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

Subtitle C--Provisions Relating to Major Defense Acquisition Programs

P. L. 116-92

House Conference Report 116-333

(a) Modification of Report to Congress.--Section 2432 of title 10, United States Code, is amended--

(1) in subsection (b)(1), by adding after ``major defense acquisition programs'' the following: ``and any program that is estimated by the Secretary of Defense to require an eventual total expenditure for research, development, test, and evaluation of more than $300,000,000 (based on fiscal year 1990 constant dollars) or an eventual total expenditure for procurement, including all planned increments or spirals, of more than $1,800,000,000 (based on fiscal year 1990 constant dollars)''; and

(2) by adding at the end the following new subsections:

``(i) Form of Report.--A Selected Acquisition Report required under this section shall be submitted in unclassified form without any designation relating to dissemination control, but may contain a classified annex.

``(j) Termination.--The requirements under this section shall
terminate after the final submission covering fiscal year 2021.''.

(b) Proposal for Reports on Acquisition Programs and Activities.--Not later than October 15, 2020, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees a proposal for an alternative methodology for reporting on all acquisition programs that includes--

(1) conforming changes from the most recent update of Department of Defense Directive 5000.01 (The Defense Acquisition System) and Department of Defense Instruction 5000.02 (Operation of the Defense Acquisition System);

(2) the reporting requirements relating to Selected Acquisition Reports under section 2432 of title 10, United States Code;

(3) the reporting requirements relating to unit costs under section 2433 of such title; and

(4) the reporting requirements for acquisition programs that use alternative acquisition pathways or tailored acquisition procedures.

The House amendment contained a provision (sec. 893) that would exclude the selected acquisition reports required by section 2432 of title 10, United States Code, from the reports that will sunset under section 1080 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (Public Law 114-92). The provision would also require the Secretary of Defense to propose an alternative for reporting the status of major defense acquisition programs and other acquisition activities that would include information on cybersecurity tests, software development metrics, and quality metrics for software.

The Senate bill contained no similar provision.

The Senate recedes with an amendment that would require selected acquisition reports for any defense program estimated to require a total expenditure of more than $300.0 million for research, development, test and evaluation or a total expenditure of more than $1,800.0 million for procurement through fiscal year 2021 and that would clarify the requirement for the Secretary of Defense to report on alternatives models and thresholds for congressional reporting on acquisition programs.

House Report 116-120

Section 893--Requirements Relating to Selected Acquisition Reports

This section would reestablish the requirement for Selected Acquisition Reports, which summarize key cost and schedule information for major defense acquisition programs (MDAPs) at the Department of Defense.

This section would require the Secretary of Defense to submit a proposal for an alternative reporting methodology for MDAPs with the budget request for fiscal year 2021. The proposal shall also include other programs, such as rapid prototyping or rapid fielding programs, carried out under the authority of section 804 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (Public Law 114-92) and how the Department plans to report cybersecurity and software development metrics.