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TITLE II--ACQUISITION POLICY

Section 205

House Conference Report 111-124

(a) Additional Requirements Relating to Milestone B Approval- Section 2366b of title 10, United States Code, is amended--

(1) in subsection (d)--

(A) by inserting `(1)' before `The milestone decision authority may'; and

(B) by striking the second sentence and inserting the following:

`(2) Whenever the milestone decision authority makes such a determination and authorizes such a waiver--

`(A) the waiver, the determination, and the reasons for the determination shall be submitted in writing to the congressional defense committees within 30 days after the waiver is authorized; and

`(B) the milestone decision authority shall review the program not less often than annually to determine the extent to which such program currently satisfies the certification components specified in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a) until such time as the milestone decision authority determines that the program satisfies all such certification components.';

(2) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as subsections (f) and (g), respectively, and inserting after subsection (d) the following new subsection (e):

`(e) Designation of Certification Status in Budget Documentation- Any budget request, budget justification material, budget display, reprogramming request, Selected Acquisition Report, or other budget documentation or performance report submitted by the Secretary of Defense to the President regarding a major defense acquisition program receiving a waiver pursuant to subsection (d) shall prominently and clearly indicate that such program has not fully satisfied the certification requirements of this section until such time as the milestone decision authority makes the determination that such program has satisfied all such certification components.'; and

(3) in subsection (a)--

(A) in paragraph (1), by striking `and' at the end;

(B) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph (3);

(C) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following new paragraph (2):

`(2) has received a preliminary design review and conducted a formal post-preliminary design review assessment, and certifies on the basis of such assessment that the program demonstrates a high likelihood of accomplishing its intended mission; and'; and

(D) in paragraph (3), as redesignated by subparagraph (B) of this paragraph--

(i) in subparagraph (D), by striking the semicolon and inserting `, as determined by the Milestone Decision Authority on the basis of an independent review and assessment by the Director of Defense Research and Engineering; and';

(ii) by striking subparagraph (E); and

(iii) by redesignating subparagraph (F) as subparagraph (E).

(b) Certification and Review of Programs Entering Development Prior to Enactment of Section 2366b of Title 10-

(1) DETERMINATION- Not later than 270 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, for each major defense acquisition program that received Milestone B approval before January 6, 2006, and has not received Milestone C approval, and for each space program that received Key Decision Point B approval before January 6, 2006, and has not received Key Decision Point C approval, the Milestone Decision Authority shall determine whether or not such program satisfies all of the certification components specified in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a) of section 2366b of title 10, United States Code (as amended by subsection (a) of this section).

(2) ANNUAL REVIEW- The Milestone Decision Authority shall review any program determined pursuant to paragraph (1) not to satisfy any of the certification components of subsection (a) of section 2366b of title 10, United States Code (as so amended), not less often than annually thereafter to determine the extent to which such program currently satisfies such certification components until such time as the Milestone Decision Authority determines that such program satisfies all such certification components.

(3) DESIGNATION OF CERTIFICATION STATUS IN BUDGET DOCUMENTATION- Any budget request, budget justification material, budget display, reprogramming request, Selected Acquisition Report, or other budget documentation or performance report submitted by the Secretary of Defense to the President regarding a major defense acquisition program which the Milestone Decision Authority determines under paragraph (1) does not satisfy all of the certification components of subsection (a) of section 2366b of title 10, United States Code, (as so amended) shall prominently and clearly indicate that such program has not fully satisfied such certification components until such time as the Milestone Decision Authority makes the determination that such program has satisfied all such certification components.

(c) Reviews of Programs Restructured After Experiencing Critical Cost Growth- The official designated to perform oversight of performance assessment pursuant to section 103 of this Act, shall assess the performance of each major defense acquisition program that has exceeded critical cost growth thresholds established pursuant to section 2433(e) of title 10, United States Code, but has not been terminated in accordance with section 2433a of such title (as added by section 206(a) of this Act) not less often than semi-annually until one year after the date on which such program receives a new milestone approval, in accordance with section 2433a(c)(3) of such title (as so added). The results of reviews performed under this subsection shall be reported to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics and summarized in the next annual report of such designated official.

Congressional Record, Senate, February 23, 2009, Summary of S. 454, the Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2009, P. S2367

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has reported on numerous occasions that a knowledge-based approach is critical to the successful development of major weapon systems. In January 2006, the Defense Acquisition Performance Assessment Project (DAPA) endorsed this view, and recommended that Milestone B decisions be delayed to occur after PDR, to ensure a sufficient knowledge base to ensure the technological maturity and avoid ``a long cycle of instability, budget and requirements changes, costly delays and repeated re-baselining.'' Section 202 would address this problem by requiring the completion of a PDR and a formal post-PDR assessment before a major defense acquisition program receives Milestone B approval.

House Committee on Armed Services Report 111-101 with H. R. 2101

SECTION 202--ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTAIN MAJOR DEFENSE ACQUISITION PROGRAMS

This section would require the milestone decision authority to annually review any major defense acquisition program (MDAP) that received milestone B approval due to a waiver of one or more of the requirements for certification at milestone B required by section 2366b of title 10, United States Code, until such time as the program satisfies all of the requirements for such certification. This section would require a one-time review of MDAPs that received milestone B approval prior to the adoption of the current certification requirements, and that have not yet received milestone C approval, to determine the extent to which they currently comply with such certification requirements. MDAPs that are determined during the one-time review not to satisfy such certification requirements would be subject to annual review by the milestone decision authority until such time as they achieve compliance. This section would require the Secretary of Defense to ensure that any budget request, budget justification material, budget display, reprogramming request, selected acquisition report, or other budget documentation or performance report submitted to the President regarding a program that does not yet fully satisfy the certification requirements of milestone B clearly indicate the program's certification status.

This section would require annual reviews of MDAPs that have been restructured after a critical Nunn-McCurdy breach by the official responsible for performance assessment to determine the extent to which the restructured program is achieving adequate cost and schedule performance. This section also would amend section 2366b of title 10, United States Code, to require MDAPs to have successfully completed a preliminary design review prior to receiving milestone B approval unless a preliminary design review is determined to be unnecessary.