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SEC. 833. PILOT PROGRAM ON ACQUISITION
PRACTICES FOR EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of
Defense, acting through the Under Secretary of Defense for
Acquisition and Sustainment or the Under Secretary's designee,
shall establish a pilot program (in this section referred to as
the ``Pilot Program'') to develop and implement unique
acquisition mechanisms for emerging technologies in order to
increase the speed of transition of emerging technologies into
acquisition programs or into operational use.
(b) Elements.--In carrying out the Pilot
Program, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and
Sustainment shall--
(1) identify, and award agreements to,
not less than four new projects supporting high-priority
defense modernization activities, consistent with the National
Defense Strategy, with consideration given to--
(A) offensive missile capabilities;
(B) space-based assets;
(C) personnel and quality of life
improvement;
(D) energy generation and storage;
and
(E) any other area activities the
Under Secretary
determines appropriate;
(2) develop a unique acquisition plan
for each project identified pursuant to paragraph (1) that is
significantly novel from standard Department of Defense
acquisition practices, including the use of--
(A) alternative price evaluation
models;
(B) alternative independent cost
estimation methodologies;
(C) alternative market research
methods;
(D) continuous assessment of
performance metrics to measure project value for use in
program management and oversight;
(E) alternative intellectual
property strategies, including activities to support modular
open system approaches (as defined in section 2446a(b) of
title 10, United States Code) and reduce life-cycle and
sustainment costs; and
(F) other alternative practices
identified by the Under Secretary;
(3) execute the acquisition plans
described in paragraph (2) and award agreements in an
expedited manner; and
(4) determine if existing authorities
are sufficient to carry out the activities described in this
subsection and, if not, submit to the congressional defense
committees recommendations for statutory reforms that will
provide sufficient authority.
(c) Regulation Waiver.--The Under
Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment shall
establish mechanisms for the Under Secretary to waive, upon
request, regulations, directives, or policies of the Department
of Defense, a military service, or a Defense Agency with respect
to a project awarded an agreement under the Pilot Program if the
Under Secretary determines that such a waiver furthers the
purposes of the Pilot Program, unless such waiver would be
prohibited by a provision of a Federal statute or common law.
(d) Agreement Termination.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary of
Defense may establish procedures to terminate agreements
awarded under the Pilot Program.
(2) Notification required.--Any
procedure established under paragraph (1) shall require that,
not later than 30 days prior to the termination of any
agreement under such procedure, notice of such termination
shall be provided to the congressional defense committees.
(e) Pilot Program Advisory Group.--
(1) In general.--The Under Secretary
of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment shall establish a
Pilot Program advisory group to advise the Under Secretary
on--
(A) the selection, management and
elements of projects under the Pilot Program;
(B) the collection of data regarding
the use of the Pilot Program; and
(C) the termination of agreements
under the Pilot Program.
(2) Membership.--
(A) In general.--The members of the
advisory group established under paragraph (1) shall be
appointed as follows:
(i) One member from each military
department (as defined under section 101(a) of title 10,
United States Code), appointed by the Secretary of the
military department concerned.
(ii) One member appointed by the
Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.
(iii) One member appointed by the
Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment.
(iv) One member appointed by the
Director of the Strategic Capabilities Office of the
Department of Defense.
(v) One member appointed by the
Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
(vi) One member appointed by the
Director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation.
(vii) One member appointed by the
Director of Operational Test and Evaluation.
(B) Deadline for
appointment.--Members of the advisory group shall be
appointed not later than 30 days after the date of the
establishment of the pilot program under subsection (a).
(3) FACA non-applicability.--The
Federal Advisory Committee Act
(5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to the advisory group
established
under paragraph (1).
(f) Information to Congress.--
(1) Briefing requirement.--Not later
than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and
not less than annually thereafter, the Secretary of Defense
shall provide to the congressional defense committees a
briefing on activities performed under this section.
(2) Budget justification
materials.--The Secretary shall establish procedures to
clearly identify all projects under the Pilot Program in
budget justification materials submitted to Congress.
(g) Data Requirements.--
(1) Collection and analysis of
data.--The Secretary shall establish mechanisms to collect and
analyze data on the execution of the Pilot Program for the
purpose of--
(A) developing and sharing best
practices for achieving goals established for the Pilot
Program;
(B) providing information to the
Secretary and the congressional defense committees on the
execution of the Pilot Program; and
(C) providing information to the
Secretary and the congressional defense committees on
related policy issues.
(2) Data strategy required.--The
Secretary may not establish the Pilot Program prior to
completion of a plan for--
(A) meeting the requirements of this
subsection;
(B) collecting the data required to
carry out an evaluation of the lessons learned from the Pilot
Program; and
(C) conducting such evaluation.
(h) Termination.--The Pilot Program
shall terminate on the earlier of--
(1) the date on which each project
identified under subsection (b)(1) has either been completed
or has had all agreements awarded to such project under the
Pilot Program terminated; or
(2) the date that is five years after
the date of the enactment of this Act.
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Pilot program on acquisition practices
for emerging technologies (sec. 833)
The Senate amendment contained a provision
(sec. 804) that would establish a pilot program to develop and
implement unique contracting mechanisms for emerging
technologies that seek to increase the speed, flexibility, and
competition of the Department of Defense acquisition process.
The House bill contained no similar
provision.
The agreement includes the Senate
provision with an amendment that would update the pilot program
advisory group, require that pilot program activities include
identifying
whether existing authorities are sufficient to carry out the
pilot program, and terminate the pilot program within 5 years.
S. 2792--Senate Report117-39
Pilot program on
acquisition practices for emerging technologies (sec. 804)
The committee recommends a
provision that would establish a pilot program to develop and
implement unique contracting mechanisms for emerging
technologies that seek to increase the speed, flexibility, and
competition of the Department of Defense (DOD) acquisition
process.
The committee notes that in
testimony on February 23, 2021, the Chairman of the National
Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence recommended that
the Congress appoint a joint committee to identify four DOD
acquisition projects and apply radically different procurement
approaches to those projects to explore options to improve DOD
acquisition outcomes.
While the committee has
worked to improve DOD acquisition processes in recent years, the
committee believes more work is required to improve DOD
acquisition outcomes. |
