IIB 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1282 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
JUNE 22, 2017 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs 
AN ACT 
To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish 
the Acquisition Review Board in the Department of 
Homeland Security, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘DHS Acquisition Re-
view Board Act of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. ACQUISITION REVIEW BOARD. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle D of title VIII of the 
Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 391 et seq.) 
is amended by adding at the end the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 836. ACQUISITION REVIEW BOARD. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish an 
Acquisition Review Board (in this section referred to as 
the ‘Board’) to— 
‘‘(1) strengthen accountability and uniformity 
within the Department acquisition review process; 
‘‘(2) review major acquisition programs; and 
‘‘(3) review the use of best practices. 
‘‘(b) COMPOSITION.—The Under Secretary for Man-
agement shall serve as chair of the Board. The Secretary 
shall also ensure participation by other relevant Depart-
ment officials, including at least two component heads or 
their designees, as permanent members of the Board. 
‘‘(c) MEETINGS.—The Board shall meet regularly for 
purposes of ensuring all acquisitions processes proceed in 
a timely fashion to achieve mission readiness. The Board 
shall convene at the Secretary’s discretion and at any 
time— 
‘‘(1) a major acquisition program— 
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‘‘(A) requires authorization to proceed 
from one acquisition decision event to another 
throughout the acquisition life cycle; 
‘‘(B) is in breach of its approved require-
ments; or 
‘‘(C) requires additional review, as deter-
mined by the Under Secretary for Management; 
or 
‘‘(2) a non-major acquisition program requires 
review, as determined by the Under Secretary for 
Management. 
‘‘(d) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The responsibilities of the 
Board are as follows: 
‘‘(1) Determine whether a proposed acquisition 
has met the requirements of key phases of the acqui-
sition life cycle framework and is able to proceed to 
the next phase and eventual full production and de-
ployment. 
‘‘(2) Oversee whether a proposed acquisition’s 
business strategy, resources, management, and ac-
countability is executable and is aligned to strategic 
initiatives. 
‘‘(3) Support the person with acquisition deci-
sion authority for an acquisition in determining the 
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appropriate direction for such acquisition at key ac-
quisition decision events. 
‘‘(4) Conduct systematic reviews of acquisitions 
to ensure that such acquisitions are progressing in 
compliance with the approved documents for their 
current acquisition phases. 
‘‘(5) Review the acquisition documents of each 
major acquisition program, including the acquisition 
program baseline and documentation reflecting con-
sideration of tradeoffs among cost, schedule, and 
performance objectives, to ensure the reliability of 
underlying data. 
‘‘(6) Ensure that practices are adopted and im-
plemented to require consideration of trade-offs 
among cost, schedule, and performance objectives as 
part of the process for developing requirements for 
major acquisition programs prior to the initiation of 
the second acquisition decision event, including, at a 
minimum, the following practices: 
‘‘(A) Department officials responsible for 
acquisition, budget, and cost estimating func-
tions are provided with the appropriate oppor-
tunity to develop estimates and raise cost and 
schedule matters before performance objectives 
are established for capabilities when feasible. 
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‘‘(B) Full consideration is given to possible 
trade-offs among cost, schedule, and perform-
ance objectives for each alternative. 
‘‘(e) ACQUISITION PROGRAM BASELINE REPORT RE-
QUIREMENT.—If the person exercising acquisition decision 
authority over a major acquisition program approves such 
program to proceed into the planning phase before such 
program has a Department-approved acquisition program 
baseline, the Under Secretary for Management shall cre-
ate and approve an acquisition program baseline report 
regarding such approval, and the Secretary shall— 
‘‘(1) within 7 days after an acquisition decision 
memorandum is signed, notify in writing the Com-
mittee on Homeland Security of the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Committee on Homeland Secu-
rity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate of such 
decision; and 
‘‘(2) within 60 days after the acquisition deci-
sion memorandum is signed, submit to such commit-
tees a report stating the rationale for such decision 
and a plan of action to require an acquisition pro-
gram baseline for such program. 
‘‘(f) REPORT.—The Under Secretary for Manage-
ment shall provide information to the Committee on 
Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and 
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the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs of the Senate on an annual basis through fiscal 
year 2022 on the activities of the Board for the prior fiscal 
year that includes information relating to the following: 
‘‘(1) For each meeting of the Board, any acqui-
sition decision memoranda. 
