Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “DHS Acquisition Accountability and Efficiency Act”.
DHS Acquisition Accountability and Efficiency Act
A BILL
To require the Department of Homeland Security to improve discipline, accountability, and transparency in acquisition program management.
Sec. 2 Table of contents
The table of contents for this Act is as follows:
Sec. 3 Findings
Congress finds the following:
The Department of Homeland Security does not consistently implement its policies and Government and private sector best practices for acquisitions and procurement.
It is difficult to determine the cost of the Department’s major acquisition programs because the Department has not provided consistent, comparable updates on an annual basis. As of January 2014, the Department identified over 80 major acquisition programs costing over $300,000,000, and, based on 2011, estimates it plans to spend about $170,000,000,000 in the future on major acquisition programs.
Since 2005, the Government Accountability Office has placed Department acquisition management activities on its “High-Risk List”, which identifies Government operations that have greater susceptibility to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement or greater need for transformation to address economy, efficiency, or effectiveness challenges.
While the Department has taken actions to address some high-risk acquisition program management issues, many programs continue to experience challenges with funding instability, workforce shortfalls, reliable cost estimates, realistic schedules, agreed-upon baseline objectives, and consistent and reliable data needed to accurately measure program performance.
Of the 77 Department major acquisition programs in 2011, the Government Accountability Office identified 42 programs that experienced cost growth, schedule slips, or both. The Department reported that the magnitude of the cost growth for 16 of the 42 programs, which increased from almost $20,000,000,000 to over $50,000,000,000 in 2011, had an aggregate increase of 166 percent.
In 2012, the Government Accountability Office found that only 20 of 63 programs had Department-approved acquisition program baselines. The Government Accountability Office also reported that the Department planned to spend more than $105 billion on programs lacking acquisition program baselines.
In 2015, the Government Accountability Office found that only 2 of 22 programs they assessed were on track to meet cost and schedule parameters. The Government Accountability Office also found that 7 programs had cost estimates increase by over 40 percent of what the Department originally approved. As a result, the Department expects to spend almost $10,000,000,000 more than it originally estimated for those programs.
Sec. 4 Definitions
In general— In this Act:
Secretary— The term Secretary means the Secretary of Homeland Security.
Department— The term Department means the Department of Homeland Security.
Congressional homeland security committees— The term congressional homeland security committees means—
the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and
the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and of the Senate.
Additional definitions— In this Act:
Acquisition— The term acquisition has the meaning provided in section 131 of title 41, United States Code.
Best practices— The term best practices, with respect to acquisition, means a knowledge-based approach to capability development that includes identifying and validating needs; assessing alternatives to select the most appropriate solution; clearly establishing well-defined requirements; developing realistic cost assessments and schedules; securing stable funding that matches resources to requirements; demonstrating technology, design, and manufacturing maturity; using milestones and exit criteria or specific accomplishments that demonstrate progress; adopting and executing standardized processes with known success across programs; establishing an adequate workforce that is qualified and sufficient to perform necessary functions; and integrating these capabilities into the Department’s mission and business operations.
Amendments to definitions in homeland security act of 2002— Section 2 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is amended—
by striking “In this Act,” and inserting “(a) In General.—In this Act,”;
in paragraph (2)—
by inserting “(A)” after “(2)”; and
by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
“(B) The term congressional homeland security committees means—
“(i) the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and
“(ii) the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and of the Senate, where appropriate.”
by adding at the end the following new subsection:
“(b) Acquisition-Related definitions—In this Act, the following definitions apply:
“(1) Acquisition—The term acquisition has the meaning provided in section 131 of title 41, United States Code.
“(2) Acquisition decision authority—The term acquisition decision authority means the authority, held by the Secretary acting through the Deputy Secretary or Under Secretary for Management—
“(A) to ensure compliance with Federal law, the Federal Acquisition Regulation, and Department acquisition management directives;
“(B) to review (including approving, halting, modifying, or cancelling) an acquisition program through the life cycle of the program;
“(C) to ensure that program managers have the resources necessary to successfully execute an approved acquisition program; and
“(D) to ensure good program management of cost, schedule, risk, and system performance of the acquisition, including assessing acquisition program baseline breaches and directing any corrective action for such breaches.
“(3) Acquisition decision event—The term acquisition decision event, with respect to an investment or acquisition program, means a predetermined point within the acquisition phases of the investment or acquisition program at which the investment or acquisition program will undergo a review prior to commencement of the next phase.
“(4) Acquisition decision memorandum—The term acquisition decision memorandum, with respect to an acquisition, means the official acquisition decision event record that includes a documented record of decisions, exit criteria, and assigned actions for the acquisition as determined by the person exercising acquisition decision authority for the acquisition.
“(5) Acquisition program baseline—The term acquisition program baseline, with respect to an acquisition program, means a summary of the cost, schedule, and performance parameters, expressed in standard, measurable, quantitative terms, which must be met in order to accomplish the goals of the program.
“(6) Capability development plan—The term capability development plan, with respect to a proposed acquisition, means the document that the Acquisition Review Board approves for the first acquisition decision event related to validating the need of a proposed acquisition.
“(7) Component acquisition executive—The term Component Acquisition Executive means the senior acquisition official within a Component who is designated in writing by the Under Secretary for Management, in consultation with the Component head, with authority and responsibility for leading a process and staff to provide acquisition and program management oversight, policy, and guidance to ensure that statutory, regulatory, and higher level policy requirements are fulfilled, including compliance with Federal law, the Federal Acquisition Regulation, and Department acquisition management directives established by the Under Secretary for Management.
“(8) Life cycle cost—The term life cycle cost, with respect to an acquisition program, means all costs associated with research, development, procurement, operation, integrated logistics support, and disposal under the program, including supporting infrastructure that plans, manages, and executes the program over its full life, and costs of common support items incurred as a result of the program.
“(9) Major acquisition program—The term major acquisition program means a Department acquisition program that is estimated by the Secretary to require an eventual total expenditure of at least $300,000,000 (based on fiscal year 2015 constant dollars) over its life cycle cost.”
Sec. 5 Prohibition on additional authorization of appropriations
No additional funds are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act and the amendments made by this Act. This Act and such amendments shall be carried out using amounts otherwise available for such purposes.