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National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017

(P. L. 115-)

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On April 12, 2016, the House Committee on Armed Services introduced H. R. 4909, the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017.  On May 18, 2016 it passed the House with 39 provisions in Title VIII, Acquisition Policy, Acquisition Management, and Related Matters.  It was accompanied by H. Rept. 114-537.

On May 18, 2016, the Senate Committee on Armed Services introduced S. 2943, the Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017. On June 14, 2016, it passed the Senate with 85 provisions in Title VIII, Acquisition Policy, Acquisition Management, and Related Matters. It was accompanied by S. Rept. 114-255.  S. 2943 became the vehicle for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017.

On July 7, 2016, the House trashed the Senate version, adopted its own version H. R. 4909 as an amendment, and passed the amended S. 2943.  The House requested a conference on July 8, 2016 and the Senate requested a conference on July 14, 2016.  When the conferees were not in recess or working on their reelection, they worked on the bill.  There was plenty of recess and plenty of reelection work.

On November 30, 2016, House Conference Report. 114-840 was filed and on December 2, 2016, the House approved the Conference Report.  The Senate agreed to the Conference Report on December 8, 2016.

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 was signed at the White House on December 23, 2016.

Because there was so much of Title VIII: Acquisition Policy, Acquisition Management, and Related Matters, I have only analyzed that Title at this time. 

Table Below

As I was analyzing the explanation the Conference Committee provided for each section, I got the impression that there was more explanation this year and more changes made during conference than in previous years.  This concerned me because that type of legislation is written with less time and maybe less thought. I was correct, most of this Title was amended--on the fly--by the conferees.  See column in table below entitled:  Amended by Conferees.

The Table below excludes Subtitle D—Provisions Relating to Major Defense Acquisition Programs of Title VIII because that subtitle usually affects only DoD agencies dealing with major systems.  I wanted to know how much of this Title further separates DoD contracting from Civilian agency contracting so it made sense to me to exclude those parts which were meant to be DoD only.  The answer isn't clear-cut since some of it should be DoD only.  However, it is another bite at the government-wide contracting regulation, if there ever was such a thing since most of the Title, contracting and all, is DoD only.  Even some of the studies on bid protests are DoD only.  Civilian agencies need not participate.  Of course, it could be said that this is a National Defense Act and what should I expect.  Well, much of the government-wide contracting law comes from Title VIII each year.  Then again, the FAR Council may see a section that might work for civilian agencies and include it in the government-wide regulation.  Who knows?  Take a look at Section 822, it is for DoD only but could go government-wide if approved by the FAR Council for the Federal Acquisition Regulation.   See column in table below entitled:  DoD Only.

Finally, since there was so much explanation by the conferees, I wondered if they attempted to add some requirements beyond the legislation in the specific sections.  There was some but not much.  See column in table below entitled:  Conferee add-ons.

As you look at the table below, you may disagree on some items.  You may even find a mistake. 

 

Section Amended by Conferees DOD only Conferee add-ons
       
801 No Yes No
802 No Yes No
803

Yes

Yes No
804 Yes Yes No
805 Yes Yes No
806 Yes Yes No
807 Yes Yes No
808 Yes Yes No
809 Yes Yes

Yes

811 Yes Yes No
812 Yes Yes

Yes

813 Yes Yes No
814 No Yes

Yes

815 No Yes No
816 No No Yes
817

Yes

Yes Yes
818 No Yes No
819 No Yes No
820

Yes

Yes and No

Yes

821 No Yes No
822 No Yes

Yes

823 No Yes No
824 Yes Yes No
825 Yes Yes No
826 No Yes No
827

Yes

Yes

Yes

828 No Yes No
829 Yes Yes No
830 Yes Yes Yes
831 Yes Yes Yes
832 Yes Yes No
833 Yes Yes No
834 Yes Yes No
835 Yes No No
836 Yes Yes No
837 Yes Yes No
861 Yes No No
862 No Yes No
863 Yes Yes No
864 Yes Yes Yes
865 Yes Yes Yes
866 No Yes No
867

Yes

Yes No
871 No Yes No
872 No Yes No
873 No Yes No
874 Yes Yes No
875 Yes Yes No
876 Yes Yes No
877 Yes Yes No
878 No Yes No
879 Yes Yes No
880 Yes No No
881 No Yes No
882 Yes Yes No
883 Yes Yes No
884 Yes Yes No
885 Yes Yes No
886 Yes Yes No
887 Yes Yes No
888 Yes Yes No
889 No No No
890 No

Yes

No
891 No No No
892 No Yes No
893

Yes

Yes No
894 No Yes No
895 No Yes No
896 No Yes No
897 No Yes No
898 Yes Yes No
899 Yes U. C. Coast Guard Section No
899a Yes

Yes

No
 
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