[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1659 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1659

 To direct the Chief Acquisition Officer of the Department of Veterans 
 Affairs to enter into a contract for the independent verification and 
validation of certain modernization efforts of the Department, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 17, 2023

  Mr. Takano introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To direct the Chief Acquisition Officer of the Department of Veterans 
 Affairs to enter into a contract for the independent verification and 
validation of certain modernization efforts of the Department, 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 ``Department of Veterans Affairs IT 
Modernization Improvement Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. INDEPENDENT VERIFICATION AND VALIDATION OF CERTAIN 
              MODERNIZATION EFFORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

    (a) Contracting Authority.--Not later than 90 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Chief Acquisition Officer of the 
Department of Veterans Affairs established pursuant to section 1702 of 
title 41, United States Code, shall enter into a contract with an 
eligible entity under subsection (b) to carry out the oversight 
functions described in subsection (c).
    (b) Eligibility.--An entity is eligible under this subsection if 
the Chief Acquisition Officer of the Department determines that, with 
respect to the solicitation by the Department for a contract under 
subsection (a), the entity--
            (1) is currently performing or has performed, during the 
        three-year period preceding the date of the issuance of such 
        solicitation, not fewer than three prime contracts for the 
        independent verification and validation, or equivalent 
        technical and program oversight support, of major defense 
        acquisition programs or priority defense business systems, in 
        accordance with guidance of the Department of Defense relating 
        to such acquisition programs or such business systems; and
            (2) is not currently performing and has not performed, for 
        at least the five-year period preceding the date of the 
        issuance of such solicitation, any contract or subcontract for 
        the Department of Veterans Affairs (including such a contract 
        or subcontract relating to a covered program).
    (c) Functions.--The oversight functions described in this 
subsection are the following:
            (1) Conducting an initial assessment of each covered 
        program and submitting to the Secretary a report containing the 
        findings of such assessment.
            (2) On an annual basis, conducting an overall assessment of 
        each covered program and submitting to the Secretary a report 
        containing the findings of each such assessment.
            (3) Conducting continuous oversight of the activities 
        carried out under, and the systems associated with, each 
        covered program, including oversight of the status, compliance, 
        performance, and implementation of recommendations with respect 
        to, for each covered program, the following:
                    (A) Management, including governance, costs, and 
                implementation milestones and timelines.
                    (B) Contracts for implementation, including 
                financial metrics and performance benchmarks for 
                contractors.
                    (C) Effect on the functions, business operations, 
                or clinical organizational structure of the health care 
                system of the Department.
                    (D) Supply chain risk management, controls, and 
                compliance.
                    (E) Data management.
                    (F) With respect to associated systems, the 
                following:
                            (i) Technical architectural design, 
                        development, and stability of the systems.
                            (ii) System interoperability and 
                        integration with related information technology 
                        systems.
                            (iii) System testing.
                            (iv) Functional system training provided to 
                        users.
                            (v) System adoption and use.
    (d) Submission to Congress.--Not later than 30 days after the date 
on which the Secretary receives any annual report under subsection 
(c)(2), the Secretary shall submit to the Committees on Veterans' 
Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Senate such report.
    (e) Awarded Amounts.--Not later than 90 days after the date on 
which the Chief Acquisition Officer of the Department enters into the 
contract under subsection (a), the Chief Financial Officer of the 
Department, in coordination with the heads of such office of the 
Department responsible for the management of a covered program, shall 
ensure that amounts awarded to an eligible entity under such contract 
are derived, in proportionate amounts, from amounts otherwise 
authorized to be appropriated for each such office of the Department, 
respectively.
    (f) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) The term ``covered program'' means the following:
                    (A) The Electronic Health Record Modernization 
                Program (or any successor program).
                    (B) The Financial Management and Business 
                Transformation Program (or any successor program).
                    (C) Any program of the Department relating to 
                supply chain modernization.
                    (D) Any program of the Department relating to the 
                modernization of information technology systems 
                associated with human resources.
                    (E) Any program of the Department relating to the 
                Veterans Benefits Management System.
            (2) The term ``priority defense business system'' has the 
        meaning given such term in section 2222(i)(5) of title 10, 
        United States Code.
            (3) The term ``major defense acquisition program'' has the 
        meaning given such term in section 4201 of title 10, United 
        States Code.
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