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. 1203. 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 ‘‘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 
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 
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) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
in section 1(b) of the Department of State Authorities 
Act, Fiscal Year 2017 is amended by amending the item 
relating to section 118 to read as follows: 
‘‘Sec. 118. Biannual report on overseas capital construction projects.’’. 
SEC. 1204. 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
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 April 1, 
2022, 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
(2) the Department should develop a forum 
where contractors can comment on the Department’s 
project management performance. 
SEC. 1205. 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.
(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. 1206. 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-
matic posts taking into account security factors 
under the Secure Embassy Construction and 
Counterterrorism Act of 1999 and other rel-
evant statutes and regulations, as well as occu-
pational safety and health factors pursuant to 
the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 
1970 and other relevant statutes and regula-
tions, 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 dip-
lomatic posts, which takes into account security 
factors under the Secure Embassy Construction 
and Counterterrorism Act of 1999 and other 
relevant statutes and regulations, as well as oc-
cupational safety and health factors pursuant to 
the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 
1970 and other relevant statutes and regula-
tions, including environmental 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 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.
(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.
(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. 1207. 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 notification that includes the allocation 
of capital construction and maintenance funds shall 
be submitted to the Committee on Foreign Relations 
of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
of the House of Representatives.
(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. 1208. 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’’.
SEC. 1209. EMBASSY SECURITY REQUESTS AND DEFI-
CIENCIES. 
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. 1210. 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. 
SEC. 1211. CONTRACTING METHODS IN CAPITAL CON-
STRUCTION. 
(a) DELIVERY.—Unless the Secretary of State noti-
fies the appropriate congressional committees that the use 
of the design-build project delivery method would not be 
appropriate, the Secretary shall make use of such method 
at United States diplomatic posts that have not yet re-
ceived design or capital construction contracts as of the 
date of the enactment of this Act. 
(b) NOTIFICATION.—Before executing a contract for 
a delivery method other than design-build in accordance 
with subsection (a), the Secretary of State shall notify the 
appropriate congressional committees in writing of the de-
cision, including the reasons therefor. The notification re-
quired by this subsection may be included in any other 
report regarding a new United States diplomatic post that 
is required to be submitted to the appropriate congres-
sional committees. 
(c) PERFORMANCE EVALUATION.—Not later than 
180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary of State shall report to the appropriate congres-
sional committees regarding performance evaluation meas-
ures in accordance with GAO’s ‘‘Standards for Internal
Control in the Federal Government’’ that will be applica-
ble to design and construction, lifecycle cost, and building 
maintenance programs of the Bureau of Overseas Build-
ing Operations of the Department. 
SEC. 1212. COMPETITION IN EMBASSY CONSTRUCTION. 
Not later than 45 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to 
the appropriate congressional committee a report detailing 
steps the Department of State is taking to expand the em-
bassy construction contractor base in order to increase 
competition and maximize value. 
SEC. 1213. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States that the Bureau 
of Overseas Building Operations of the Department or its 
successor office shall continue to balance functionality and 
security with accessibility, as defined by guidelines estab-
lished by the United States Access Board in constructing 
embassies and consulates, and shall ensure compliance 
with the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 
4151 et seq.) to the fullest extent possible. 
SEC. 1214. DEFINITIONS. 
In this title: 
(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 to provide design and construction services. 
(2) NON-STANDARD DESIGN.—The term ‘‘non- 
standard design’’ means a design for a new embassy 
compound project or new consulate compound 
project that does not utilize a standardized design 
for the structural, spatial, or security requirements 
of such embassy compound or consulate compound, 
as the case may be. 
TITLE III—PERSONNEL ISSUES 
SEC. 1301. DEFENSE BASE ACT INSURANCE WAIVERS. 
(a) APPLICATION FOR WAIVERS.—Not later than 30 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary of State shall apply to the Department of Labor 
for a waiver from insurance requirements under the De-
fense Base Act (42 U.S.C. 1651 et seq.) for all countries 
with respect to which the requirement was waived prior 
to January 2017, and for which there is not currently a 
waiver. 
(b) CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 
45 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary of State shall certify to the appropriate congres-
sional committees that the requirement in subsection (a) 
has been met.
SEC. 1302. STUDY ON FOREIGN SERVICE ALLOWANCES. 
(a) REPORT REQUIRED.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than one year 
after date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary of State shall submit to the appropriate con-
gressional committees a report detailing an empirical 
analysis on the effect of overseas allowances on the 
foreign assignment of Foreign Service officers 
(FSOs), to be conducted by a federally-funded re-
search and development center with appropriate ex-
pertise in labor economics and military compensa-
tion. 
(2) CONTENTS.—The analysis required under 
paragraph (1) shall— 
(A) identify all allowances paid to FSOs 
assigned permanently or on temporary duty to 
foreign areas; 
(B) examine the efficiency of the Foreign 
Service bidding system in determining foreign 
assignments; 
(C) examine the factors that incentivize 
FSOs to bid on particular assignments, includ-
ing danger levels and hardship conditions; 
(D) examine the Department’s strategy 
and process for incentivizing FSOs to bid on 
assignments that are historically in lower de-
mand, including with monetary compensation, 
and whether monetary compensation is nec-
essary for assignments in higher demand; 
(E) make any relevant comparisons to 
military compensation and allowances, noting 
which allowances are shared or based on the 
same regulations; 
(F) recommend options for restructuring 
allowances to improve the efficiency of the as-
signments system and better align FSO incen-
tives with the needs of the Foreign Service, in-
cluding any cost savings associated with such 
restructuring; 
(G) recommend any statutory changes nec-
essary to implement subparagraph (F), such as 
consolidating existing legal authorities for the 
provision of hardship and danger pay; and 
(H) detail any effects of recommendations 
made pursuant to subparagraphs (F) and (G) 
on other United States Government depart-
ments and agencies with civilian employees per-
manently assigned or on temporary duty in for-
eign areas, following consultation with such de-
partments and agencies.
(b) BRIEFING REQUIREMENT.—Before initiating the 
analysis required under subsection (a)(1), and not later 
than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the Secretary of State shall provide to the Committee on 
Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs in the House of Representatives a briefing 
on the implementation of this section that includes the fol-
lowing: 
(1) The name of the federally funded research 
and development center that will conduct such anal-
ysis. 
(2) The scope of such analysis and terms of ref-
erence for such analysis as specified between the De-
partment of State and such federally funded re-
search and development center. 
(c) AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall 
make available to the federally-funded research and 
development center carrying out the analysis re-
quired under subsection (a)(1) all necessary and rel-
evant information to allow such center to conduct 
such analysis in a quantitative and analytical man-
ner, including historical data on the number of bids 
for each foreign assignment and any survey data col-