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

Subtitle G — Provisions Relating to Software and Technical Data Matters

P. L. 115-

House Conference Report. 115-874

(a) Implementation Required.—Not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall, except as provided under subsection (b), commence implementation of each recommendation submitted as part of the final report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on the Design and Acquisition of Software for Defense Systems.

(b) Exceptions.—

(1) DELAYED IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary of Defense may commence implementation of a recommendation described under subsection (a) later than the date required under such subsection if the Secretary provides the congressional defense committees with a specific justification for the delay in implementation of such recommendation.

(2) NONIMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary of Defense may opt not to implement a recommendation described under subsection (a) if the Secretary provides to the congressional defense committees—

(A) the reasons for the decision not to implement the recommendation; and

(B) a summary of the alternative actions the Secretary plans to take to address the purposes underlying the recommendation.

(c) Implementation Plans.—For each recommendation that the Secretary is implementing, or that the Secretary plans to implement, the Secretary shall submit to the congressional defense committees—

(1) a summary of actions that have been taken to implement the recommendation; and

(2) a schedule, with specific milestones, for completing the implementation of the recommendation.

The Senate amendment contained a provision (sec. 882) that would direct the Secretary of Defense to implement certain recommendations of the Defense Science Board Task Force in their report on the Design and Acquisition of Software for Defense Systems.

The House bill contained no similar provision.

The House recedes.

The conferees agree with the report's emphasis on shifting the Department of Defense’s treatment of software as solely a development activity to understanding that it is enduring and that, therefore, traditional models of hardware sustainment are not suited to the treatment of software in the acquisition process. As the Department considers how each recommendation would be implemented, the conferees also encourage the Department to continue to engage the private sector for their best practices and views regarding sustainable software acquisition approaches.