135 
parison of the employment status of such vet-
erans before and after receiving such services. 
SEC. 713. ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL CENTER ON 
HOMELESSNESS AMONG VETERANS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter VII of chapter 20 is 
amended by adding at the end the following new section: 
‘‘§ 2067. National Center on Homelessness Among Vet-
erans 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—(1) The Secretary shall establish 
and operate a center to carry out the functions described 
in subsection (b). 
‘‘(2) The center established under paragraph (1) 
shall be known as the ‘National Center on Homelessness 
Among Veterans’. 
‘‘(3) To the degree practicable, the Secretary shall 
operate the center established under paragraph (1) inde-
pendently of the other programs of the Department that 
address homelessness among veterans. 
‘‘(b) FUNCTIONS.—The functions described in this 
subsection are as follows: 
‘‘(1) To carry out and promote research into 
the causes and contributing factors to veteran home-
lessness.
136 
‘‘(2) To assess the effectiveness of programs of 
the Department to meet the needs of homeless vet-
erans. 
‘‘(3) To identify and disseminate best practices 
with regard to housing stabilization, income support, 
employment assistance, community partnerships, 
and such other matters as the Secretary considers 
appropriate with respect to addressing veteran 
homelessness. 
‘‘(4) To integrate evidence-based and best prac-
tices, policies, and programs into programs of the 
Department for homeless veterans and veterans at 
risk of homelessness and to ensure that the staff of 
the Department and community partners can imple-
ment such practices, policies, and programs. 
‘‘(5) To serve as a resource center for, and pro-
mote and seek to coordinate the exchange of infor-
mation regarding, all research and training activities 
carried out by the Department and by other Federal 
and non-Federal entities with respect to veteran 
homelessness.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
at the beginning of such chapter 20 is amended by insert-
ing after the item relating to section 2066 the following 
new item: 
‘‘2067. National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans.’’.
137 
SEC. 714. REQUIREMENT FOR DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 
AFFAIRS TO ASSESS COMPREHENSIVE SERV-
ICE PROGRAMS FOR HOMELESS VETERANS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet-
erans Affairs shall— 
(1) assess and measure the capacity of pro-
grams for which entities receive grants under section 
2011 of title 38, United States Code, or per diem 
payments under section 2012 or 2061 of such title; 
and 
(2) assess such programs with respect to— 
(A) how well they achieve their stated 
goals at a national level; 
(B) placements in permanent housing; 
(C) placements in employment; and 
(D) increases in the regular income of par-
ticipants in the programs. 
(b) ASSESSMENT AT NATIONAL AND LOCAL LEV-
ELS.—In assessing and measuring under subsection 
(a)(1), the Secretary shall develop and use tools to exam-
ine the capacity of programs described in such subsection 
at both the national and local level in order to assess the 
following:
138 
(1) Whether sufficient capacity exists to meet 
the needs of homeless veterans in each geographic 
area. 
(2) Whether existing capacity meets the needs 
of the subpopulations of homeless veterans located in 
each geographic area. 
(3) The amount of capacity that recipients of 
grants under sections 2011 and 2061 and per diem 
payments under section 2012 of such title have to 
provide services for which the recipients are eligible 
to receive per diem under section 2012(a)(2)(B)(ii) 
of title 38, United States Code, as added by section 
711(6). 
(c) CONSIDERATION OF OTHER RESOURCES.—In as-
sessing and measuring programs under subsection (a)(1), 
the Secretary shall consider the availability to such pro-
grams of resources made available to such programs and 
to homeless veterans, including resources provided by the 
Department of Veterans Affairs and by entities other than 
the Department. 
(d) USE OF INFORMATION.—The Secretary shall use 
the information collected under this section as follows: 
(1) To set specific goals to ensure that pro-
grams described in subsection (a) are effectively 
serving the needs of homeless veterans.
139 
(2) To assess whether programs described in 
subsection (a) are meeting goals set under para-
graph (1). 
(3) To inform funding allocations for programs 
described in subsection (a). 
(4) To improve the referral of homeless vet-
erans to programs described in subsection (a). 
(e) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 
on which the assessment required by subsection (a) is 
completed, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee 
on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 
Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives a report 
on such assessment and such recommendations for legisla-
tive and administrative action as the Secretary may have 
to improve the programs and per diem payments described 
in subsection (a). 
SEC. 715. REPORT ON OUTREACH RELATING TO INCREAS-
ING THE AMOUNT OF HOUSING AVAILABLE 
TO VETERANS. 
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit 
to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the Committee 
on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate 
and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the Com-
mittee on Financial Services of the House of Representa-
140 
tives a report describing and assessing the outreach con-
ducted by the Secretary to realtors, landlords, property 
management companies, and developers to educate them 
about the housing needs of veterans and the benefits of 
having veterans as tenants. 
TITLE VIII—OTHER MATTERS 
SEC. 801. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS CONSTRUC-
TION REFORMS. 
