[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4969 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4969

  To improve the design and construction of diplomatic posts, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 7, 2018

  Mr. McCaul introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To improve the design and construction of diplomatic posts, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Improving Embassy Design and 
Security Act of 2018''.

SEC. 2. IMPROVING EMBASSY CONSTRUCTION.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that the decision by the Department 
of State's Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (``OBO'') to 
transition from Standard Embassy Design to Design Excellence has in 
many cases--
            (1) increased the cost of building new embassies and 
        consulates;
            (2) delayed the move of thousands of staff from facilities 
        that do not meet current security standards to new, secure 
        facilities;
            (3) exacerbated certain deficiencies in the quality of the 
        Bureau's program management;
            (4) been a factor in reduced competition for capital 
        construction projects; and
            (5) been a complicating factor in achieving the 
        Department's own security requirements.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the OBO 
should give appropriate consideration to Standard Embassy Design, in 
which each new embassy and consulate starts with a standard design and 
keeps customization to a minimum.
    (c) Delivery.--
            (1) Design-build project delivery.--Except in cases in 
        which the Secretary of State determines that such would not be 
        appropriate, the Secretary shall make use of the design-build 
        project delivery system at diplomatic posts that have not yet 
        received design or construction contracts as of the date of the 
        enactment of this Act.
            (2) Standard design.--The Secretary of State shall give 
        preference to the use of a standard design, together with 
        design-build delivery under paragraph (1).
            (3) Vertical standard design.--The Secretary of State shall 
        develop a vertical standard design that can be implemented 
        according to the Department of State's requisite security and 
        spatial needs for diplomatic posts that are to be situated on a 
        smaller plot of land.
            (4) Bridging.--The Secretary of State shall make use of 
        bridging to adapt the standard design under paragraph (2) with 
        design-build project delivery under paragraph (1) at diplomatic 
        posts that require a more customized design due to climatic, 
        geographic, or functional requirements.
            (5) Other application.--
                    (A) In general.--The Secretary of State may make 
                use of design-bid-build delivery with non-standard 
                design in limited instances of particular diplomatic 
                importance as determined by the Secretary.
                    (B) Limitation.--The Secretary of State may not 
                delegate the authority of the Secretary under 
                subparagraph (A) to make use of design-bid-build 
                delivery with non-standard design.
    (d) Consultation Regarding Non-Standard Designs.--The Secretary of 
State shall carry out any new diplomatic post project that is in the 
design phase or pre-design phase as of the date of the enactment of 
this Act and that utilizes bridging or non-standard design under 
subsection (c) only after notification to and consultation with the 
appropriate congressional committees. Such notification and 
consultation shall include provision to the appropriate congressional 
committees, for each such project, of the following documentation:
            (1) A comparison of the estimated full lifecycle costs of 
        the project at issue to the estimated full lifecycle costs of 
        such project if such project were to use a standard design.
            (2) A comparison of the estimated completion date of such 
        project to the estimated completion date of such project if 
        such project were to use a standard design.
            (3) A comparison of the security of such completed project 
        to the security of such completed project if such completed 
        project were to use a standard design.
            (4) A justification for the Secretary's selection of a non-
        standard design over a standard design for such project.
    (e) Performance Evaluation.--Not later than 180 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall report to 
the appropriate congressional committees regarding performance 
evaluation measures in line with GAO's ``Standards for Internal Control 
in the Federal Government'' that will be applicable to the Bureau of 
Overseas Building Operations of the Department of State.
    (f) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee on 
        Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the 
        Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.
            (2) Bridging.--The term ``bridging'' means a delivery 
        method for construction projects that is a hybrid of the 
        traditional ``design-bid-build'' and the ``design-build'' 
        methods, whereby the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations of 
        the Department of State first contracts with a design firm to 
        develop a project-specific, partial design that a construction 
        contractor and its design firm then complete, the objective of 
        which is to retain the best features of the design-bid-build 
        and design-build methods for the project owner and eliminate 
        those aspects of each such method that often cause problems for 
        such owner.
            (3) Design-bid-build.--The term ``design-bid-build'' means 
        a method of project delivery in which a design entity is first 
        contracted to provide a design and a construction entity is 
        subsequently contracted to build the awarded design contract.
            (4) Design-build.--The term ``design-build'' means a method 
        of project delivery in which one entity, such as the design-
        build team, works under a single contract with the project 
        owner to provide design and construction services.
            (5) Non-standard design.--The term ``non-standard design'' 
        means a new diplomatic post design that does not utilize a 
        standardized design template for the structural, spatial, and 
        security requirements of such post.
            (6) Standard design.--The term ``standard design'' means a 
        diplomatic post design that utilizes a standardized design 
        template for the structural, spatial, and security requirements 
        of such post.
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