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TITLE VIII--ACQUISITION POLICY, ACQUISITION MANAGEMENT, AND RELATED MATTERS

Subtitle A--Acquisition Policy and Management

P. L. 114-

House Conference Report. 114-270

(1) be separate from existing acquisition procedures;

(2) be supported by streamlined contracting, budgeting, and requirements processes;

(3) establish alternative acquisition paths based on the capabilities being bought and the time needed to deploy these capabilities; and

(4) maximize the use of flexible authorities in existing law and regulation.

The House bill contained no similar provision.

The House recedes with an amendment that would require procedures to be developed within 180 days.

Senate Report 114-49 to accompany S. 1376 as it was reported out of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Use of alternative acquisition paths to acquire critical national security capabilities (sec. 805)

The committee recommends a provision to require the Secretary of Defense to establish procedures and guidelines for alternative acquisition pathways to acquire capital assets and services that meet critical national security needs. These procedures shall: (1) be separate from existing acquisition procedures; (2) be supported by streamlined contracting, budgeting, and requirements processes; (3) establish alternative acquisition paths based on the capabilities being bought and the time needed to deploy these capabilities; and (4) maximize the use of flexible authorities and programs in existing law and regulation. Time-based acquisition pathways should be linked to any time-based approach for requirements required to be developed under this Title. As the Department of Defense (DOD) considers how to maintain its technological advantage in the future through strategies such as a ``third offset'' it should ensure where appropriate that the pathways developed under this provision can deliver needed capabilities in a manner similar to developments during World War II and the two previous offset strategy periods in the 1950s and 1970s.

The committee is concerned that DOD is in danger of losing its technological advantage in many technology areas critical to the national defense and is no longer accessing the most innovative parts of the industrial base. While Congress in the past has granted DOD a number of flexible acquisition authorities and created a number of programs to capture this innovation, many of these authorities or programs have seen little or reduced usage. The provisions included in this Act would strengthen or create a number of new authorities that the Department could use to acquire critical national security capabilities faster.

When reviewing existing authorities the Secretary should consider the following authorities and programs at a minimum: (1) Secretary of Defense waiver of acquisition laws to acquire vital national security capabilities as added by this Act; (2) middle tier acquisition for rapid prototyping and rapid fielding for capabilities to be deployed in 2 to 5 years as added by this Act; (3) rapid acquisition authorities as modified by this Act for capabilities to be deployed in less than 2 years; (4) other transaction authorities as modified by the Act; (5) procurement for experimental purposes authority (section 2373 of title 10, United States Code) as modified by this Act; (6) commercial item acquisition authorities (FAR Part 12) as modified by this Act; (7) exceptional circumstances Truth in Negotiations Act (TINA) (section 2306a of title 10, United States Code and chapter 35 of title 41, United States Code) waivers; (8) procedures under section 2304(c) of the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984 (section 2304 of title 10, United States Code); (9) grants and cooperative research and development agreements; and (10) such programs as the Foreign Comparative Test Program, DOD Challenge Program, and the Small Business Innovation Research program. This provision would require the Secretary to identify any new authorities required to meet the objectives of this provision and report to Congress on a summary of the guidelines and any recommendations for new legislation necessary to meet the objectives in the guidelines.