[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 90 (Monday, June 8, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S3870]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 1810. Mr. HATCH submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to 
amendment SA 1463 proposed by Mr. McCain to the bill H.R. 1735, to 
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2016 for military activities 
of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for 
defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military 
personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which 
was ordered to lie on the table, as follows:

       At the appropriate place, insert the following:

     SEC. ___. REPORT ON DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE DEFINITION OF AND 
                   POLICY REGARDING SOFTWARE SUSTAINMENT.

       (a) Report on Assessment of Definition and Policy.--Not 
     later than March 15, 2016, the Secretary of Defense shall 
     submit to the congressional defense committees and the 
     President pro tempore of the Senate a report setting forth an 
     assessment, obtained by the Secretary for purposes of the 
     report, on the definition used by the Department of Defense 
     for and the policy of the Department regarding software 
     maintenance, particularly with respect to the totality of the 
     term ``software sustainment'' in the definition of ``depot-
     level maintenance and repair'' under section 2460 of title 
     10, United States Code.
       (b) Independent Assessment.--The assessment obtained for 
     purposes of subsection (a) shall be conducted by a federally 
     funded research and development center (FFRDC), or another 
     appropriate independent entity with expertise in matters 
     described in subsection (a), selected by the Secretary for 
     purposes of the assessment.
       (c) Elements.--
       (1) In general.--The assessment obtained for purposes of 
     subsection (a) shall address, with respect to software and 
     weapon systems of the Department of Defense (including space 
     systems), each of the following:
       (A) Fiscal ramifications of current programs with regard to 
     the size, scope, and cost of software to the program's 
     overall budget, including embedded and support software, 
     percentage of weapon systems' functionality controlled by 
     software, and reliance on proprietary data, processes, and 
     components.
       (B) Legal status of the Department in regards to adhering 
     to section 2464(a)(1) of such title with respect to ensuring 
     a ready and controlled source of maintenance (sustainment) on 
     software for its weapon systems.
       (C) Operational risks and reduction to materiel readiness 
     of current Department weapon systems related to software 
     costs, delays, re-work, integration and functional testing, 
     defects, and documentation errors.
       (2) Additional matters.--For each of subparagraphs (A) 
     through (C) of paragraph (1), the assessment obtained for 
     purposes of subsection (a) shall include review and analysis 
     regarding sole-source contracts, range of competition, rights 
     in technical data, public and private capabilities, 
     integration lab initial costs and sustaining operations, and 
     total obligation authority costs of software, disaggregated 
     by armed service, for the Department.
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