I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5652 
To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish the Acquisition 
Review Board in the Department of Homeland Security, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 20, 2021 
Mr. VAN DREW introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Homeland Security 
A BILL 
To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish 
the Acquisition Review Board in the Department of 
Homeland Security, 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 ‘‘DHS Acquisition Re-
view Board Act of 2021’’. 
SEC. 2. ACQUISITION REVIEW BOARD. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle D of title VIII of the 
Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 391 et seq.) 
is amended by adding at the end the following new section: 
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‘‘SEC. 836. ACQUISITION REVIEW BOARD. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is established in the De-
partment an Acquisition Review Board (in this section re-
ferred to as the ‘Board’) to support the Under Secretary 
for Management in managing the Department’s acquisi-
tions. 
‘‘(b) COMPOSITION.— 
‘‘(1) CHAIR.—The Under Secretary for Man-
agement shall serve as chair of the Board. 
‘‘(2) OVERSIGHT.—The Under Secretary for 
Management may designate an employee of the De-
partment to oversee the operations of the Board. 
‘‘(3) PARTICIPATION.— The Under Secretary 
for Management shall ensure participation by other 
relevant Department officials with responsibilities re-
lated to acquisitions as permanent members of the 
Board, including the following: 
‘‘(A) The Chair of the Joint Requirements 
Council. 
‘‘(B) The Chief Financial Officer. 
‘‘(C) The Chief Human Capital Officer. 
‘‘(D) The Chief Information Officer. 
‘‘(E) The Chief Procurement Officer. 
‘‘(F) The Chief Readiness Support Officer. 
‘‘(G) The Chief Security Officer. 
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‘‘(H) The Director of the Office of Test 
and Evaluation. 
‘‘(I) Other relevant senior Department offi-
cials, as designated by the Under Secretary for 
Management. 
‘‘(c) MEETINGS.—The Board shall meet regularly for 
purposes of evaluating the progress and status of an ac-
quisition program. The Board shall convene at the Under 
Secretary for Management’s discretion, and at such time 
as— 
‘‘(1) a new acquisition program is initiated; 
‘‘(2) a major acquisition program— 
‘‘(A) requires authorization to proceed 
from one acquisition decision event to another 
throughout the acquisition life-cycle; 
‘‘(B) is in breach of its approved acquisi-
tion program baseline; or 
‘‘(C) requires additional review, as deter-
mined by the Under Secretary for Management; 
or 
‘‘(3) a non-major acquisition program requires 
review, as determined by the Under Secretary for 
Management. 
‘‘(d) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The responsibilities of the 
Board are as follows: 
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‘‘(1) Determine the appropriate acquisition level 
and acquisition decision authority for new acquisi-
tion programs based on the estimated eventual total 
expenditure of each such program to satisfy the mis-
sion need of the Department over the life-cycle of 
such acquisition regardless of funding source. 
‘‘(2) Determine whether a proposed acquisition 
has met the requirements of key phases of the acqui-
sition life-cycle framework and is able to proceed to 
the next phase and eventual full production and de-
ployment. 
‘‘(3) Oversee whether a proposed acquisition’s 
business strategy, resources, management, and ac-
countability is executable and is aligned with the 
mission and strategic goals of the Department. 
‘‘(4) Support the person with acquisition deci-
sion authority for an acquisition in determining the 
appropriate direction for such acquisition at key ac-
quisition decision events. 
‘‘(5) Conduct systematic reviews of acquisitions 
to ensure that such acquisitions are progressing in 
accordance with best practices and in compliance 
with the most recently approved documents for such 
acquisitions’ current acquisition phases. 
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‘‘(6) Review the acquisition documents of each 
major acquisition program, including the acquisition 
program baseline and documentation reflecting con-
sideration of tradeoffs among cost, schedule, and 
performance objectives, to ensure the reliability of 
underlying data. 
‘‘(7) Ensure that practices are adopted and im-
plemented 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 func-
tions are provided with the appropriate oppor-
tunity to develop estimates and raise cost and 
schedule concerns before performance objectives 
are established for capabilities when feasible. 
‘‘(B) Full consideration is given to possible 
trade-offs among cost, schedule, and perform-
ance objectives for each alternative. 
‘‘(e) DOCUMENTATION.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The chair of the Board 
shall ensure that all actions and decisions made pur-
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suant to the responsibilities of the Board under sub-
section (d) are documented in an acquisition decision 
memorandum that includes— 
‘‘(A) a summary of the action at issue or 
purpose for convening a meeting under sub-
section (c); 
‘‘(B) the decision with respect to actions 
discussed during such meeting; 
‘‘(C) the rationale for such a decision, in-
cluding justifications for any such decision 
made to allow acquisition programs to deviate 
from the acquisition management policy of the 
Department; 
‘‘(D) any assigned items for further action; 
and 
‘‘(E) the signature of the chair verifying 
the contents of such memorandum. 