(a) APPLICATION OF INDUSTRY STANDARDS; ASSIST-
ANCE.—Section 8103 is amended by adding at the end 
the following new subsections: 
‘‘(f) To the maximum extent practicable, the Sec-
retary shall use industry standards, standard designs, and 
best practices in carrying out the construction of medical 
facilities. 
‘‘(g) The Secretary shall ensure that each employee 
of the Department with responsibilities, as determined by 
the Secretary, relating to the infrastructure construction 
or alteration of medical facilities, including such construc-
tion or alteration carried out pursuant to contracts or 
agreements, undergoes a program of ongoing professional 
training and development. Such program shall be designed 
to ensure that employees maintain adequate expertise re-
lating to industry standards and best practices for the ac-
quisition of design and construction services. The Sec-
141 
retary may provide the program under this subsection di-
rectly or through a contract or agreement with a non-Fed-
eral entity or with a non-Department Federal entity.’’. 
(b) FORENSIC AUDITS OF CERTAIN PROJECTS.— 
Subsection (c) of section 8104 is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘Not less than 30 days’’ and in-
serting ‘‘(1) Not less than 30 days’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(2) The Secretary shall— 
‘‘(A) enter into a contract or agreement with an 
appropriate non-department Federal entity with the 
ability to conduct forensic audits on medical facility 
projects for the conduct of an external forensic audit 
of the expenditures relating to any major medical fa-
cility or super construction project for which the 
total expenditures exceed the amount requested in 
the initial budget request for the project submitted 
to Congress under section 1105 of title 31 by more 
than 25 percent; and 
‘‘(B) enter into a contract or agreement with an 
appropriate non-department Federal entity with the 
ability to conduct forensic audits on medical facility 
projects for the conduct of an external audit of the
142 
medical center construction project in Aurora, Colo-
rado.’’. 
(c) USE OF AMOUNTS FROM BID SAVINGS.—Sub-
section (d)(2)(B) of such section is amended— 
(1) by redesignating clauses (ii) and (iii) as 
clauses (iii) and (iv), respectively; 
(2) by inserting after clause (i) the following 
new clause (ii): 
‘‘(ii) If the major construction project that is 
the source of the bid savings is not complete— 
‘‘(I) the amount already obligated by the 
Department or available in the project reserve 
for such project; 
‘‘(II) the percentage of such project that 
has been completed; and 
‘‘(III) the amount available to the Depart-
ment to complete such project.’’; and 
(3) in clauses (iii) and (iv), as redesignated by 
paragraph (1), strike ‘‘amounts’’ and inserting ‘‘bid 
savings amounts’’ both places it appears. 
(d) QUARTERLY REPORT ON SUPER CONSTRUCTION 
PROJECTS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—At the end of subchapter I 
of chapter 81 add the following new section:
143 
‘‘§ 8120. Quarterly report on super construction 
projects 
‘‘(a) QUARTERLY REPORTS REQUIRED.—Not later 
than 30 days after the last day of each fiscal quarter the 
Secretary shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Af-
fairs of the Senate and House of Representatives a report 
on the super construction projects carried out by the ap-
propriate non-Department Federal entity described in sec-
tion 8103(e)(1) of this title during such quarter. Each 
such report shall include, for each such project— 
‘‘(1) the budgetary and scheduling status of the 
project, as of the last day of the quarter covered by 
the report; and 
‘‘(2) the actual cost and schedule variances of 
the project, as of such day, compared to the planned 
cost and schedules for the project. 
‘‘(b) SUPER CONSTRUCTION PROJECT DEFINED.—In 
this section, the term ‘super construction project’ has the 
meaning given such term in section 8103(e)(3) of this 
title.’’. 
(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec-
tions at the beginning of such chapter is amended 
by adding at the end of the items relating to such 
subchapter the following new item: 
‘‘8120. Quarterly report on super construction projects.’’.
144 
SEC. 802. TECHNICAL AND CLERICAL AMENDMENTS. 
Title 38, United States Code, is amended as follows: 
(1) In section 735(a)(5), by striking ‘‘(Public 
Law 104–191)’’ and inserting ‘‘(Public Law 104– 
191; 42 U.S.C. 1320d–2 note)’’. 
(2) In the table of sections at the beginning of 
chapter 17, by striking the items relating to sections 
1710D and 1710E and inserting the following new 
items: 
‘‘1710D. Traumatic brain injury: comprehensive program for long-term rehabili-
tation. 
‘‘1710E. Traumatic brain injury: use of non-Department facilities for rehabilita-
tion.’’. 
(3) In section 1710(e)(1)(F), by inserting a 
comma after ‘‘1953’’. 
(4) In section 7412(b), by striking ‘‘under para-
graph (1)’’ and inserting ‘‘under subsection (a)’’. 
Passed the House of Representatives December 6, 
2016. 
Attest: 
Clerk.
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6416 
AN ACT 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to make 
certain improvements in the laws administered by 
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for other 
purposes.