‘‘(2) Results of the systematic reviews con-
ducted pursuant to paragraph (4) of subsection (d). 
‘‘(3) Results of acquisition document reviews re-
quired pursuant to paragraph (5) of subsection (d). 
‘‘(4) Activities to ensure that practices are 
adopted and implemented throughout the Depart-
ment pursuant to paragraph (6) of subsection (d). 
‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) ACQUISITION.—The term ‘acquisition’ has 
the meaning given such term in section 131 of title 
41, United States Code. 
‘‘(2) ACQUISITION DECISION AUTHORITY.—The 
term ‘acquisition decision authority’ means the au-
thority, held by the Secretary acting through the 
Deputy Secretary or Under Secretary for Manage-
ment to— 
‘‘(A) ensure compliance with Federal law, 
the Federal Acquisition Regulation, and De-
partment acquisition management directives; 
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‘‘(B) review (including approving, pausing, 
modifying, or cancelling) an acquisition pro-
gram through the life cycle of such program; 
‘‘(C) ensure that acquisition program man-
agers have the resources necessary to success-
fully execute an approved acquisition program; 
‘‘(D) ensure good acquisition program 
management of cost, schedule, risk, and system 
performance of the acquisition program at 
issue, including assessing acquisition program 
baseline breaches and directing any corrective 
action for such breaches; and 
‘‘(E) ensure that acquisition program man-
agers, on an ongoing basis, monitor cost, sched-
ule, and performance against established base-
lines and use tools to assess risks to an acquisi-
tion program at all phases of the life cycle of 
such program to avoid and mitigate acquisition 
program baseline breaches. 
‘‘(3) ACQUISITION DECISION EVENT.—The term 
‘acquisition decision event’, with respect to an acqui-
sition program, means a predetermined point within 
each of the acquisition phases at which the acquisi-
tion decision authority determines whether such ac-
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quisition program shall proceed to the next acquisi-
tion phase. 
‘‘(4) ACQUISITION DECISION MEMORANDUM.— 
The term ‘acquisition decision memorandum’, with 
respect to an acquisition, means the official acquisi-
tion decision event record that includes a docu-
mented record of decisions, exit criteria, and as-
signed actions for such acquisition, as determined by 
the person exercising acquisition decision authority 
for such acquisition. 
‘‘(5) ACQUISITION PROGRAM.—The term ‘acqui-
sition program’ means the process by which the De-
partment acquires, with any appropriated amounts, 
by contract for purchase or lease, property or serv-
ices (including construction) that support the mis-
sions and goals of the Department. 
‘‘(6) ACQUISITION
PROGRAM
BASELINE.—The 
term ‘acquisition program baseline’, with respect to 
an acquisition program, means a summary of the 
cost, schedule, and performance parameters, ex-
pressed in standard, measurable, quantitative terms, 
which must be met in order to accomplish the goals 
of such program. 
‘‘(7) BEST PRACTICES.—The term ‘best prac-
tices’, with respect to acquisition, means a knowl-
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edge-based approach to capability development that 
includes— 
‘‘(A) identifying and validating needs; 
‘‘(B) assessing alternatives to select the 
most appropriate solution; 
‘‘(C) clearly establishing well-defined re-
quirements; 
‘‘(D) developing realistic cost assessments 
and schedules; 
‘‘(E) securing stable funding that matches 
resources to requirements; 
‘‘(F) demonstrating technology, design, 
and manufacturing maturity; 
‘‘(G) using milestones and exit criteria or 
specific 
accomplishments 
that 
demonstrate 
progress; 
‘‘(H) adopting and executing standardized 
processes with known success across programs; 
‘‘(I) establishing an adequate workforce 
that is qualified and sufficient to perform nec-
essary functions; and 
‘‘(J) integrating the capabilities described 
in subparagraphs (A) through (I) into the De-
partment’s mission and business operations. 
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‘‘(8) MAJOR ACQUISITION PROGRAM.—The term 
‘major acquisition program’ means a Department 
acquisition program that is estimated by the Sec-
retary to require an eventual total expenditure of at 
least $300,000,000 (based on fiscal year 2017 con-
stant dollars) over its life cycle cost.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 
U.S.C. 101 et seq.) is further amended by adding after 
the item relating to section 835 the following new item: 
‘‘Sec. 836. Acquisition Review Board.’’. 
Passed the House of Representatives June 21, 2017. 
Attest: 
KAREN L. HAAS, 
Clerk. 
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