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

Subtitle C — Provisions Relating to Major Defense Acquisition Programs

P. L. 115-

House Conference Report. 115-874

(a) In General.—Chapter 131 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section:

Ҥ 2229b. Comptroller General assessment of acquisition programs and initiatives

“(a) Assessment Required.—The Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to the congressional defense committees an annual assessment of selected acquisition programs and initiatives of the Department of Defense by March 30th of each year from 2020 through 2023.

“(b) Analyses To Be Included.—The assessment required under subsection (a) shall include—

“(1) a macro analysis of how well acquisition programs and initiatives are performing and reasons for that performance;

“(2) a summary of organizational and legislative changes and emerging assessment methodologies since the last assessment, and a discussion of the implications for execution and oversight of programs and initiatives; and

“(3) specific analyses of individual acquisition programs and initiatives.

“(c) Acquisition Programs And Initiatives To Be Considered.—The assessment required under subsection (a) shall consider the following programs and initiatives:

“(1) Selected weapon systems, as determined appropriate by the Comptroller General.

“(2) Selected information technology systems and initiatives, including defense business systems, networks, and software-intensive systems, as determined appropriate by the Comptroller General.

“(3) Selected prototyping and rapid fielding activities and initiatives, as determined appropriate by the Comptroller General.”.

(b) Clerical Amendment.—The table of sections at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 2229a the following new item:


“2229b. Comptroller General assessment of acquisition programs and related initiatives.”.
(c) Repeal Of Superseded Authority.—Section 883(d) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (Public Law 114–92; 10 U.S.C. 2222 note) is amended by striking paragraph (1), effective on January 1, 2020.

The Senate amendment contained a provision (sec. 803) that would amend chapter 131 of title 10, United States Code, to establish an annual assessment by the Comptroller General of the United States of Department of Defense acquisition programs and initiatives.

The House bill contained no similar provision.

The House recedes with an amendment that limits the production of the Comptroller General's assessment to four assessments.

The conferees note that the Department of Defense’s warfighting, business, and enterprise capabilities are increasingly reliant on or driven by software and information technology. The Department of Defense is behind other Federal agencies and industry in implementing best practices for acquisition of software and information technology capabilities, to include agile and incremental development methods along with associated training, tools, and infrastructure. The conferees further note that recent years have seen the most significant reform of the Department’s acquisition function since the Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-23), to include expansion of acquisition authorities, organizational realignments, delegation of acquisition program execution to the Services, and rapid acquisition and prototyping authorities and offices. The conferees believe this update to the Comptroller General’s assessments is critical to assisting the defense committees with their oversight, given the role of software and information technology in acquisition programs and initiatives, and the scope of recent acquisition reforms across the Department.