the Department of 
State shall project growth over the estimated life of the 
facility at issue using all available and relevant data, in-
cluding the following: 
(1) Relevant historical trends for Department 
personnel and personnel from other agencies rep-
resented at the NEC or NCC that is to be con-
structed. 
(2) An analysis of the tradeoffs between risk 
and the needs of United States Government policy 
conducted as part of the most recent Vital Presence 
Validation Process, if applicable. 
(3) Reasonable assumptions about the strategic 
importance of the NEC or NCC, as the case may be, 
over the life of the building at issue. 
(4) Any other data that would be helpful in pro-
jecting the future growth of NEC or NCC. 
(b) OTHER AGENCIES.—Each Federal agency rep-
resented at an embassy or consulate shall provide to the 
Department of State, upon request, growth projections for 
the personnel of such agency over the estimated life of 
such embassy or consulate, as the case may be. 
(c) BASIS
FOR ESTIMATES.—The Department of 
State shall base growth assumption for all NECs and
NCCs on the estimates required under subsections (a) and 
(b). 
(d) CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATION.—Any congres-
sional notification of site selection for a NEC or NCC sub-
mitted after the date of the enactment of this Act shall 
include the growth assumption used pursuant to sub-
section (c). 
SEC. 7. LONG-RANGE PLANNING PROCESS. 
(a) PLANS REQUIRED.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act and an-
nually thereafter for 5 years, the Secretary of State 
shall develop— 
(A) a comprehensive 6-year Long-Range 
Overseas Buildings Plan (LROBP) docu-
menting the Department of State’s overseas 
building program for the replacement of over-
seas diplomatic facilities taking into account se-
curity factors under the Secure Embassy Con-
struction and Counterterrorism Act of 1999 
and other relevant statutes and regulations, as 
well as occupational safety and health factors 
pursuant to the Occupational Safety and 
Health Act of 1970 and other relevant statutes 
and regulations, including environmental factors
such as indoor air quality that impact employee 
health and safety; and 
(B) a comprehensive 6-year plan detailing 
the Department’s long-term planning for the 
maintenance and sustainment of completed fa-
cilities, known as a Long-Range Overseas Main-
tenance Plan (LROMP), which takes into ac-
count security factors under the Secure Em-
bassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act of 
1999 and other relevant statutes and regula-
tions, as well as occupational safety and health 
factors pursuant to the Occupational Safety 
and Health Act of 1970 and other relevant 
statutes and regulations, including environ-
mental factors such as indoor air quality that 
impact employee health and safety. 
(2) INITIAL REPORT.—The first plan developed 
pursuant to paragraph (1)(A) shall also include a 
one-time status report on existing small diplomatic 
posts and a strategy for establishing a physical dip-
lomatic presence in countries in which there is no 
current physical diplomatic presence. Such report, 
which may include a classified annex, shall include 
the following:
(A) A description of the extent to which 
each small diplomatic post furthers the national 
interest of the United States. 
(B) A description of how each small diplo-
matic post provides American Citizen Services, 
including data on specific services provided and 
the number of Americans receiving services over 
the previous year. 
(C) A description of whether each small 
diplomatic post meets current security require-
ments. 
(D) A description of the full financial cost 
of maintaining each small diplomatic post. 
(E) Input from the relevant chiefs of mis-
sion on any unique operational or policy value 
the small diplomatic post provides. 
(3) UPDATED INFORMATION.—The annual up-
dates of the plans developed pursuant to paragraph 
(1) shall highlight any changes from the previous 
year’s plan to the ordering of construction and 
maintenance projects. 
(b) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 
(1) SUBMISSION OF PLANS TO CONGRESS.—Not 
later than 60 days after the completion of the 
LROBP and the LROMP, the Secretary of State
shall submit such plans to the appropriate congres-
sional committees. 
(2) REFERENCE
IN
BUDGET
JUSTIFICATION 
MATERIALS.—In the budget justification materials 
submitted to the appropriate congressional commit-
tees in support of the Department of State’s budget 
for any fiscal year (as submitted with the budget of 
the President under section 1105(a) of title 31, 
United States Code), the plans specified in the 
LROBP and LROMP shall be referenced to justify 
funding requested for building and maintenance 
projects overseas. 
(3) FORM OF REPORT.—The plans required to 
be submitted under paragraph (1) shall be submitted 
in unclassified form but may include classified an-
nexes. 
(c) SMALL DIPLOMATIC POST DEFINED.—In this 
section, the term ‘‘small diplomatic post’’ means any con-
sulate that has employed five or fewer United States Gov-
ernment employees on average over the 36 months before 
the date of the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 8. VALUE ENGINEERING AND RISK ASSESSMENT. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings:
(1) Federal departments and agencies are re-
quired to use value engineering (VE) as a manage-
ment tool, where appropriate, to reduce program and 
acquisition costs pursuant to OMB Circular A–131, 
Value Engineering, dated December 31, 2013. 
