I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5105 
To establish a coalition to promote educational opportunities preparing 
individuals for careers in the defense industrial base, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
AUGUST 27, 2021 
Mrs. BICE of Oklahoma (for herself and Mr. NORCROSS) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 
A BILL 
To establish a coalition to promote educational opportunities 
preparing individuals for careers in the defense industrial 
base, 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 ‘‘National Defense 
Workforce Opportunity Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFENSE INDUSTRIAL BASE COALITION FOR CA-
REER DEVELOPMENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary of Defense 
for Acquisition and Sustainment shall establish and man-
age a coalition among institutions of higher education, vo-
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cational programs, workforce development boards, labor 
organizations, and organizations representing defense in-
dustrial base contractors to focus on career development 
for individuals seeking careers in manufacturing. The 
goals of the coalition shall be— 
(1) to highlight the importance of expertise in 
manufacturing careers; 
(2) to share experiences of successful partner-
ships between such organizations and institutions of 
higher education to create opportunities for individ-
uals attending such institutions to be hired by de-
fense industrial base contractors; and 
(3) to encourage opportunities for donating 
used equipment of defense industrial base contrac-
tors to institutions of higher education for use in 
training such individuals. 
(b) REPORT.—Not later than 270 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary of De-
fense for Acquisition and Sustainment, in coordination 
with the coalition established under subsection (a), shall 
submit to the congressional defense committees a report 
including— 
(1) the results of any cooperative work-edu-
cation program established by defense laboratories 
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pursuant to section 2195 of title 10, United States 
Code; 
(2) an assessment of whether such programs 
could be expanded to include individuals attending 
secondary schools and vocational programs to create 
opportunities for such individuals to be hired by de-
fense industrial base contractors; and 
(3) recommendations for whether incentive con-
tracts are needed to encourage defense industrial 
base contractors to provide career development for 
individuals seeking careers in manufacturing. 
(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) 
DEFENSE
INDUSTRIAL
BASE
CON-
TRACTOR.—The term ‘‘defense industrial base con-
tractor’’ means a prime contractor or subcontractor 
(at any tier) in the defense industrial base. 
(2) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 
term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ means section 
101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 1001). 
(3) LABOR ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘‘labor 
organization’’ has the meaning given such term in 
section 2(5) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 
U.S.C. 152(5)). 
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(4) SECONDARY
SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘sec-
ondary school’’ has the meaning given in section 
8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 
(5) VOCATIONAL PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘voca-
tional program’’ has the meaning given the term 
‘‘area career and technical education school’’ in sec-
tion 3 of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical 
Education Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2302). 
(6) WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT BOARD.—The 
term ‘‘workforce development board’’ means a State 
board or a local board, as such terms are defined in 
section 3 of the Workforce Innovation and Oppor-
tunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3102). 
Æ 
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