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

Subtitle D--Provisions Relating to the Acquisition System

P. L. 116-92

House Conference Report 116-333

The Secretary of Defense shall include with the budget for fiscal
year 2021, as submitted to Congress pursuant to section 1105(a) of
title 31, United States Code, a report on the progress of implementing
acquisition reform initiatives that have been enacted into law through
Department of Defense regulations, Directives, Instructions, or other
guidance. Such report shall include a description of--

(1) how the Secretary will identify, quantify, assess, and
manage acquisition program risks;

(2) what changes have been made to systems for collecting and
sharing data on acquisition programs, including how access to
acquisition program data is managed; and

(3) updates to, or the implementation of, procedures for
tailoring acquisition methods, including alternative acquisition
pathways such as--

(A) the use of the ``middle tier'' of acquisition programs described under section 804 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (Public Law 114-92; 10 U.S.C. 2302 note);

(B) the alternative acquisition pathways established under section 805 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (Public Law 114-92; 10 U.S.C. 2302 note);

(C) a software acquisition pathway described under section 800 of this Act; and

(D) the use of procedures to respond to urgent operational needs.

The House amendment contained a provision (sec. 822) that would direct the Secretary of Defense to provide a briefing to the committee on lessons learned through the use of the authority provided under section 804 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (10 U.S.C. 2302 note) commonly known as ``Middle-Tier of Acquisition,'' to include certain risks and how the lessons are applicable to procedures for acquiring major defense acquisition programs.

The Senate bill contained no similar provision.

The Senate recedes with amendments that instead require the Secretary of Defense to report on ongoing efforts to realign the whole Defense Acquisition System in response to recent reforms--through changes to the 5000 series of directives, instructions, guidance and procedures and to address certain elements in the report.

The conferees appreciate the careful consideration the Department is giving to implementing the acquisition reforms legislated through these Acts over the last five years. In doing so, the conferees note that the Department of Defense can no longer afford to use cost, schedule, and performance thresholds as simple proxies for risk when designating the path an acquisition program travels through the Defense Acquisition System, and in organizing how programs are managed and overseen. Exclusive attention to cost, schedule, and performance of major defense acquisition programs and other development programs obscures a myriad of other risks in programs large and small, any one of which could be single points of failure for successful acquisition. Such risks include: technical risks such as engineering, software, manufacturing and testing; integration and interoperability risks--complicated by the implications of systems working across multiple domains while using machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities to continuously change and optimize system performance; operations and sustainment risks--mediated by access to technical data and intellectual property rights; workforce and training risks--to include consideration of the role of contractors as part of the total workforce; and supply chain risks--to include cybersecurity, foreign control and ownership of key elements of supply chains, and the consequences a fragile and weakening defense industrial base, combined with barriers to industrial cooperation with allies and partners pose for delivering systems and technologies in a trusted and assured manner. Finally, the Secretary's report under this section should look ahead to consider the implications of these changes for the acquisition of non-developmental items and the implications of the shift in acquisition of capabilities through development, to acquisition of capabilities ``as-a-service''.

Based on the Secretary's report under this section, and given the important role of the Comptroller General's annual weapons assessment in enabling the congressional defense committees' detailed oversight of the Defense Acquisition System, the conferees also direct the Comptroller General of the United States to brief the committees on how the Department's efforts are informing the refresh of that annual report as directed under section 803 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019.

House Report 116-120

Section 822--Briefing Relating to the ``Middle Tier'' of Acquisition Programs

This section would modify section 804 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (10 U.S.C. 2302 note) to direct the Secretary of Defense to provide a briefing to the committee on the lessons learned and best practices identified through the use of the ``middle tier'' of acquisition programs.