(2) OBO has a Policy Directive and Standard 
Operation Procedure, dated May 24, 2017, on con-
ducting risk management studies on all international 
construction projects. 
(b) NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.— 
(1) SUBMISSION
TO
AUTHORIZING
COMMIT-
TEES.—The proposed allocation of capital construc-
tion and maintenance funds that is required by the 
Committees on Appropriations of the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Senate not later than 45 days 
after the date of the enactment of an Act making 
appropriations for the Department of State, foreign 
operations, and related programs shall also be sub-
mitted to the appropriate congressional committees. 
(2) REQUIREMENT TO CONFIRM COMPLETION 
OF
VALUE
ENGINEERING
AND
RISK
ASSESSMENT 
STUDIES.—The notifications required under para-
graph (1) shall include confirmation that the De-
partment of State has completed the requisite VE
and risk management studies described in subsection 
(a). 
(c) REPORTING AND BRIEFING REQUIREMENTS.— 
The Secretary of State shall provide to the appropriate 
congressional committees upon request— 
(1) a description of each recommendation from 
each study described in subsection (a) and a table 
detailing which recommendations were accepted and 
which were rejected; and 
(2) a report or briefing detailing the rationale 
for not implementing recommendations made by VE 
studies that may yield significant cost savings to the 
Department of State, if implemented. 
SEC. 9. BUSINESS VOLUME. 
Subparagraph (E) of section 402(c)(2) of the Omni-
bus Diplomatic Security and Antiterrorism Act of 1986 
(22 U.S.C. 4852(c)(2)) is amended by striking ‘‘in 3 
years’’ and inserting ‘‘cumulatively over 3 years’’. 
SEC. 
10. 
EMBASSY 
SECURITY 
REQUESTS 
AND 
DEFI-
CIENCIES. 
The Secretary of State shall provide to the appro-
priate congressional committees, upon request, informa-
tion on security deficiencies at United States diplomatic 
posts, including—
(1) requests made over the previous year by 
United States diplomatic posts for security up-
grades; and 
(2) significant security deficiencies at United 
States diplomatic posts that are not operating out of 
a new embassy compound or new consulate com-
pound. 
SEC. 11. OVERSEAS SECURITY BRIEFINGS. 
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall revise the 
Foreign Affairs Manual to stipulate that the Bureau of 
Diplomatic Security of the Department of State shall pro-
vide a security briefing or written materials with up-to- 
date information on the current threat environment in 
writing or orally to all United States Government employ-
ees traveling to a foreign country on official business. To 
the extent practicable, such briefing or written materials 
shall be provided to traveling Department employees via 
teleconference prior to their arrival at a post. 
SEC. 12. CONTRACTING METHODS IN CAPITAL CONSTRUC-
TION. 
(a) DELIVERY.—Except in cases in which the Sec-
retary of State determines that such would not be appro-
priate, the Secretary shall make use of the design-build 
project delivery system at diplomatic posts that have not
yet received design or capital construction contracts as of 
the date of the enactment of this Act. 
(b) NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 15 days after 
any determination to make use of a delivery system other 
than design-build in accordance with subsection (a), the 
Secretary of State shall notify the appropriate congres-
sional committees in writing of such determination, includ-
ing the reasons therefor. 
(c) PERFORMANCE EVALUATION.—Not later than 
180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary shall report to the appropriate congressional 
committees regarding performance evaluation measures in 
line with GAO’s ‘‘Standards for Internal Control in the 
Federal Government’’ that will be applicable to design and 
construction, lifecycle cost, and building maintenance pro-
grams of the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations of 
the Department of State. 
SEC. 13. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
There 
is 
authorized 
to 
be 
appropriated 
$2,314,474,000 for fiscal year 2019 for the purposes of 
the ‘‘Embassy Security, Construction, and Maintenance’’ 
account 
of 
the 
Department 
of 
State, 
of 
which 
$1,549,015,000 is authorized to be appropriated for the 
costs of worldwide security upgrades.
SEC. 14. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means— 
(A) in the House of Representatives— 
(i) the Committee on Foreign Affairs; 
and 
(ii) the Committee on Appropriations; 
and 
(B) in the Senate— 
(i) the Committee on Foreign Rela-
tions; and 
(ii) the Committee on Appropriations. 
(1) DESIGN-BUILD.—The term ‘‘design-build’’ 
means a method of project delivery in which one en-
tity works under a single contract with the Depart-
ment of State to provide design and construction 
services. 
(2) NON-STANDARD DESIGN.—The term ‘‘non- 
standard design’’ means— 
(A) a design for a new embassy compound 
project or new consulate compound project that 
does not utilize a standardized embassy design 
for the structural, spatial, or security require-
ments of such embassy compound or consulate 
compound, as the case may be; or 
(B) a new embassy compound project; or 
new consulate compound project that does not 
utilize a design-build delivery method. 
Passed the House of Representatives September 5, 
2018. 
Attest: 
Clerk.
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4969 
AN ACT 
To improve the design and construction of 
diplomatic posts, and for other purposes.