‘‘(2) SUBMISSION OF MEMORANDUM.—Not later 
than seven days after the date on which the acquisi-
tion decision memorandum is signed by the chair 
pursuant to paragraph (1)(E), the chair shall submit 
to the Secretary, the Committee on Homeland Secu-
rity of the House of Representatives, and the Com-
mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Af-
fairs of the Senate a copy of such memorandum. 
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‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) ACQUISITION.—The term ‘acquisition’ has 
the meaning given such term in section 131 of title 
41, United States Code. 
‘‘(2) ACQUISITION DECISION AUTHORITY.—The 
term ‘acquisition decision authority’ means the au-
thority, held by the Secretary to— 
‘‘(A) ensure acquisition programs are in 
compliance with Federal law, the Federal Ac-
quisition Regulation, and Department acquisi-
tion management directives; 
‘‘(B) review (including approving, pausing, 
modifying, or cancelling) an acquisition pro-
gram through the life-cycle of such program; 
‘‘(C) ensure that acquisition program man-
agers have the resources necessary to success-
fully execute an approved acquisition program; 
‘‘(D) ensure appropriate acquisition pro-
gram management of cost, schedule, risk, and 
system performance of the acquisition program 
at issue, including assessing acquisition pro-
gram baseline breaches and directing any cor-
rective action for such breaches; and 
‘‘(E) ensure that acquisition program man-
agers, on an ongoing basis, monitor cost, sched-
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ule, and performance against established base-
lines and use tools to assess risks to an acquisi-
tion 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’, with respect to an acqui-
sition program, means a predetermined point within 
each of the acquisition phases at which the acquisi-
tion decision authority determines whether such ac-
quisition program shall proceed to the next acquisi-
tion phase. 
‘‘(4) ACQUISITION DECISION MEMORANDUM.— 
The term ‘acquisition decision memorandum’ means 
the official documented record of decisions, including 
the rationale for such decisions and any assigned ac-
tions, for the acquisition at issue, as determined by 
the person exercising acquisition decision authority 
for such acquisition. 
‘‘(5) ACQUISITION
PROGRAM
BASELINE.—The 
term ‘acquisition program baseline’, with respect to 
an acquisition program, means a summary of the 
cost, schedule, and performance parameters, ex-
pressed in standard, measurable, quantitative terms, 
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which must be satisfied to accomplish the goals of 
such program. 
‘‘(6) BEST PRACTICES.—The term ‘best prac-
tices’, with respect to acquisition, means a knowl-
edge-based approach to capability development that 
includes— 
‘‘(A) identifying and validating needs; 
‘‘(B) assessing alternatives to select the 
most appropriate solution; 
‘‘(C) clearly establishing well-defined re-
quirements; 
‘‘(D) developing realistic cost estimates 
and schedules that account for the entire life- 
cycle of such an acquisition ; 
‘‘(E) securing stable funding that matches 
resources to requirements before initiating such 
development; 
‘‘(F) demonstrating technology, design, 
and manufacturing maturity before initiating 
production of the item that is the subject of 
such acquisition; 
‘‘(G) using milestones and exit criteria or 
specific accomplishments that demonstrate the 
attainment of knowledge to support progress; 
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‘‘(H) regularly assessing and managing 
risks to achieving requirements and cost and 
schedule goals; 
‘‘(I) adopting and executing standardized 
processes with known success across programs; 
‘‘(J) establishing an adequate workforce 
that is qualified and sufficient to perform nec-
essary functions; and 
‘‘(K) integrating the capabilities described 
in subparagraphs (A) through (J). 
‘‘(7) MAJOR ACQUISITION PROGRAM.—The term 
‘major acquisition program’ means— 
‘‘(A) a Department capital asset, service, 
or hybrid acquisition program that is estimated 
by the Secretary to require an eventual total ex-
penditure of at least $300 million (based on fis-
cal year 2022 constant dollars) over its life- 
cycle cost; or 
‘‘(B) a program identified by the Under 
Secretary for Management as a program of spe-
cial interest. 
‘‘(8) NON-MAJOR ACQUISITION PROGRAM.—The 
term ‘non-major acquisition program’ means a De-
partment capital asset, service, or hybrid acquisition 
program that is estimated by the Secretary to re-
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quire an eventual total expenditure of less than 
$300,000,000 (based on fiscal year 2022 constant 
dollars) over its life-cycle.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 
U.S.C. 101 et seq.) is amended by inserting after the item 
relating to section 835 the following new item: 
‘‘Sec. 836. Acquisition Review Board.’’. 
Æ 
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