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

Subtitle A—Acquisition Policy and Management.

P. L. 116-

House Conference Report   116-617

(1) assessing such risks;
(2) mitigating such risks; and
(3) reporting within the Department of Defense and to Congress on such risks.

(b) Acquisition Program Risks.--The risks in acquisition programs described in this subsection are the following:

(1) Technical risks in engineering, software,
manufacturing and testing.

(2) Integration and interoperability risks, including complications related to systems working across multiple domains while using machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities to continuously change and optimize system performance.

(3) Operations and sustainment risks, including as mitigated by appropriate sustainment planning earlier in the lifecycle of a program, access to technical data, and intellectual property rights.

(4) Workforce and training risks, including consideration of the role of contractors as part of the total workforce.

(5) Supply chain risks, including cybersecurity, foreign control and ownership of key elements of supply chains, and the consequences that 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.

(c) Report to Congress.--Not later than March 31, 2021, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report including--

(1) the input received from the service acquisition executives pursuant to subsection (a); and

(2) the views of the Under Secretary with respect to the matters described in paragraphs (1) through (5) of subsection (b).

The Senate amendment contained a provision (sec. 831) that would require the Service Acquisition Executives to identify how they are assessing certain risks in acquisition programs under the new Adaptive Acquisition Framework.

The House bill contained no similar provision.

The House recedes with a technical/clarifying amendment.

The conferees continue to appreciate the careful consideration paid by the Department of Defense to its Adaptive Acquisition Framework, which implements the acquisition reforms legislated over the last 5 years. The conferees believe that the Service Acquisition Executives play important roles as portfolio managers and in executing programs delegated by the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment.

The conferees believe that the Department of Defense can no longer afford to use cost, schedule, and performance thresholds as simple proxies for risk when determining the path that 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 myriad other risks in programs, large and small, any one of which could be single points of failure for successful acquisitions. Given the role that the Service Acquisition Executives play in portfolio and program management, the conferees believe their insights to be valuable in shaping overall acquisition policy.

Senate Committee Report 116-236 to Accompanying S. 4049

Report on acquisition risk assessment and mitigation as part of Adaptive Acquisition Framework implementation (sec. 831)

The committee recommends a provision that would require the Service Acquisition Executives to identify how they are assessing certain risks in acquisition programs under the new Adaptive Acquisition Framework.

The committee continues to appreciate the careful consideration paid by the Department of Defense to its Adaptive Acquisition Framework, which implements the acquisition reforms
legislated over the last 5 years. The committee believes that the Service Acquisition Executives play important roles as portfolio managers and in executing programs delegated by the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment. The committee believes that the Department of Defense can no longer afford to use cost, schedule, and performance thresholds as simple proxies for risk when determining the path that 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 myriad other risks in programs, large and small, any one of which could be single points of failure for successful acquisitions. Given the role that the Service Acquisition Executives play in portfolio and program management, the committee believes their insights to be valuable in shaping overall acquisition policy.

The committee believes that another area of opportunity is the optimization of the Department's requirements generation processes, as established under Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Instruction 5123.01H, pertaining to the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System, and the associated manual. The committee notes that the Department's challenges are well-described in the MITRE Corporation's March 2020 report, titled ``Modernizing DOD Requirements Enabling Speed, Agility, and Innovation,'' in particular the additional time it takes to produce validated requirements for an acquisition program. The committee notes the report's recommendations accord with the idea underpinning the Department's Adaptive Acquisition Framework. Notwithstanding the committee's direction elsewhere in this Act regarding the Department's incorporation of certain elements in finalizing its interim Software Acquisition Pathway, the committee directs the Secretary of Defense to consider the recommendations of the MITRE Corporation's report and to provide views to the congressional defense committees, along with rationales for why such recommendations could not be implemented if they are determined to be inapposite, not later than July 15, 2021.