[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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