I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1252 
To provide for certain construction-related authorities of the Department 
of State, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 23, 2021 
Mr. MCCAUL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To provide for certain construction-related authorities of the 
Department of State, 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 ‘‘Improving Embassy 
Design and Security Act’’. 
SEC. 2. STANDARD DESIGN IN CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION. 
(a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that the Department’s Bureau of Overseas Building 
Operations (OBO) or successor office should give appro-
priate consideration to standardization in construction, in 
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which each new United States embassy and consulate 
starts with a standard design and keeps customization to 
a minimum. 
(b) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary of State shall 
carry out any new United States embassy compound or 
new consulate compound project that utilizes a non-stand-
ard design, including those projects that are in the design 
or pre-design phase as of the date of the enactment of 
this Act, only in consultation with the appropriate con-
gressional committees. The Secretary shall provide the ap-
propriate congressional committees, for each such project, 
the following documentation: 
(1) A comparison of the estimated full lifecycle 
costs of the project to the estimated full lifecycle 
costs of such project if it were to use a standard de-
sign. 
(2) A comparison of the estimated completion 
date of such project to the estimated completion 
date of such project if it were to use a standard de-
sign. 
(3) A comparison of the security of the com-
pleted project to the security of such completed 
project if it were to use a standard design. 
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(4) A justification for the Secretary’s selection 
of a non-standard design over a standard 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. 
(c) SUNSET.—The consultation requirement under 
subsection (b) shall expire on the date that is 4 years after 
the date of the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 3. CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION TRANSPARENCY. 
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 ‘‘BIANNUAL REPORT ON 
OVERSEAS
CAPITAL
CONSTRUCTION 
PROJECTS’’; and 
(2) by striking subsections (a) and (b) and in-
serting the following new subsections: 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after 
the date of the enactment of this subsection and every 180 
days thereafter until the date that is four years after such 
date of enactment, the Secretary of State shall submit to 
the appropriate congressional committees a comprehensive 
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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 to date. 
‘‘(4) The value of each certified claim received 
by the Department 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 
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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.’’. 
SEC. 4. CONTRACTOR PERFORMANCE INFORMATION. 
(a) DEADLINE FOR COMPLETION.—The Secretary of 
State shall complete all contractor performance evalua-
tions outstanding as of the date of the enactment of this 
Act required by subpart 42.15 of the Federal Acquisition 
Regulation for those contractors engaged in construction 
of new embassy or new consulate compounds by April 1, 
2022. 
(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 
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clearing the current backlog of required evaluations 
referred to in subsection (a). 
(2) ELEMENTS.—The system required under 
paragraph (1) should prioritize the 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’s plan for completing all evaluations by October 
1, 2021, in accordance with subsection (a) and the 
prioritization system developed pursuant to subsection (b). 
(d) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that— 
(1) contractors deciding whether to bid on De-
partment contracts would benefit from greater un-
derstanding of the Department as a client; and 
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(2) the Department should develop a forum 
where contractors can comment on the Department’s 
project management performance. 
SEC. 5. GROWTH PROJECTIONS FOR NEW EMBASSIES AND 
CONSULATES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—For each new United States em-
bassy compound (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 Department of State 
shall project growth over the estimated life of the facility 
using all available and relevant data, including the fol-
lowing: 
(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. 
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(b) OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES.—The head of each 
Federal agency represented at a United States embassy 
or consulate shall provide to the Secretary, upon request, 
growth projections for the personnel of each such agency 
over the estimated life of each embassy or consulate, as 
the case may be. 
(c) BASIS
FOR ESTIMATES.—The Department of 
State shall base its 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. 6. 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 the next five years as the Sec-
retary of State considers appropriate, the Secretary 
shall develop— 
(A) a comprehensive 6-year plan docu-
menting the Department’s overseas building 
program for the replacement of overseas diplo-
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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 and with which 
the United States maintains diplomatic relations. 
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. 
(F) A recommendation of whether any 
small diplomatic posts should be closed. 
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(3) UPDATED INFORMATION.—The annual up-
dates of each 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 each plan 
required under subsection (a), the Secretary of State 
shall submit the 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 required under sub-
section (a) shall be referenced to justify funding re-
quested for building and maintenance projects over-
seas. 
(3) FORM OF REPORT.—Each report required 
under paragraph (1) shall be submitted in unclassi-
fied form but may include a classified annex. 
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(c) SMALL DIPLOMATIC POST DEFINED.—In this 
section, the term ‘‘small diplomatic post’’ means any 
United States embassy or consulate that has employed five 
or fewer United States Government employees or contrac-
tors on average over the 36 months prior to the date of 
the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 7. 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.—Any operating plan that includes the alloca-
tion of capital construction and maintenance funds 
shall be submitted to the Committee on Foreign Re-
lations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign 
Affairs of the House of Representatives. 
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(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 has completed the requisite VE and risk 
management process described in subsection (a), or 
applicable successor process. 
(c) REPORTING AND BRIEFING REQUIREMENTS.— 
The Secretary of State shall provide to the appropriate 
congressional committees upon request— 
(1) a description of each risk management 
study referred to in subsection (a)(2) and a table de-
tailing which recommendations related to each such 
study were accepted and which were rejected; and 
(2) a report or briefing detailing the rationale 
for not implementing any such recommendations 
that may otherwise yield significant cost savings to 
the Department if implemented. 
SEC. 8. BUSINESS VOLUME. 
Section 402(c)(2)(E) of the Omnibus Diplomatic Se-
curity and Antiterrorism Act of 1986 (22 U.S.C. 
4852(c)(2)(E)) is amended by striking ‘‘in 3 years’’ and 
inserting ‘‘cumulatively over 3 years’’. 
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SEC. 9. EMBASSY SECURITY REQUESTS AND DEFICIENCIES. 
The Secretary of State shall provide to the appro-
priate congressional committees, the Committee on Armed 
Services of the House of Representatives, and the Com-
mittee on Armed Services of the Senate upon request in-
formation on physical security deficiencies at United 
States diplomatic posts, including relating to the fol-
lowing: 
(1) Requests made over the previous year by 
United States diplomatic posts for security up-
grades. 
(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. 10. OVERSEAS SECURITY BRIEFINGS. 
Not later than one year after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall revise the 
Foreign Affairs Manual to stipulate that information on 
the current threat environment shall be provided to all 
United States Government employees under chief of mis-
sion authority traveling to a foreign country on official 
business. To the extent practicable, such material shall be 
provided to such employees prior to their arrival at a 
United States diplomatic post or as soon as possible there-
after. 
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