[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1271 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1271

To provide for pilot programs to streamline decision-making process for 
                            weapon systems.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 1, 2019

  Mr. Rounds introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
              referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for pilot programs to streamline decision-making process for 
                            weapon systems.

    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 ``Defense Acquisition Decision Making 
Streamlining Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. PILOT PROGRAMS TO STREAMLINE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS FOR WEAPON 
              SYSTEMS.

    (a) Candidate Acquisition Programs.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, each Service Acquisition Executive 
        shall recommend to the Secretary of Defense at least one major 
        defense acquisition program for a ``skunk works'' pilot program 
        as described in the Department of Defense's Better Buying Power 
        3.0 memorandum. Each pilot program should include tailored 
        measures to streamline the entire milestone decision process, 
        with the results evaluated and reported for potential wider 
        use.
            (2) Elements.--Each pilot program selected pursuant to 
        paragraph (1) shall include the following elements:
                    (A) Delineating the appropriate information needed 
                to support milestone decisions, assuring program 
                accountability and oversight, which should be based on 
                the business case principles needed for well-informed 
                milestone decisions, including user-defined 
                requirements, reasonable acquisition and life-cycle 
                cost estimates, and a knowledge-based acquisition plan 
                for maturing technologies, stabilizing the program 
                design, and ensuring key manufacturing processes are in 
                control.
                    (B) Developing an efficient process for providing 
                this information to the milestone decision authority 
                by--
                            (i) minimizing any reviews between the 
                        program office and the different functional 
                        staff offices within each chain of command 
                        level; and
                            (ii) establishing frequent, regular 
                        interaction between the program office and 
                        milestone decision makers, in lieu of 
                        documentation reviews, to help expedite the 
                        process.
    (b) Briefing.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition 
and Sustainment shall provide to the congressional defense committees 
an informal briefing detailing--
            (1) the acquisition programs selected pursuant to 
        subsection (a);
            (2) the associated action plans, including timelines, for 
        each program; and
            (3) the manner in which each program conforms to the 
        requirements set forth in subsection (a)(2).
    (c) Congressional Defense Committees Defined.--In this section, the 
term ``congressional defense committees'' has the meaning given that 
term in section 101(a)(16) of title 10, United States Code.
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