an auditable financial statement to the Secretary of De-
fense. 
SEC. 
302. 
MEASURES 
REQUIRED 
AFTER 
FAILURE 
TO 
ACHIEVE AUDITABILITY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense shall en-
sure that corrective measures are immediately taken to ad-
dress the failure of a component of the Department of De-
fense to achieve a financial statement validated as ready 
for audit by September 30, 2017. 
(b) MEASURES REQUIRED.—Not later than 180 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 
shall develop and issue guidance detailing measures to be 
taken in accordance with subsection (a). Such measures 
shall include— 
(1) the development of a remediation plan to en-
sure the component can achieve a financial statement 
validated as ready for audit within one year; 
(2) additional reporting requirements that may 
be necessary to mitigate financial risk to the compo-
nent; 
(3) delaying the release of appropriated funds to 
such component, consistent with the need to fund ur-
gent warfighter requirements and operational needs, 
until such time as the Secretary is assured that the 
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component will achieve a financial statement vali-
dated as ready for audit within one year; 
(4) specific consequences for key personnel in 
order to ensure accountability within the leadership 
of the component; and 
(5) such other measures as the Secretary con-
siders appropriate. 
(c) DEFINITION.—The term ‘‘component’’ of the De-
partment of Defense means any organization within the De-
partment of Defense that is required to submit an auditable 
financial statement to the Secretary of Defense. 
SEC. 303. REVIEW OF OBLIGATION AND EXPENDITURE 
THRESHOLDS. 
(a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress 
that— 
(1) Department of Defense program managers 
should be encouraged to place a higher priority on 
seeking the best value for the Government than on 
meeting arbitrary benchmarks for spending; and 
(2) actions to carry out paragraph (1) should be 
supported by the Department’s leadership at every 
level. 
(b) POLICY REVIEW.—Not later than 180 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Chief Management 
Officer of the Department of Defense, in coordination with 
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the Chief Management Officer of each military department, 
shall review and update as necessary all relevant policy and 
instruction regarding obligation and expenditure bench-
marks to ensure that such guidance does not inadvertantly 
prevent achieving the best value for the Government in the 
obligation and expenditure of funds. 
(c) PROCESS REVIEW.—Not later than one year after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Chief Management 
Officer, in coordination with the Chief Management Officer 
of each military department, the Director of the Office of 
Performance Assessment and Root Cause Analysis, the 
Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), and the Comp-
trollers of the military departments, shall conduct a com-
prehensive review of the use and value of obligation and 
expenditure benchmarks and propose new benchmarks or 
processes for tracking financial performance, including, as 
appropriate— 
(1) increased reliance on individual obligation 
and expenditure plans for measuring program finan-
cial performance; 
(2) mechanisms to improve funding stability and 
to increase the predictability of the release of funding 
for obligation and expenditure; and 
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