I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 6162 
To modify Department of Defense printed circuit board acquisition 
restrictions, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 7, 2021 
Mr. MOORE of Utah introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Armed Services 
A BILL 
To modify Department of Defense printed circuit board 
acquisition restrictions, 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 ‘‘Strengthening Protec-
tions Against Chinese Printed Circuit Boards Act’’. 
SEC. 2. MODIFICATIONS TO PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD AC-
QUISITION RESTRICTIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2533d of title 10, United 
States Code, is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)— 
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(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘January 
1, 2023’’ and inserting ‘‘the date determined 
under paragraph (3)’’; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(3) Paragraph (1) shall take effect on January 
1, 2027.’’; 
(2) in subsection (c)— 
(A) in paragraph (2)— 
(i) in the matter preceding subpara-
graph (A), by inserting ‘‘specified type of’’ 
after ‘‘means any’’; 
(ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking 
‘‘(as such terms are defined under sections 
103 and 103a of title 41, respectively)’’; 
and 
(iii) by amending subparagraph (B) to 
read as follows: 
‘‘(B) is a component of— 
‘‘(i) a defense security system; or 
‘‘(ii) a system, other than a defense 
security system, that transmits or stores 
information and which the Secretary iden-
tifies as national security sensitive in the 
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contract under which such printed circuit 
board is acquired.’’; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraphs: 
‘‘(3) 
COMMERCIAL
PRODUCT; 
COMMERCIAL 
SERVICE; 
COMMERCIALLY
AVAILABLE
OFF-THE- 
SHELF
ITEM.—The terms ‘commercial product’, 
‘commercial service’, and ‘commercially available off- 
the-shelf item’ have the meanings given such terms 
in sections 103, 103a, and 104 of title 41, respec-
tively. 
‘‘(4) DEFENSE SECURITY SYSTEM.— 
‘‘(A) The term ‘defense security system’ 
means an information system (including a tele-
communications system) used or operated by 
the Department of Defense, by a contractor of 
the Department, or by another organization on 
behalf of the Department, the function, oper-
ation, or use of which— 
‘‘(i) involves command and control of 
an armed force; 
‘‘(ii) involves equipment that is an in-
tegral part of a weapon or weapon system; 
or 
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‘‘(iii) subject to subparagraph (B), is 
critical to the direct fulfillment of military 
missions. 
‘‘(B) Subparagraph (A)(iii) does not in-
clude a system that is to be used for routine ad-
ministrative and business applications (includ-
ing payroll, finance, logistics, and personnel 
management applications). 
‘‘(5) SPECIFIED
TYPE.—The term ‘specified 
type’ means a printed circuit board that is— 
‘‘(A) a component of an electronic device 
that facilitates the routing, connecting, trans-
mitting or securing of data and is commonly 
connected to a network, and 
‘‘(B) any other end item, good, or product 
specified by the Secretary in accordance with 
subsection (d)(2).’’; and 
(3) by amending subsection (d) to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘(d) RULEMAKING.— 
‘‘(1) The Secretary may issue rules providing 
that subsection (a) may not apply with respect to an 
acquisition of commercial products, commercial serv-
ices, and commercially available off-the-shelf items 
if— 
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‘‘(A) the contractor is capable of meeting 
minimum requirements that the Secretary 
deems necessary to provide for the security of 
national security networks and weapon systems, 
including, at a minimum, compliance with sec-
tion 224 of the National Defense Authorization 
Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (Public Law 116–92; 
10 U.S.C. 2302 note); and 
‘‘(B) either— 
‘‘(i) the Government and the con-
tractor have agreed to a contract requiring 
the contractor to take certain actions to 
ensure the integrity and security of the 
item, including protecting the item from 
unauthorized access, use, disclosure, dis-
ruption, modification, or destruction; or 
‘‘(ii) the Secretary has determined 
that the contractor has adopted such pro-
cedures, tools, and methods for identifying 
the sources of components of such item, 
based on commercial best practices, that 
meet or exceed the applicable trusted sup-
ply chain and operational security stand-
ards of the Department of Defense. 
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‘‘(2) The Secretary may issue rules specifying 
end items, goods, and products for which a printed 
circuit board that is a component thereof shall be a 
‘specified type’ if the Secretary has promulgated 
final regulations, after an opportunity for notice and 
comment that is not less than 12 months, imple-
menting this section. 
‘‘(3) In carrying out this section, the Secretary 
shall, to the maximum extent practicable, avoid im-
posing contractual certification requirements with 
respect to the acquisition of commercial products, 
commercial services, or commercially available off- 
the-shelf items.’’. 
(b) MODIFICATION OF INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT 
OF PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARDS.—Section 841(d) of the 
William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Author-
ization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (Public Law 116–283) 
is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘the date of enactment of 
this Act’’ and inserting ‘‘the date of the enact-
ment of the National Defense Authorization Act 
for Fiscal Year 2022’’; 
(B) by striking ‘‘shall seek to enter’’ and 
inserting ‘‘shall enter’’; 
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(C) by striking ‘‘to include printed circuit 
boards in commercial products or services, or 
in’’ and inserting ‘‘to printed circuit boards in 
other commercial or’’; and 
(D) by striking ‘‘the scope of mission crit-
ical’’ and all that follows through the period at 
the end and inserting ‘‘types of systems other 
than defense security systems (as defined in 
section 2533d(c) of title 10, United States 
Code) that should be subject to the prohibition 
in section 2533d(a) of title 10, United States 
Code.’’; 
(2) in the heading for paragraph (2), by strik-
ing ‘‘DEPARTMENT
OF
DEFENSE’’ and inserting 
‘‘DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE’’; 
(3) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘one year 
after entering into the contract described in para-
graph (1)’’ and inserting ‘‘January 1, 2023’’; 
(4) in the heading for paragraph (3), by strik-
ing ‘‘CONGRESS’’ and inserting ‘‘CONGRESS’’; and 
(5) in paragraph (3), by inserting after ‘‘the 
recommendations of the report.’’ the following: ‘‘The 
Secretary shall use the report to determine whether 
any systems (other than defense security systems (as 
defined in section 2533d(c) of title 10, United States 
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Code)) or other types of printed circuit boards 
should be subject to the prohibition in section 
2533d(a) of title 10, United States Code.’’. 
Æ 
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